I've had my PS4 since launch, having previously been exclusively an Xbox 360 owner during the last console generation. At first I thought that Sony consoles simply didn't tell you when people on your friends list hopped online. Then I bought a PS3 and saw that console notifies you whenever your friends come online, and also when they go offline. Finally, several times I noticed my friends inviting me to a party within moments of starting my PS4, so I asked them how they knew I just hopped online, and they confirmed that notifications seem to be working fine on their system.

I've looked at my notification settings, and literally every option has a check mark by it. Is there something else that I might be overlooking? Has anyone else here had this problem and perhaps understand how to fix the situation?

Make sure you check for updates. I had this happen too but as soon as I sat down and applied the most recent update they all showed up.

I don't know what you guys are talking about. As far as I know PS4 does not show a notification when someone signs in/out of PSN. I imagine they took this out because of the 2000 friend limit. Think of how annoying that would get with hundreds of active PS4 friends.

I don't think it was ever supposed to notify you that a friend had come online. It is supposed to notify you when they invite you to a party or what ever. I've seen those pop up fairly consistently, however I have missed a few in the past. I'm not sure if that was the PS4 not telling me someone sent me an invite, or if that was just me, being drunk and not noticing it! (it certainly isn't as prominent as the X360 notifications)

What Tearhead said. They probably took that out because I don't notice it either. Not a loss though because I visit the UI frequently so I check my friends list frequently and know who's online. Although it doesn't matter because my only MP game is Killzone and I only play If someone tells me beforehand like twitter or in party chats.

On the PS4 it no longer gives you a notification when people sign in or out. With potentially 2000 friends, people signing in and out constantly would be pretty annoying. Friends tab is only a home button away though.

Then they need to do something about those of us who are considerably more selective when it comes to our friends lists. Not to get all "entitled" or anything, but I don't expect to get LESS functionality when buying a PS4 than I had with a PS3. Microsoft has this same sort of problem with some areas of the Xbox One, and both companies need to make sure that their new consoles offer at least what the previous generation allowed. I'm fine with waiting an update or two, but it would be nice if we were at least told this was coming.

And the PS3 now offers that same 2000 friend limit, but they did not remove friend notifications. It's an option on the PS3 anyway, so not including it on the PS4 as an OPTION would make the 2000 friend limit a pretty flimsy excuse.