How to Enable and Configure Push to Talk in Discord

Discord is the most popular online communication tool among the gaming community. The features offered are optimal for your best gaming experience. The application lets you create servers and voice channels that enable users to talk with each other over video games. 

This can be very helpful when you play multiplayer games over the internet or when you wish to enjoy a nice chat with your friends who are far away. There are even features that let you push a button to turn your mic on, in case you have a lot of background noise and do not want the people on your voice channel to hear all the noise. 

In this article, we’ll focus on the Discord Push to Talk feature, how it works and how to use it. 

What is Push to Talk in Discord?

As the name suggests, it is a Discord feature that turns the microphone on, when you push a key that has been mapped for this function. In simpler words, this is just like talking in a voice channel with the condition of having to press a key to enable voice chat. 

This is different from the usual voice chat with the inclusion of the need to press a button for your voice to be broadcasted over the voice channel. If you have a droning background noise, it will not be very comfortable for the people you are talking to, especially if they use headphones. 

The Push to Talk (PTT) feature lets you talk to your voice channel, when you are ready to. 

Enabling the Push to Talk feature in Discord for Desktop

This feature has to be enabled before you use the Discord Push to Talk. This can be done through the User settings in Discord. Make sure your Discord is up to date with the latest version for lesser bugs. 

If you download Discord on your Windows system for the first time, you need to let the application access your camera and microphone. Follow these steps to enable the Push to Talk DIscord feature. 

1. Open Discord app for Windows. If your Discord has a newer version, it gets automatically updated

2. At the bottom left part of the Discord window, click on the User Settings gear icon. 

3. On the left pane, you will see different categories of the Settings. In the App Settings category, click on the Voice & Video option.  
4. Under the Input mode section, you’ll see the two ways of inputting audio through discord. Click on Push to Talk. 

5. Once this is done, you’ll see that you have to set keybinds, which will be used to talk and a slider which adjusts the Push to Talk delay. Click on Record Keybind to set the keybinds as the key that you want to use and make necessary adjustments on the slider. 

Note: The bound key is the push to talk button. The release delay lets you talk after a short delay, calculated in milliseconds (ms). You are on mute when you aren’t pressing the shortcut button. 

How to enable Push to Talk in Discord on an Android Smartphone

The Discord app is available for Android Smartphones. You can download it from the Play Store for free. Now, almost every feature that is available on the Discord client for PC is available for the smartphone application.

So is the Push to Talk Discord feature. Like the PC client, you have to enable Push to Talk feature to talk in Discord. These are the steps for enabling the Discord Push to Talk feature. 

1.  Open the Discord application on your Android device. 
2. In the mobile client, there is no gear icon for the Discord settings. Touch your profile picture and a menu slides open. 
3. Scroll down and tap the Voice & Video menu, in the App Settings section. You will see a list of options that are similar to the ones on your computer client. 

4. Select Input Mode and choose Push to Talk, from the pop-up. Voice Activity means the normal voice chat. 

The pop-up was not present in the previous versions. If you have a previous version, you will see an Input Mode section in the Voice & Video settings. Once you have the Push to Talk Discord feature enabled, you will see the Push to Talk button at the bottom of the channel.

A green circle appears around your profile picture. This means that you are talking with the microphone on and your voice is getting broadcasted over the channel. 

Note: A Push to Talk key is not available, when you close the application to the background. Also, you need not add a keybind.

How to configure Push To Talk on iOS Device

Discord is also available for iOS devices and also has the Discord Push to Talk feature. Like the other clients, iOS also has the Push to Talk feature. You have to enable Push to talk, to do this. This is how you can configure the PTT feature for iOS. 

1. Get on to a Discord server and join the audio channel. 
2. Touch the Settings icon. It has a gear for the logo. There is no voice and video option like the previous clients. 
3. Tap on the Input mode and select Push to Talk. 

Changing the Push to Talk Key in Discord for Desktop

You can not be comfortable with the key you set. If you wish to change your Push to Talk keys in Discord, this is how you do it. 

1. Open Discord Settings > Voice and Video > Push to Talk (Input Mode).
2. Under the Shortcut sub-heading, click on the Keyboard icon. This is the Edit Binding button.
3. Hit the key you want. Once you are done, click on the Stop Recording button. The new button will be set. Now, this key will turn your mic on for you. 

How To Fix Discord Push To Talk Not Working

Sometimes you can face little issues with the Push to talk. This is how you can fix them. 

1. See if there is an issue with the Audio Input. 
2. Try troubleshooting your mic. 
3. Update your sound drivers.
4. Disable and Re-enable PTT on your Discord menu. 

Do check out our article on how to format your text in our Discord Text Formatting article.

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