Using Voice Chat While Playing Your Nintendo Switch

Voice chat allows you to play games with your friends when you are in different places. It’s a great tool for connecting gamers around the world and improving gameplay by coordinating organized attacks with your teammates.

Voice chat is a built-in feature of almost every current-gen console, but the Nintendo Switch definitely lags behind in that regard. Rather than being available natively on the system, the Nintendo Switch has a more cumbersome way to chat with your friends in-game using the Nintendo Switch Online app.

Do all Nintendo Switch games support voice chat?

Nintendo’s voice chat feature is widely regarded as a subpar experience when compared to consoles such as the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. Not only do you have to download a completely separate app to access it and buy a Nintendo Switch Online membership, but there are only a handful of games that are actually compatible with voice chat.

As of August 2022, there will be 14 exclusive third-party titles on Nintendo Switch that are compatible with Nintendo Switch Online’s voice chat feature. In addition to these 14 titles, voice chat is also available for the catalog of retro NES games that you can access with your Nintendo Switch Online membership.

While this list of games may seem a little bland to some, there are quite a few great titles available on this list. You can check which games are compatible with Nintendo Switch Online voice chat on the Nintendo Support website.

Is there a built-in voice chat option for the Nintendo Switch?

The concept that voice chat is only generally available in the Nintendo Switch Online app is baffling to some. This is mainly because the Nintendo Switch has already been proven to be capable of running voice chat natively on the system.

There are a number of titles like Blizzard’s Overwatch and Epic Games’ Fortnite that bypass the Nintendo Switch Online app and offer built-in voice chat for their games. All you need to activate voice chat for these games is to plug your headset into the 3.5mm headphone jack on Nintendo Switch and start gaming with your friends.

Using Voice Chat on Nintendo Switch with the Nintendo Switch Online app

To use voice chat in the Nintendo Switch Online app, you must first download and install the app. You will also need a valid Nintendo Switch Online membership, a compatible game and a headset with Bluetooth or a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Once you have all of the above, you are ready to chat with your friends on your Nintendo Switch in compatible games. Here’s how:

1. Launch the Nintendo Switch Online app and sign in to your account. If you have not yet created an account, you can do so on the Nintendo Account login page.
2. Connect your headset via Bluetooth or by plugging it into the headphone jack of your smart device.
3. On the home page, you will see a section labeled Game Specific Services. These titles contain their own separate installation instructions. So if you want to play one of these exclusive titles with voice chat, hit the corresponding icon and follow their unique instructions.
4. For all other titles, you can access them from the section below labeled voice chat. Start the compatible title you want to play.
5. The game will appear in the voice chat box. Press Get started to create a lobby for your friends to join at any time.

If you would like to set your Nintendo Switch Online app to notify you when a lobby is available, you can do so in the settings.

1. On the home page, press your user icon in the top right corner to open the settings.
2. Click notifications.
3. Press Change settings.
4. Press notifications in your app settings and turn the Allow notifications button on.
5. Go back to the Nintendo Switch Online app settings and press voice chat.
6. Switch the Start alert button to the “on” position.

You can also personalize your notifications by changing the vibration or sound alerts if you want.

Using voice chat with third-party apps

There are a few shortcomings when using the Nintendo Switch Online app for voice chat. The service is region specific and is currently not available in various parts of Asia and South America. This can be tricky as many games have a worldwide fan base, so you may not be able to coordinate with your entire party via the Nintendo Switch Online app.

Also, if you play your Nintendo Switch on a PC and have an audio mixer, you won’t be able to get the full voice chat experience. Because your headset must be connected to your phone, you can’t use one pair of headphones to hear both your game and your voice chat at the same time.

For this reason, you might be tempted to avoid the trouble by using a third-party app like Discord or Mumble to play Nintendo Switch games with voice chat. While Discord is the most popular option for gamers, there are several other great Discord alternatives that you can try out for yourself.

For privacy reasons, some gamers may prefer to use a voice changer when using voice chat features. The Nintendo Switch Online app does not offer this option by default. But you can check out these great free voice changers if you want to keep your identity private when playing with voice chat online.

Try Nintendo Switch Online Voice Chat for yourself

A good and reliable voice chat feature is a great way to connect virtually with your friends and improve the outcome of your gaming experience. While voice chat on the Nintendo Switch isn’t perfect, it has come a long way in recent years and can be a useful tool if you take advantage of it.