PS5 Rest Mode, explained

Your PlayStation 5 console has a rest mode you can place it in. It’s a beneficial feature for anyone who doesn’t want to power down their console completely. It’s similar to putting your computer to sleep and not having to turn it on every time you want to use it.

For those who previously owned a PlayStation 4, the PS5’s rest mode is extremely similar. It powers down many of the console’s main functions, but it leaves plenty of background things that make it easier to return to your favorite game and pick it up whenever you want to start playing. You will know the rest mode is on your console indicated by the orange light on your console’s status indicator.

While in rest mode, your controllers will be receiving a charge. This makes it easier to put it down for a few hours and then return to it with a fully charged controller. You do need to have the controller plugged in to receive the charge, though.

If you were playing a game before placing the PS5 in rest mode, the game would remain on the same screen exactly where you are. When you return to the console, fully power it on, and jump into the game, you’ll be in the same spot you left everything.

For those who don’t want to deal with downloading software, the PS5 will automatically download any game or system update it receives while in rest mode. It does need to be connected to your internet connection to receive those updates. But whenever they go out, at any time of the day, the PS5 will start to download them in the background so you won’t have to deal with them when you return to the game.

You can modify any of these settings by going to the settings option, going through the system options, power saving, and then selecting the “features available in rest mode” to modify what you can and cannot do. For those interested in using the Remote Play application for the console, you’ll be able to enable that there.