Trying to figure out why party chat is not working on your Playstation?
If you love playing online games on your Playstation, communication with other players is vital to get every advantage against your opponents. While most games offer lobbies for teams to communicate, most users playing with their friends use Playstation’s built-in chat feature.
Playstation Network’s party feature also allows you to communicate with anyone in your group through voice and text chats regardless of the game you are playing.
This option is really great if you play single-player games and want to catch up with your friends.
Unfortunately, Playstation’s party feature doesn’t work all the time.
Based on what we know, this problem usually happens when the servers go down for maintenance or when you connect to a slow or unstable connection. Other issues like corrupted files and outdated software could also cause this problem on the Playstation.
To help you out, we’ve decided to make a guide on what to do if the party chat feature is not working on your Playstation.
Let’s dive right in!
1. Check PSN’s Servers.
Like any platform, Playstation Network also needs maintenance to keep everything in order. If PSN’s party chat is not working on your Playstation, there’s a good chance that Sony’s team is conducting system maintenance.
To confirm this, visit Playstation’s dedicated status page and see if their servers are offline.
If PSN’s servers are currently unavailable, the best thing we can suggest for now is to wait for their team to address the problem. On the other hand, you can try the rest of the solutions below if there are no issues with Playstation’s services.
2. Check Your Peripherals.
If you utilize PSN’s party chat, it is safe to assume that you are using some sort of headset for your audio input and output device. If you can’t hear anyone from the chat or your friends can’t hear you, make sure that your device is plugged in correctly on your Playstation.
You should also make sure that your volume is turned up and your headphones output setting is set correctly. To do this, simply navigate to Settings > Devices > Audio Devices > Output to Headphones and select ‘All Audio’.
Once done, go back to party chat and check if the problem is solved.
3. Restart Your Playstation.
Before making any changes to your device, we recommend restarting your Playstation to ensure that all of its resources are loaded correctly. Rebooting your console should also eliminate temporary errors that may have occurred while you’re using it.
On the PS4, follow the steps below to restart it:
- First, locate the PS button on your controller.
- Next, press and hold the PS button until the Quick Menu appears.
- Lastly, select Restart PS4 to reboot your device.
For PS5 users, here’s what you need to do:
- Access the Quick Menu of your PS5 by holding down the PS button.
- Now, highlight Restart PS5.
- Finally, press the O or X button on your controller to proceed.
After restarting your Playstation, try using party chat to check if the problem is solved.
4. Re-Login to Your PSN Account.
You can also try resetting your user data if party chat is not working on your Playstation. Your PSN account’s data may have gotten corrupted due to random bugs and glitches that occur on the platform.
For Playstation 4 users, you can sign out your account by doing the following:
- First, go to the Settings page of your device and access the Account Management tab.
- Now, highlight the Sign Out button using your controller.
- Lastly, press the O or X button to proceed.
If you are using a Playstation 5, check out the guide below to sign out your PSN account:
- On your device, access the Settings and click on User Accounts.
- After that, open the Other tab.
- Finally, select Sign Out to stop your session.
Once done, wait for at least 5 minutes before logging back into your Playstation Network account. Use the party chat feature again to check if the problem is solved.
5. Check and Reset Your Internet.
A slow or unstable network connection could also cause party chats on the Playstation not to work. Like any messaging app, PSN’s party chat needs a decent internet connection to function correctly.
If you suspect that your internet is running slow, perform a speed test using Fast.com to measure its current upload and download speed.
Restart or power cycle your router if the test result shows that your network connection is unstable to refresh the connection with your internet service provider.
After the restart, run another test on your network to check if the problem is solved. If your connection continues to run slow, report the issue to your ISP and let them handle the troubleshooting process.
6. Update Your Playstation.
Another thing that you can do if party chat is not working on your Playstation is to update its operating system. Sony releases frequent updates on their consoles to address errors that occur on the Playstation.
For PS4 users, see the step-by-step guide below to update your system:
- On your PS4, go to the Settings and click on System Software Update.
- Now, select the Update Now button.
- Finally, click on Accept if there’s an available update to install it.
If you are on a PS5, here’s what you need to do to update its software:
- First, open the Settings page of your device.
- After that, access the System tab and navigate to System Software > System Software Update and Settings > Update System Software.
- Lastly, select Update Using Internet and wait for the process to finish.
Go back to Playstation party chat afterward to check if the problem is solved.
7. Report the Problem to Playstation.
If party chat is still not working on your Playstation 4 or 5, we suggest that you leave the matter to the professionals.
Visit Playstation’s official page and get in touch with their team to report the issue you’ve been experiencing with party chat. Provide your account details and the model of your Playstation to help their team assess the situation faster.
This ends our guide on what to do if party chat is not working on your Playstation. If you have questions or other concerns, please let us know in the comment section, and we’ll do our best to answer them.
If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂
