No, You Cannot Play PS5 Games on a Phone Without an Internet Connection

As an avid gamer and creator focusing on the PS5 gaming scene, one question I see pop up a lot is – can you play PS5 games on your phone without Wi-Fi or mobile data?

The short answer is no. Let‘s dive deeper into why.

What is PS Remote Play?

PS Remote Play is a game streaming technology introduced by Sony that allows you to stream PS5 and PS4 games from your console to other devices like phones, tablets or computers. It streams the video and audio from your console to another screen in real-time.

This means Remote Play relies on having an active internet connectivity between your PS5 and the device you‘re streaming to. Without connectivity, there is no way for Remote Play to transfer the game data for streaming.

Minimum and recommended internet speeds for PS Remote Play streaming

You Cannot Use Remote Play Without An Internet Connection

Unlike offline play for installed games and apps on the console itself, PS Remote Play to phones still requires an internet connection to work – whether that‘s Wi-Fi or mobile data through your cell carrier.

The bandwidth requirements also aren‘t trivial. As per the table above, you ideally want 15 Mbps speeds for a smooth Remote Play experience.

Average Mobile Data Speeds Are Often Lower Than Optimal

According to 2021 data from Ookla Speedtest, the global average mobile download speed is 35 Mbps. However speeds in many countries are lower:

Average mobile internet speeds in selected countries (Source: Ookla Speedtest)

You can see that aside from a few countries, typical mobile speeds fall short of the 15 Mbps recommendation for using Remote Play.

Using Mobile Hotspots Has Connectivity Challenges

Some may think to use their phone‘s mobile data via hotspot/tethering to connect their PS5. However, this setup brings even more issues:

• Hotspot stability with multiple devices is poor
• Latency spikes can disrupt real-time interactivity

As Remote Play streams uncompressed video, it demands both stable throughput and low latency from the network. Mobile hotspots struggle to provide an adequate experience here.

My Take – Not Viable for Enjoyable PS5 Gaming

Given the connectivity requirements and real-world mobile data constraints explored above, I don‘t believe it‘s realistically viable to have a good PS5 over Remote Play without Wi-Fi or proper broadband connectivity.

While it may technically work in limited cases, the instability and lag would likely make for a suboptimal gaming experience – not something I‘d enjoy or recommend to fellow players!

Hope this gives some helpful insight into the question of playing next-gen games without an internet connection. Let me know if you have any other PS5 gaming questions!