While the PlayStation 3 told you when friends came online and went offline by default, the PS4 didn't get a similar feature until years after its release. Now, you can easily pick out some PSN friends to get notifications when they come online.

Let's look at how to see when your PSN friends come online using your PS4, PS5, and the PlayStation app on your phone.

How to Know When PlayStation Friends Come Online on PS4

To get online notifications for friends on your PS4, select the Friends menu from the top list of icons on your PS4's home screen. On that page, press Triangle and you'll open the Select Friends menu.

Related: What Is the PlayStation Network (PSN?)

Here, scroll through the list and check all the friends you want notifications for. You can use Select All and Deselect All if you want; be careful about adding too many people, though. The notifications will likely get annoying if they come up constantly.

PS4 Friend Online Notifications

Choose Confirm to save your changes. Now, you'll see a notification in the corner of your screen whenever a friend you've selected comes online. There are no notifications for when people go offline.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to see only the friends you've marked for notifications already. You'll have to scroll through the list to check for them every time.

You'll also find this menu under Settings > Notifications on your PS4. Choosing Notifications When Friends Go Online brings you to the same menu. If you want to disable these notifications completely, choose Pop-Up Notifications and disable When Friends Go Online.

This menu also lets you Disable Pop-Ups While Playing Video, if you desire.

PS4 Notification Options Menu

How to Get Notifications for Online PlayStation Friends on PS5

On your PS5, you can accomplish this by heading to Settings at the top-right of the home menu. Choose Notifications from the list to access the relevant options.

Here, scroll down to When Friends Go Online. Underneath this, select Friends That Notify You to select the people you want notifications about.

PS5 Online Friend Notifications

If you've selected friends on your PS4, that list will sync here. Unfortunately, there's still no way to filter by people you've chosen to appear online already, but you can search for specific friends at the top.

On PS5, you can also adjust when these notifications appear. Select When Friends Go Online and you can disable Show Pop-Ups to hide them completely. Otherwise, you can turn off During Games, During Videos, and During Broadcasts if you don't want them to appear during certain activities.

PS5 Notification Options

Finally, the Display Time option above the list allows you to control how long all notifications stay in the corner of your screen.

How to Find Out When PlayStation Friends Come Online Using the PS App

Sony has updated its PlayStation app for Android and iPhone to also support push notifications for when friends come online. This is convenient if you're waiting for someone to jump on while you're away from your console.

Open the PS App on your phone, then tap the Gear icon at the top-right. Choose Push Notifications under the PlayStation App heading to access the relevant options. Then under Social, tap When Friends Go Online.

As mentioned above, the people you've selected on your console syncs to the list on your phone. Disable the Allow Notifications slider at the top to block all notifications about friends coming online on your device. Doing this won't turn off those notifications on your PS4 or PS5.

However, note that when you adjust a friend's slider using the app on your phone, it will also adjust notifications for that person on your console(s). We've looked at the other PlayStation App notifications you can manage, if you're interested.

Stay Connected With PSN Friends

Now you know how to get alerts when your PlayStation friends come online. Selecting a few favorite friends helps you stay updated on who's playing without overwhelming you with too many notifications.

This is just one of the many ways to make your PlayStation experience more organized.

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