How to Tell if Someone is Appearing Offline on PS4? Guide

If you want to learn the process of how to tell if someone is appearing offline on PS4, then you’re just in the right guide!

Finding your offline friends can be extremely difficult, but, with our guide, you won’t be having a problem with it.

Our guide is so comprehensive that we’ll not only let you know of this possibility, but we will also teach you how it can be done, too!

While there is no official way to check if a player is actually offline or appearing offline, you can check their recently played games, the trophies they accumulated, even their social media feeds.

In this tutorial, we will go in-depth and thoroughly by discussing all the ways of finding out if someone is just appearing offline.

How to Tell if Someone is Appearing Offline on PS4?

Sony has done a good job protecting players’ privacy with the online status setting.

Whether you just want some time alone playing a multiplayer game or are playing a single-player game, appearing offline can help you with this.

Unfortunately, even if you can set your status to “appear offline” there are a few ways for players to check what you’ve been doing.

If you’re interested in checking a player’s offline status, you could do it by checking the following things:

Step #1: Did the Player Recently Change Games?

One of the easiest ways to determine if a player is appearing offline is to check their recently played game list.

Contrary to what most people believed, you can’t fake or “appear” offline in a game’s records.

What you need to really do is delve in deep and check the records of the games they’re playing.

If their recently played game list has changed, they may be online and currently invested in a game.

Of course, this doesn’t always necessarily mean that they are online. However, it can mean that they may have recently been and played.

Viewing your friend’s profile is easy and can be performed if they are online or offline:

1. Open your PlayStation and connect it to the internet.
2. Then, go to your friends’ list.
3. After that, take a look at their profile and select Recent Activities.
4. From there, you can view their recently played games.

NOTE: You can go and check the specific games they’ve played or the order of the games they accessed and start from there.

Step #2: Check to See if the Player has Gained any Trophies Recently

PlayStation tracks trophies and achievements for every player; it’s like the bragging rights of the player to show others of his/her achievements.

This is one way of checking if a person is online or is playing even if he/she appears offline.

Why is it a good way to check, you ask? Well, since players don’t receive trophies regularly, this method of locating an offline player is unreliable at best.

NOTE: However, this method is only applicable if the person you’re checking sets it to be viewable.

Here’s the process of how you can see the recent trophies your friend gained:

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Access the friends’ list and select the user you want to check the trophies of.
2. Then, navigate to the trophies list of your friend.

NOTE: There’s an option to access “hidden” trophies. It’s in the same panel or the same area where the displayed trophies are.

Step #3: Check Specific Online Games For Real-Time Status

While the PS4 offline status does a great job of hiding players online, some online games will still show a player online if they are in a match.

Since the player is interacting with other players, they’ll usually show in the list of online players.

If you play the same game as your friend, you can always run the game and check to see if your friend is online. Once in the game, you should be able to view your friends’ list and see if they are playing.

For example, if you are on the same team in a game, it’s impossible for them to “appear offline.”

This is the most reliable way to tell if someone is appearing offline on PS4. There’s no hiding from it.

Step #4: Check Their Social Media Feeds

PlayStation allows players to connect the popular social media websites to the PlayStation Network.

This makes it easy for players to share moments from games and connect with their friends via their social networking accounts.

The PlayStation controller has a share button that allows 1-click sharing of content, including screenshots, video clips, and more.

This means if a player connected their Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube account, you can check their social media to see if they have recently posted any content.

They may “appear offline” but can still post while in-game.

So, check their social media for recent screenshots and other media they could be sharing with other people. It’s also a reliable method to check and see if a person went online.

How to Appear Offline on the PlayStation Network?

If you’re on the other end of the table and you want to keep your activities to yourself, you can appear offline and “hide” from others, too.

Whether you want to avoid certain players or just want time alone, every player should know how to update their online status on the PlayStation Network.

There are many times you may not want to be interrupted while playing games on your PlayStation. That being said, the “appear offline” setting lets you play without any interruptions.

Once you manually set your online status, it will remain set to offline every time you log in until you change it back.

Here are the different processes of appearing offline on your PlayStation (different models).

Appear Offline on PS4

• On the home screen, choose Profile > Set > Online Status > Appear Offline.
• Alternatively, you can press the PS button; select Online Status > Appear Offline.

Appear Offline on PS5

• On the Select User screen, go to Options and select Appear Offline.
• On the Home Screen, select your Profile, then Online Status > Appear Offline.
• Press the PS button and select Profile > Online Status > Appear Offline.

Appear Offline on PlayStation App

• Select Settings, Console Management > Online Status > Appear Offline.

To revert to the active online status, simply follow the same instructions above for your console. But, instead of selecting Appear Offline, choose the other option.

More Privacy Settings on PS4 and PlayStation Network

Playing online with friends should be fun and stress-free.

Unfortunately, there are many toxic players online that could quite possibly ruin your day. Sony takes the privacy of its members and players seriously.

This is why they’re offering a wide range of privacy settings that can make your gaming experience safer and more enjoyable.

These will limit how others see you while using the PlayStation Network.

• Choose who can see your shared media and recent activity.
• Restrict who can send you friend requests.
• Restrict who follows your account and views your connections.
• Block your info from other players.

The PSN privacy settings can be edited from your Account Management page on any PS device.

Here’s how you can get access to them:

1. Go to Account Management.
2. Select PSN Privacy Settings.
3. From there, you can view the settings and Edit them.

You can easily find out if a person is appearing offline by checking out their recent games, by looking at the trophies they accumulated, or even by checking their social media profiles.

Read Next: How to Make Mobile Hotspot Faster for PS4?

Final Verdict

It can be difficult to tell if a player is actually offline or has just set their status to “appear offline.”

With our guide, though, it’ll only be a matter of checking all the spots we taught you. 

If you don’t know the process of how to tell if someone is appearing offline on PS4, you can go back to this guide!

Whether you’re a first-time PS player or a new gamer, you’ll find our tips simple and easy to understand!