A theme can still be visible after its manager stops. With PS5 Themes, that is not necessarily a failed stop: the resident process, filesystem overlays and saved theme selection have different lifetimes. Read-only overlays do not automatically disappear when a process exits.
That distinction matters when choosing between replacing a running copy, stopping a plugin and returning to stock.
Choose the outcome, not just the Stop button
For ps5-theme v1.80, the versioned README describes several different operations:
- Replace the resident copy while keeping the theme. Starting ps5-theme again is the documented handover path. If that does not recover an unreachable manager, the fallback is
ps5-theme-stop.elf, followed by starting ps5-theme again. The helper intentionally leaves much of the theme visible. - Stop abruptly through etaHEN. The README says its plugin Stop gives ps5-theme no chance to tidy up, so overlays can remain.
- Stop the theme coming back. No theme is the library setting that disables reapplication when the plugin starts. The documented removal procedure begins with that selection, not with deleting the plugin.
The practical catch is rest mode. The project warns that an overlay left in the home screen's own folders can prevent the home screen or apps from starting after rest mode until the console restarts. With themed game icons or fonts, it advises No theme or the stop helper before etaHEN's abrupt Stop. That is the project's documented caveat; behavior across firmware versions is not independently verified here.
Why a successful stop can leave work unfinished
The stop helper acquires the instance lock before doing its own overlay cleanup. It targets selected overlays rather than restoring the whole theme to stock.
Its shared cleanup code selects game/app picture paths and sandbox font paths. Cleanup is deliberately unforced: mounts still in use can remain.
There is a useful detail for anyone integrating the helper into a manager: when overlays remain in use, it displays a warning to start ps5-theme again before rest mode, but still returns 0. An exit-code-only green “stopped” badge would discard information the helper itself reports.
I would expose three separate states: resident copy stopped, selected overlays released, and theme reapplication disabled. A stopped process is not a stock console.
For a payload manager, would you mark Stop complete with a separate cleanup warning, or keep the operation incomplete while overlays remain busy?