How to turn off your PS5
So, you want to turn off a PlayStation 5, and you don’t know how. Everyone’s been there. There’s no shame in it.
Back in the old days of gaming, consoles were either on or off, and you handled that business with a physical button on the machine itself. Not so much these days, or at least, that’s not the only way to do it anymore. Like its contemporaries in the Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5’s power situation is a tad bit more complicated than that.
But it isn’t that complicated. Here’s how to turn off a PS5.
How to turn off a PS5
There are two main methods of turning off a PS5: You can use the power button, or you can do it with a controller.
Use the power button
The simplest method is also the oldest trick in the book. The PS5 does, indeed, have a physical power button. If you have a PS5 with a disc drive, it’s next to the eject button. Both buttons are nestled in the glossy black part of the console’s front side. With the console standing up vertically, it’s the bottom button. With the console sitting horizontally, it’s the left button.
If you don’t have a disc drive on your PS5, then you just have the power button, making this even easier.
Just press the button, and your PS5 should turn off.
Use the controller
If you don’t feel like waltzing all the way over to your TV to turn your PS5 off, the easier method is to use the controller.
Press the PlayStation logo button in the middle of the DualSense controller while on the PS5’s home screen. This will bring up a sort of taskbar along the bottom edge of the screen. Simply scroll all the way to the far right side of this taskbar to find a power icon. Press that button to get three options:
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Put the PS5 in rest mode
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Turn the PS5 off
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Restart the PS5
Obviously, number three is not what we’re looking for. The first option should at least give you pause, though. Rest mode is a state in which your PS5 sleeps to conserve energy, but it stays connected to the internet so it can finish downloads or even automatically install updates while you’re busy doing adult stuff. This is, at the very least, worth considering.
But if you don’t feel like using rest mode, just turn the PS5 off from here. It’s that easy.