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How to join a party (voice chat) on PS5

You'll be chatting to your PS5 buddies in no time.
Lewis Painter
By Lewis Painter
Senior Staff Writer, Tech Advisor DEC 1, 2021 11:17 pm GMT

When it comes to multiplayer gaming, in-game communication systems aren’t great. The overall quality of the audio is often on the low end of the scale, and in most online games, the voice chat functionality ceases to work during loading screens, stifling the conversation between friends.

It’s for this reason that people prefer Parties, and in particular Voice Chats, when gaming on the PS5. The problem is they aren’t as easy to set up or join as some might like, so we’ve outlined how to create and join a voice chat both on your PS5, and on your smartphone too.  

How to set up a voice chat on PS5

Parties, or Voice Chats as they’re known on the PS5, are a part of a group messaging system. To be able to chat with your buddies in realtime, you’ll first have to set up a new party.

To do that, press the PlayStation button on your DualSense controller and head to the Game Base menu. If you only want to talk to a single person, simply browse for the person you’d like to talk to in your Friends list and press Square to create a chat.

If, however, you want a party full of people, select the Parties tab, select the + icon and tap Create Party. From there, it’s simply a case of selecting the people you’d like to party up with and selecting Create New Party. All players will then be notified that they’ve been added to a new party.

Parties allow you to send text-based messages, images, videos and voice clips, but there’s an additional step if you want real-time voice chat. From your new party, select the Voice Chat icon from the right-hand side. All players in the party will then be notified about the voice chat, and they can choose to join if they desire.

In summary:

  1. Press the PlayStation button and navigate to the Game Base menu.
  2. To talk to a single person, browse for the person in your friend list and press X.
  3. Select Join Voice Chat.
  4. To talk to a group, head to the Parties tab in Game Base.
  5. Select the + icon.
  6. Select Create Party.
  7. Select the players you’d like to add to the party.
  8. Select Create New Party.
  9. To start a voice chat within a party, select the Voice Chat icon.

How to join a voice chat on PS5

That’s all well and good, but what about if you want to join a voice chat that one of your PlayStation buddies has created? There are a couple of ways to go about it.

If you’ve been invited to a new party – indicated by a notification – simply hit the PS Button to highlight the notification and select join. From there, you can select the voice chat icon on the right-hand side of the Party window to join the voice chat shenanigans.

If someone else has already initiated the voice chat within a party you’re a part of, you’ll get a notification. As with joining the party, highlight the notification with the PS button and tap Join to quickly join the voice chat – no need to select the icon.  

How to leave a voice chat on PS5

What happens when you’re done chatting with your gaming buddies? Simply turning off the console will disconnect you from the voice chat, but if you want to continue gaming, that’s not the ideal option.

The best way to leave a voice chat is to access the party within the Parties tab of Game Base and select Leave Voice Chat. Simple, right?

How to join a PS5 voice chat from your smartphone

To join a PS5 voice chat from your smartphone, you’ll need the PS App for iOS or Android. Once you’ve got it installed and linked to your PlayStation ID, you’ll need to decide whether you want to chat with a party or a single person, because the process varies.

If you want to chat with a single friend, tap the Friends menu (the square smiley faces in the top-right) and tap the username of the person you’d like to talk to. From there, it’s as simple as tapping the Voice Chat button to talk!

If you want to chat with a party, there’s a slightly different process. Rather than the Friends menu, you’ll need to open the Messages menu, accessible via the speech bubbles in the top-left of the app’s home screen.

From there, tap the party you’d like to join, and tap the Voice Chat icon in the top right (the headset icon). You’ll then see a dropdown menu displaying who, if anybody, is already in the voice chat. If you want to join in on the fun, simply tap Start Voice Chat.  

For single-person voice chats:

  1. Open the PS App on your iPhone or Android.
  2. Tap the Friends icon (two square smiley faces in the top right) to access the Friends menu.
  3. Tap on the person you’d like to talk to.
  4. Tap Voice Chat (the headset icon).
  5. Tap Start Voice Chat to initiate the chat.

For party voice chats:

  1. Open the PS App on your iPhone or Android.
  2. Tap the Messages icon (speech bubbles in the top left).
  3. Tap the Party you’d like to join.
  4. Tap the Voice Chat icon (headset) to see if anybody is voice chatting.
  5. Tap Start Voice Chat to join the chat.

, Senior Staff Writer

Lewis Painter is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor. Our resident Apple expert, Lewis covers everything from iPhone to AirPods, plus a range of smartphones, tablets, laptops and gaming hardware. You'll also find him on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.

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