While the PS4 UI was great, Sony tried to implement a more immersive experience with the PS5—hence the focus on dynamic themes instead of a simple wallpaper that would serve as a background to the menus.
This dynamic home screen has its upsides—as you scroll through your games library in the thin menu at the bottom, the background will change to reflect the currently selected games. Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to change the background and install custom wallpapers, which aren’t officially supported.
Right now, there isn’t such an option, even though the PS4 had official support for wallpapers based on different games; you could even buy them through the PlayStation store. However, there are still ways to customize your user experience on the PS5.
For instance, you can change the cover image on your player profile to anything you want, with a bit of work. We’ll describe the entire process right here and boil it down for you as simply as possible, so stay tuned!
Contents hide
1 Can You Change the PS5 Background?
2 How To Install Custom
Images as Your Game Base Cover Image
3 Can You Change the Home Screen Music
on the PS5?
4 Frequently Asked Questions
4.1 Can you customize the
background on a PS5?
4.2 Where do I change my theme on PS5?
4.3 Does PS5
have an Internet browser?
Can You Change the PS5 Background?
Until Sony introduces this option on their latest console, no, you can’t. There’s no way to switch off the dynamic theme and change it to a static image, or install custom themes (or even exclusive themes referring to major games). However, you can change your cover picture to anything you can find on the Internet, even though the PS5’s browsing capabilities are sorely lacking. The process entails:
Accessing a search engine like Google or Bing through the console’s chat
Finding a wallpaper image for your player profile
Saving it as a screenshot
Changing your profile
We’ll dive deeper and describe all the necessary steps to achieve this below!
How To Install Custom Images as Your Game Base Cover Image
Game Base is the PS5’s social networking tool for gamers—a virtual space where you can talk and hang out with other users of the PlayStation Network. You can plan your next gaming session, catch up, and share content; the last one being the most important feature for this process.
Here’s how you can use the Game Base chat to access the console’s “hidden” browser and change the Game Base cover image to a custom wallpaper:
Press the PS button on your PS5 controller
Select Game Base to access your friends
Select one of your friends and open the chat box
Type Google.com or Bing.com, depending on which search engine you want to use
Once you’ve sent the message, it will appear as a selectable link in your chat. Click on it to open the built-in browser.
Now you can search for the image you want to use as your Game Base cover photo! Just make sure you’ve opened the Images tab on your search engine of choice. Here’s an example:
Search for something like “God of War background”
Select one of the search results
Press and hold the Create (Share) button on your controller to save the entire screen (including the image) as a screenshot
Press the Create button again to access your screenshots
Choose the one you’ve just taken
Select Edit
Use the edit menu to crop out any unnecessary parts of the image. You can use your joysticks to perfectly zoom, position, and cut the image for a wallpaper
Once you’re finished, Save the image (I chose the Save As New option).
Bear in mind that lower-resolution images will appear blurry on high-resolution screens—like the one on your TV, especially if it’s 4K. That’s why you should search for 4K images, or at least 2048×1080 for 2K screens. If you don’t choose the right resolution, you’ll end up with a low-quality cover.
So, now that you have your custom image, how do you actually set it as your Game Base profile cover? Follow these steps:
Press the PS button
Open your Profile menu
Choose Edit Profile
Go to Cover Image
Select Change Image
Select your newly edited picture
That’s it! Now you can see your new cover photo in action by visiting your Game Base profile!
Can You Change the Home Screen Music on the PS5?
The PS5 has a nice, peaceful melody as its main menu theme—a fitting piece of music as a subtle backdrop to whatever you’re doing in PS5’s menus. Unfortunately, you can’t change it either, for a similar reason—the music changes dynamically depending on what you’re doing.
Once you start browsing different games in your library, the background music will change to something from the currently selected game. You can’t change the default menu sound, but you can disable it if you prefer silence.
Here’s the full step-by-step guide to doing just that:
Press the PS button to reach your home screen
Select the gear icon above the game icons to access your Settings
Open the Sound menu, found below the Storage tab
Pick Audio Output
Navigate to Home Screen Music under General and toggle it off
If you turn off the home screen music, you won’t hear soundbites from various game soundtracks as you hover over them—though sound effects of different menu options will still be there. You can turn them off as well; the process is largely the same, and the option is right under the Home Screen Music toggle in the Sound menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re sorry that Sony has decided to reduce the customization options for its latest console, but we hope our guides will help you make the most of the existing features. We’ll also provide answers to some of the most common questions on the subject below:
Can you customize the background on a PS5?
You can’t, but you can change the cover image for your player profile—that’s as close as you’ll get to customization. Just select themes on the Select Theme screen through the settings menu. You can even check out some dynamic backgrounds.
Where do I change my theme on PS5?
Unfortunately, the PS5 doesn’t support custom visual or audio themes right now, but it’s something Sony might decide to introduce in the future. Until then, you can turn off menu sounds via the process we’ve described above, or enjoy the different game soundtracks as you browse through your library.
Does PS5 have an Internet browser?
Yes, but you can only visit URLs by clicking on links—there’s no option to write an address yourself in the search bar. That’s why our method for downloading images from Google resorts to writing the link in your Game Base chat.
