It’s that time of the month again, as PS5 console owners can boot up their machine and download a fresh firmware update for their hardware. Version 26.01-12.60.00 brings the usual stability improvements to your PS5, along with a few extra enhancements to messages, friend widgets, and general usability.
If you’re a social gamer, then you can take advantage of a new feature that will allow you to jump directly from the Friends Activity widget in your Welcome Hub and into the games that they’re playing–which will make joining a session of Street Fighter 6 a little easier.
PS5 Version: 26.01-12.12.60 update notes
- You can now jump directly from the Friends Activity widget in your Welcome Hub to the games your friends are playing.
- You can now turn on read receipts to show other players when you’ve read their messages.
- To turn on your read receipts, go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Privacy > View and Customise Your Privacy Settings. Under Communication and multiplayer, set Show read receipts to other players on PS5 and PlayStation App to Allow.
- This feature will be rolled out gradually, and some users will be able to use it when the system software update is released.
- We’ve improved the messages and usability on some screens.
- We’ve improved system software performance and stability.
This is the first PS5 update of 2026, following the release of version 25.08-12.40.00 in December 2025. As usual, this update featured incremental upgrades to the console firmware, adding improvements to system stability, messages, and usability on some screens.
Surprisingly, the PS4 console is also getting a firmware update. Version 13.04 is a small upgrade that makes “some security fixes to the system software,” adding another layer of protection to the last-gen machine.
