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PlayStation 4’s 6.50 firmware includes a new feature that permits PlayStation 4 players to stream games from their PS4 to their iOS device.
While the PS4 Remote Play function isn’t new per se – we’ve been able to stream to PS Vita, Windows, and Mac for a little while now – up until now players have had to use third-party apps to stream and remote play on iOS devices. Now the PlayStation 4’s 6.50 firmware update brings a native solution that’s free to use, too.
Interestingly, you can’t pair your DualShock 4 controller to it just yet, though; instead, your controls are shown on-screen. As well as launching and playing games, you can also keep on top of your notifications, chats, and messages from the app.
To use it, simply download the app, and pair it with your PlayStation via your home Wifi network. You’ll need a PSN ID, too. Not all titles are supported, Sony warns, and it’s recommended you use an iPhone 7, iPad sixth generation, iPad Pro second generation, or newer and run at least iOS 12.1 or later to use PS4 Remote Play.
PS4 Remote Play for iOS is available now from the Apple Store (thanks, Polygon), where it’s currently sitting at the top of the "Entertainment" app category, with 4.5 stars from over a thousand users who have already rated the app.
Hopefully, the app will be some comfort to those who regularly stream to their PS Vita, as PlayStation Japan recently announced it would shortly end production of the fan-favourite mobile device, PlayStation Vita.
While no specific date has been given, when Sony ceased the production of the PlayStation 3, the same official Sony website made a similar statement just a few months before the PS3 was finally withdrawn completely.
Sony had already taken the Vita out of its future plans with regards to PlayStation Plus’s free games, and the company advised developers and publishers it would no longer be producing physical copies of games for the system by the end of FY 2018 (so by the end of March 2019). Outside of the platform holder, developers – such as those behind Kickstarter game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – have also been moving away from the system.
A recent patent might reveal what Sony has planned for its next mobile device. A patent filed at the Korea Patent Office in November 2017, and made public in November 2018, reveals Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. has patented an "electronic game cartridge" device. The filing has just been made public.
There’s very, very little detail in the five-page document – the filing pretty much the only details that the device will be made of "synthetic resin, metal" – but from the few diagrams provided, it appears that the device will connect to/from a USB or HMDI port at one end.
