Update 2: Late November 27, the reverse issue began occurring, with users unable to select “Appear Offline.” You can find all of the details in our current story on the issue.
Update: Here’s Sony’s official response so far:
We are aware that some PS4 users have reported issues accessing PSN tonight. Thanks for your patience as we investigate.
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) September 7, 2017
Original Story:
If you’re unable to launch PS4 games and appear online on PS4, it’s not just you. Dozens of users are reporting the issue on social media. Here’s a look at some of the most recent reports:
@AskPlayStation hey there I'm on my PS4 right now and it says I'm appearing offline and I can't play any game on my PS4 can you help me?
— Mustafa.arja (@musti_arja) September 7, 2017
@AskPlayStation is anyone else having this problem for ps4 says I'm appearing offline and I try to switch it to online but nothing works pic.twitter.com/qK771Sos31
— Nocturnal⚾️ #WinForVin (@NocturnalGamin4) September 7, 2017
Here’s how you can set your status to online, although that doesn’t seem to be helping some users:
Main Login Screen: If you are at the main login screen choosing which profile to log in as, press the Options button (instead of X to login). Two options will appear in a menu to the right. Select Login with Appear Offline and you will sign in to the PlayStation Network for yourself but will still appear as offline to friends.
PS4 Home Screen: At the PS4 home screen, go to Profile > Online Status and you can toggle between appearing online and offline without actually affecting your PlayStation Network login status.
In Game: If you suddenly have a hankering to appear offline mid game, you can either go to the home screen and use the option listed above, or you can hold down the PS Button and select the Online Status option. From here, you can toggle between appearing online and offline, again without actually affecting your PlayStation Network login status.
We’ll update once we see what Sony is telling users to do. This most recently happened in July, where players couldn’t sign in after PS4 update 4.72:
Several possible workarounds have been posted, with one suggesting you to go to Settings > PlayStation Network then log out and log back in, and then log your controller out of the PS4 and back in. Others suggest a full system restart, but that seems to be met with mixed results.
Sony suggested the following:
Sorry for the delay! If the issue continue, please try safe mode option 4 Restore Default Settings: https://t.co/OOaq76kzAA
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) July 12, 2017
Let us know if you’ve found any successful workarounds regarding appearing online on PS4.
