How to re-enable Fortnite voice chat on Windows

Being able to communicate with other players is one of the crucial aspects of Fortnite . In fact, a voice chat that doesn’t work can strongly undermine the mechanisms that regulate team activities.

Apparently, problems in this regard on Windows are not that rare: if you suddenly find yourself mute, here are some practical solutions to get back to communicating normally with your friends.

Fortnite

Try doing basic repairs

Before trying the technical solutions, make sure you restart the game at least once. Voice chat may be unresponsive due to a temporary technical problem with your computer. To solve this problem, consider both a restart of the game and one of the operating system in use.

Make sure your game volume is set to 50% or more. If the voice chat volume level is too low, you will have a hard time hearing your teammates.

weak internet connection can also be a major reason behind the problem. So, make sure you have access to a stable connection with performance worthy of the name.

Visit the Fortnite Community Issue Board

What if the problem wasn’t local but game servers ?

Fortnite has a dedicated Trello board with information on all ongoing issues with the title in question. The board is regularly updated by the Fortnite community with the latest problems encountered and their respective solutions.

So, visit the dashboard if you suspect that the broken voice chat may not depend on your hardware.

Check for any server outages in progress

Fortnite is an online multiplayer game , and as such its servers run into problems from time to time. Sometimes this affects the whole game and sometimes just some specific features.

So, whenever the Fortnite voice chat is unresponsive, visit the Epic Games server status page to make sure all systems are up and running. Expand the Fortnite category and check the status of the voice chat server . If the server status is not considered operational, something has gone wrong on Epic Games’ part and you can’t do much other than wait for the issue to be resolved.

In this case, however, you shouldn’t worry: Fortnite is very important for Epic Games and, therefore, it will be their priority to put things back in place.

Make sure your friends are in the same voice chat channel

You can use two channels to communicate within Fortnite: Party Channel and Game Channel , each with their own advantages. The first channel helps to aggregate players who are not yet in a match. The Game Channel, on the other hand, helps connect players who are on the same team.

You need to be in the right voice chat channel to communicate with your teammates. For example, if your teammates are on the Party Channel and you are on the Game Channel, you will not be able to communicate with them.

Then, change the channel using the social menu to see if the problem goes away.

Change your parental control settings

Fortnite offers parental controls to ensure game settings are perfect if you have particularly young kids in the house. If this feature is enabled, you will not be able to use voice chat in the game.

As a solution, make sure that voice chat is enabled in the parental control settings . Here are the steps to follow in this regard:

  • start Fortnite and click on the hamburger icon in the upper left corner;
  • click on the gear icon and choose Parental Control from the context menu;
  • enter the 6-digit security PIN and click Next ;
  • change the voice chat to All ;
  • click Save .

That’s all. Now restart the game and check if you can use the voice chat feature or not.

Enable voice chat in Fortnite settings

Fortnite has a direct option to enable and disable voice chat. If it’s disabled, you want to be able to use the feature in the game.

So, make sure that voice chat is enabled in the Fortnite settings. You can check this by following the instructions below:

  • click on the hamburger icon and select the gear icon ;
  • click on Settings ;
  • switch to the Audio menu ;
  • make sure Voice Chat is set to Everyone .

You can also change the voice chat method in Open Mic so that your teammates can hear you at all times.

Check System Settings

The next thing you should check for a solution to the problem is to take a look at the system’s audio settings . If the output and input device settings are set to the wrong device, you will not be able to communicate with your teammates.

So, make sure your audio settings are using the correct input and output device. You can check this by following the instructions below:

  • access the Control Panel ;
  • change the View icons to Large ( to identify them more easily);
  • click Sound ;
  • in the Playback tab , select the output device you want to use as default, right -click and choose the option Set as default device ;
  • go to the Recording tab , select the input device you want to use as default, right click and choose Set as default device ;
  • click Apply and then confirm OK .

Allow Fortnite to access the microphone

If Fortnite cannot access the microphone connected to the computer, you will most likely have to deal with the problem with a specific procedure. To resolve the situation you should follow this procedure:

  • open the Settings menu using the Win + I hotkeys ;
  • choose Privacy and security from the left pane;
  • in the app permissions, choose Microphone ;
  • locate Fortnite and enable the switch next to it;
  • then, restart the game and check if you can use the voice chat function or not.

If not, try the next solution in the list.

Download the latest game updates

Fortnite regularly receives updates to fix bugs , add features, and more. If the voice chat issue is caused by a bug in the game, downloading the latest update can prove to be an effective solution.

You can download and install the latest Fortnite update by following these simple steps:

  • open Epic Games Launcher ;
  • click on your profile and choose Settings ;
  • click on Fortnite and select Fortnite Auto Update from the context menu.

Epic Games Launcher will download and install any updates available for Fortnite at the next launch.