If you haven't used your PlayStation 4 this week, you might want to. The latest System Update is out, and you have to download it. It's 375 MB and should start downloading as soon as you turn on your device. But why is it so big? And is there anything great about mandatory updates anyway? It may seem like updates just take away time from your gaming, but this one is pretty huge.

Streaming, menus, friends and more

If you like to stream, Sony has your back. The new update enhances streaming capabilities so long as the internet connection is strong enough.

PS4 Pro users are now able to stream in 1080p and 60 FPS. PSVR users can soon see messages and comments coming through while the broadcast, as well as getting new 5.1ch and 7.1ch virtual surround sound support.

The Quick Menu will finally have more options now. From the Quick Menu, players can soon check on the progress of downloads and see new invitations for parties. Players can now leave parties and access their Spotify playlists through the Quick Menu.

Finally, the Friend's List is getting much better management tools. You can now set up separate groups of friends. For instance, you can make a list of all of the friends that you play a game with and invite them to play. This will replace the Favorite Groups, but it runs much more smoothly.

One of the most useful improvements is that you can now disable notifications and pop-ups while watching videos. Players can change how much of a message is shown and the color of the message while playing a game or watching media content.

A bit more family friendly

For those players who have a whole family that use the PlayStation 4, you can feel a bit relieved.

This new update changes the way that parental controls work. Rather than having the old system of primary and sub-accounts, there is now a user that is the Family Manager. This user can put in whether other users are children, adults, or parents/guardians. Parent or Guardian accounts can restrict what Children accounts can do, such as online gaming and communication, game restrictions, internet restrictions, and set spending limits in the PlayStation Store.

Sony has stated before that people setting up Adult accounts for the first time would be charged $0.50 to be sure that the person is an adult, but there is no sign of that in the update. It could come up, but it's not anywhere in the patch notes for this update. So as far as we know, enjoy the new system that Sony has set up!
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