Millions of gamers try to save the world playing Overwatch, a multiplayer online FPS game by Blizzard for PC, Xbox & PS4 devices. It has become very popular since the launch in mid 2016 because of the extremely classic team battles, different choices of heroes and real-like in-game visuals. It is power packed with battles, various skills of heroes, points table, an automated instant replay system, group team voice chat and many more features.
With a huge player base and new updates being rolled out, the developers face new technical challenges on a regular basis as well. One of the major problems reported is “Overwatch voice chat not working“. Voice chat basically forms the backbone of any online multiplayer game and without communication, it kills the vibe of the gameplay. So in this guide, I will share tested and working solutions by other players as well as based on my research which will help you to fix Overwatch voice chat problem.
Contents
How to Fix Overwatch Voice Chat on PC
When you are trying to fix voice chat on PC/laptop, you should try troubleshooting the hardware. By checking both the playback and recording devices, you can be sure that hardware isn’t the core centre of the issue.
1. Check Default Audio Devices
- Right click on the “Volume” icon in the system tray menu on the bottom right corner of your desktop
- Open “Playback Devices” or “Voice Chat Devices“
- Now choose the device (headphone/headset) which you wish to use in-game
- Make that device as “Default Device“
- Once done, go to “Recording Devices” from the Volume icon in system tray and repeat the same steps for Default Device
2. Check Windows Drivers
- Right click on My Computer/This PC icon on your desktop
- Click on Properties
- Select Device Manager
- Find Sound, video and game controllers from the list
- Confirm that the audio device is enabled and working
- If not, go and find the exact drivers needed, on the manufacturer’s website (since Windows installs generic drivers)
3. Disable Exclusive Mode in Audio Devices
Enabling the exclusive mode allows the system to prioritize any active applications to use the audio devices. If you disable it, there are huge chances that your voice chat might be fixed. So here’s how to do it:
- Right click on the Volume icon in the system tray menu
- Select Playback Devices
- Select your default in-game device and click Properties
- Select the Advanced Tab
- Uncheck the box “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device“
- Once done, go to “Recording Devices” and repeat the same process for the Default audio device
4. Disable Firewall
It is usually recommended not to disable Firewall since it’s a very important security measure for your computer system. Though many people have found this interesting hack and their voice chat on Overwatch worked after they disabled Firewall.
- Open Control Panel from My Computer/This PC
- Choose System and Security from the options
- Choose Windows Firewall
- Select Turn Windows Firewall ON or OFF (You will need to act as administrator in order to access these settings)
- Turn it OFF
5. In-game audio devices
You should check out the in-game settings once you have tried all the above hardware or software settings that could affect the audio problems in Windows OS. To check the in-game settings, you need to:
- Select Options
- Choose the Sound tab
- Turn up both the microphone and speaker sound to full
- Check your voice chat channel settings and make sure Team Voice Chat and Group Voice Chat are set to On or Auto Join
- Save all the changes in settings
How to Fix Overwatch Voice Chat on Xbox One
1. In-game Audio Settings
One of the guys on Reddit tried this and it worked after some time on his Overwatch game.
- Go to Settings
- Change Voice Chat settings from Auto Detect to Always On (this didn’t work)
- So he changed it back to Auto Detect and it started to work after a couple of hours
- You can try it out as well
2. Try a different Headset
If your voice chat is not working with Xbox live, the first thing you should do is ask your friends as well if they are facing the same problem. If yes, try the first trick I shared and if not, then the problem is probably with your mic, controller or console.
The only time my mic ever has any trouble is when Xbox Live itself is having issues (it can affect party chat, so those days we switch over to the in-game team chat).
I would recommend you to use the Xbox Stereo Headset which comes at an affordable price of around $60 and works extremely well even than those priced at $200 or more.
How to Fix Overwatch Voice Chat on PS4
Many players have reported on different forums about the voice chat problems in Overwatch while using the PS4 console. I have found 2 working solutions which you guys can try out and fix it.
1. Change DNS
- On your PS4, go to Settings
- Select Net Settings from the options
- Set the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
This solution has worked for around 80% of the players facing the voice chat issue on PS4 consoles.
2. Change Voice chat Settings
- Go to Options menu
- Select the Voice chat Settings
- Select Auto-Join/Detect for BOTH Group chat and Team chat
A user on Reddit also explained how to make voice chat working on Overwatch if a group leader leaves in the middle of the game without notice. Here’s what he said:
Now some things to know about grouping up, if you do, sometimes when in a group you may get a bug that causes your sound to go out completely. This seems to happen most often when the Leader of the group leaves the game without assigning the Leader role to someone else in the group. Everyone then has to restart (or everyone except who it defaulted leader to). Anyway I digressed. When you are Grouped up AND you enter a game, click on options on your controller.
- Select Social
- Click R1 twice to go to Groups
- Now that you are grouped up a new option appears in the Left Side column. It will show that you are in Group Chat.
- You want you and all the people in your group to click on Team Chat (unless you are in a Group of Six people). This will let your coordinate with people not in your group, if they want to communicate.
Final Words
So this was my full guide on how to solve Overwatch voice chat issues if it’s not working. Though there have been speculations that this problem is usually stays for a while and gets fixed on its own. We can deduce that there might be some internal Overwatch server issues but you can certainly try out these fixes which I shared above since they worked for many people.
If you are still facing some issues with the Overwatch voice chat, comment below and I will try to answer your queries in the best and easiest way possible. Do share this article if it helped you in any way so it can help others as well. Cheers!
Hey, i tried my mic on laptop and voice chat dont work on it, but on PC it do, why does it work on PC and not on laptop, same MIC and same net no anything different!
Hey mate, you can try following these official voice chat troubleshooting steps: https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/26042
or you can submit your Overwatch voice chat log file to them using the Contact us page provided there. Hope this helps you out and thanks for dropping by!
My in-game voice chat on Xbox One will not work. It’s been like this for over a month now and it’s super frustrating having to invite people to a party for competetive. I’ve tried switching on/off auto detect. I’ve reset my xbox, my headset settings, literally everything. My headset isn’t the problem. When I join a game it says that I am the only one in chat EVERY SINGLE TIME. This obviously isn’t the case because it also doesn’t register my voice when i speak even if I was the only one in game chat. I do not know what else to do it just stopped working one day.
Your method of describing everything in this article is in fact pleasant, all be capable of easily be aware of it, Thanks a lot.