Fix: Xbox One Mic not working

Many Xbox users have faced a frustrating issue where they are able to listen to in-game sounds but unable to communicate with other players using their mics. This issue has been ongoing for 2-3 years and has proved to be a menace for most of the players.

There are two possibilities in this case; either the Microphone is physically damaged or there are some problems in either the configuration of hardware or in the settings. Sometimes the simplest workarounds fix the problem and sometimes even after extensive troubleshooting, the problem doesn’t go away.

The workarounds listed below may not work for all the users. As each user has a different hardware with unique settings, it isn’t guaranteed that a single solution will be the answer to all the problems.

Solution 1: Power-cycling your Xbox

Power cycling is an act of turning off a device completely off and then on again. Reasons for power cycling include having an electronic device reinitialize its set of configurations parameters or recover from an unresponsive state or module. It is also used to reset all the network configurations and connections with all connected devices/controllers as they are all lost when you turn the device completely turned off.

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller for a few seconds to turn the controller off completely without removing the headphones.
2. Now click the Xbox button on Xbox One to turn it off. After all the modules are turned off, take out the power cable of Xbox One.

3. Leave the entire setup as it is for around ~ 5 minutes.
4. After you have waited the time, turn everything back on and check if you can access the mic correctly.

Solution 2: Changing to Energy Saver in Settings

There are two power-on modes on the Xbox: Instant-on and Energy Saving. In energy saving, Xbox One requires you to power on the console and it might take up to 45 seconds before the console powers up completely. This mode takes a lot less power and reportedly fixes the mic problem on many consoles. This might not work for many people as it is a very weak workaround but nothing wrong with trying!

1. Open Xbox One’s settings and navigate to Power and Startup.

2. Now under the power options, highlight the Power mode and use the button ‘A’ on your controller to toggle to Energy-saving.

3. Save changes and exit. Perform Solution 1 and check if this solves the mic problem.

Solution 3: Checking Mic through Sign in

Another workaround which worked for many users was checking the mic after choosing a person. It seems that the system needs to confirm you are using the controller that is currently active. We will do this using the instructions listed below. We are manually creating a connection between the controller and your profile.

1. Go to the home (dashboard) Of Xbox One.
2. Now navigate to the Sign-in
3. Once in Sign-in window, select “Choose this person”.
4. After selecting your ‘person’ which you have already created in Xbox, check your mic after joining any party.

Solution 4: Checking Xbox Profile Settings

If you haven’t correctly set your Xbox communication settings, the mic may fail to respond. There are some options present which limits your voice communication. We will go through the necessary steps and ensure that no such setting is enabled. Do note that you might require using a parent for changing these settings.

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller and Settings and then All Settings from the list of options.

2. Now select Account using the left navigation pane and click Privacy and online safety.

3. Select Adult defaults and click View details and customize.

4. Now in Communicate with voice and text, check if you have everybody checked as an option.
5. After making the necessary changes, exit and perform solution 1. Now check if you can correctly access the microphone.

Solution 5: Checking Headphones on another Device

If all the above methods don’t work out, you have to make sure that the problem isn’t hardware related and only pertains to the settings. To check, you have to plug the controller to another Xbox device and see if the voice is registered using the mic in that system.

If another system registers the mic, you should plug it back and see if you missed any of the steps mentioned above. Mostly, the problem is because of incorrect configurations or some hidden setting. If all the methods don’t work, check out the tips listed below and see if they do the trick.

Tips:

• Try disconnecting the headset and plug it back in after a while.
• Make sure the headset is not muted by ensuring the mute button is ‘off’ at the headset controls.
• Increase the audio threshold by navigating to Settings > Device and Accessories.
• Make sure that the controllers and Xbox One are updated to the latest build available.
• Check the controller’s batteries. There were many reports that inserting brand new batteries and ensuring they were tightly in place fixed the problem.
• Make sure you are using a headset which is compatible with Xbox One.
• Make sure all the cables and wires are correctly plugged in into the correct ports.
• Consider plugging the headset into another controller.
• You can also adjust the balance of the chat room and the game sound. If the balance in 100% for the game, you will only be able to hear the game and not the chats going on.
• Check the chat mixer if you are unable to hear other people.
• Change headset format under the setting headset audio to Windows Sonic for headphones. Also, disable Virtual Surround in apps.