Now that more and more people are starting to get their hands on Sony’s next-gen gaming console, the Playstation 5, I can feel a little less guilty for buying one so soon. Here is a quick tip to Stream PS4 on Chromebook.
Let’s begin!
PS4
Between cloud gaming with Stadia, GeForce Now, Xbox Game Pass, and more, Steam Link Beta for remote gaming, and even pending official Steam support for Chrome OS, there are plenty of options for gaming on Chromebooks, but one thing is still missing was access to exclusive Sony titles on the go.
You’d think you’d just have to launch Sony’s official Play Remote app from the Google Play Store to close that gap, but it’s just awful. It connects briefly, lags several times, and shows massive amounts of artifacts, then drops the connection almost immediately. The last time I tried to connect my PS4’s Dualshock 4 controller to my Chromebook, it also went haywire, adding to my frustration.
I had long since given up using my PS4 outside of my living room, but when the PS5 came out, I started looking for a solution again. After some research, I found a third-party app that works better than the official app and wanted to share it with all of you.
- Next, let me walk you through the process of getting it set up and working properly on your Chromebook.
- It’s called PS Play: Unlimited PS Remote Play (PS5/PS4) and is available on the Play Store for $5.99 from a developer named Florian Grill.
- If you just want to try it, you can find it at the bottom of this article.
At first, I was reluctant to shell out the six bucks to try out the app — after all, how could this lone developer create anything better than a company, right? Well, that’s right – he did. This is the world we live in.
Companies often struggle to meet consumer demands, and then a consumer comes along and creates something they want to see come to life. It’s often better than what the big boys can do because they don’t have the red tape to make the magic happen. PS Play is like that.
Setting up PlayStation Remote Play
Stream PS4 on Chromebook
Ok, so after installing this I found that it worked pretty well on WiFi too, but your mileage may vary. For best results, I recommend using a Chromebook, Chromebox, or Chromebase with an Ethernet connection. Upon opening the app you will be presented with a screen asking you to choose between connecting a Playstation 4 and a Playstation 5. I chose the PS5 because I use it but again this app works great for both!
- Next, you need to turn on your PS4 or 5, go to “Settings”, go to “System”, “Remote Play” and then “Pair device”.
- From there, remember the six-digit code on the screen, go back to your Chromebook, and type it into PS Play.
- Note that the Chromebook and Playstation both need to be connected to the same network for Remote Play to work.
- Once your code has been accepted, you will be taken to a screen where you will need to log into your Playstation account.
Stupendous! You should now be connected and receive a message for a remote stream from your Playstationtitled “Gamepad Support”. It simply informs you that using USB OTG with your Dualshock 4 or Dualsense controller is not possible.
Of course, since you’re not playing games directly on your Chromebook, you won’t be able to control your gaming console when you plug it into your device. Instead, you must use Bluetooth to connect your gamepad.
Connecting your controller to your Chromebook
Stadia, GeForce Now, Xbox Game Pass
To do this:
- Simply visit your Chromebook’s Settings app.
- Navigate to the Bluetooth section.
- Then grab your controller.
- Press and hold the Playstation button and the Share button at the same time until the light bar flashes rapidly.
- If you look back at your Chromebook screen, you should see “Wireless Controller” listed under the Unpaired Devices section.
If you click on it, it will move to the paired devices section after a while. Your Dualshock 4 or Dualsense controller should now be connected! Again I had issues with the PS4 controller, but the Dualsense connects and works just fine.
- Go back to the PS Play app, and click the back arrow that shows when you hover your mouse over the upper left corner of the screen.
- You will be asked if you want to disconnect your Remote Play session.
- We’ll do this for a while, but don’t click the option to put the console to sleep because we’ll be right back!
- Click on the hamburger menu at the top left of the screen to pull down the menu and select “Settings”.
Improving your experience
We are going to toggle some things here in the app settings so you can have the best experience. You probably noticed your connection quality was blurry a moment ago. Indeed, the application offers you by default a stream quality adapted to your Internet bandwidth.
- If you’re on WiFi like me, it’s set to 540p resolution.
- Visit the “Streaming” settings and select “Resolution”.
- Change this to 1080p.
- Next, scroll down to the “Streaming gamepad layout” section and uncheck the “Show gamepad layout on-screen” box.
- The virtual joystick and all other buttons will vanish from your game session as a result.
- This is important because we are not playing with touch – we have a real Playstation controller connected!
Finally, if you find that all the buttons on your favorite game don’t work exactly as if you were playing directly on your living room TV, you can go to the “Button Mapping” section to create profiles for each game. Game or kind of game! This was a nice surprise I ran into when Final Fantasy XIV’s confirm and back buttons were reversed for me. Many other settings make the official Sony Remote Play app look like a kid’s toy, so please check them all out before you start playing!
