PS4 users are advising others to set their messages to private after they received a message on their console. When viewed, the message freezes the consoles and forces players to factory reset their PS4 to get it working again.

According to numerous Reddit users, the message can't even be deleted from the mobile app, but some did say it worked for them. Others stated that just receiving the message was enough to force a reset of their console.

Reddit user "Huntstarck" stated:

"Even deleting the message from the mobile app doesn't work. It happened to me during Rainbow Six: Siege. A player from the other team used a dummy account to send the message and crashed my entire team. We all have had to factory reset. Only one of our guys wasn't affected and he has his messages private. Do this ASAP to prevent this from happening to you."

Reddit User "ThatPissedOffDude" stated:

"This just happened to me during Rocket League. Got a message then after a minute my controller stopped working and everything went silent. Now I can't access the home menu. It just goes to the 'Report Problem' screen every time."

Just in case, it is probably best to go and set your messages option to private, if you haven't been affected yet, in order to be safe.

There has not been an official word from Sony Interactive Entertainment yet. However, it always better to be safe than sorry. I would set your messages to private as soon as possible.

In other PS4 news, Sony Interactive Entertainment is about to enable the ability to change your PSN username, with a test phase this month. The service will officially roll out at the beginning of next year.