New PS5 System Update Released for April 2026, Here’s What Changed

A new system update for PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles has today been pushed out by Sony. Up until this point in 2026, PS5 consoles have already received some massive improvements. This was perhaps most noticeably seen with the PS5 Pro, as the upgraded PlayStation hardware received its long-awaited PSSR 2 update, which made games look even better on the platform. And while today’s patch is by no means as substantial, it still does a bit more than many PS5 updates we’ve seen in the past.

Downloadable now, update version 26.03-13.20.00 for PS5 consoles is a relatively minor one. As expected, the patch makes improvements to messaging and usability, which is something that Sony upgrades with just about every PS5 patch. Other than this, the only other new addition is tied to emojis. Specifically, new emojis have been added to PS5 consoles to be used to react to messages. This upgrade, while a small one, continues Sony’s recent trend of adding new emoji features to PS5 hardware.

Here are the official patch notes for this PS5 console update if you want to see them for yourself:

• We’ve added more emojis that you can use for message reactions.
• We’ve improved the messages and usability on some screens.

Moving forward, we’ll undoubtedly get some much larger and more important updates for the PS5. That being said, these more substantial patches might not come about for a few more months. The reason for this is simply because the most recent PS5 update, which released in February 2026, was a particularly large one. Typically, Sony only releases a handful of patches like this each year and they tend to be pretty spread out from one another. As such, if you’re anticipating a larger PS5 console update soon, you’ll surely be left waiting.

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As for what PS5 owners can look forward to in the months ahead, many of PlayStation’s biggest games of the year are set to roll out soon. Saros, the new third-person shooter from Housemarque, will launch on PS5 next week, while Marvel’s Wolverine will drop in September. In addition, rumors have indicated that a new PlayStation State of Play could happen in either April or May and will further outline the games set to release on PS5 in 2026 and beyond.

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