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Voice mode FAQ

Your guide to voice chats with ChatGPT, from setting up and using the voice mode to understanding its capabilities and limitations.

Updated over a month ago

Advanced voice is available for Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu users in the iOS / Android mobile apps as of version 1.2024.261 or later, and as a monthly preview for Free users in the iOS / Android mobile apps as of version 1.2024.268 or later.

General FAQ

What are voice chats?

Voice conversations allow you to have a spoken conversation with ChatGPT, enabling a more conversational and natural interaction. You can ask questions or have discussions through voice input and receive a spoken response from ChatGPT.

We have two types of voice conversations, standard and advanced.

  • Advanced voice is rolling out to Plus and Team users, and a monthly preview of advanced voice is rolling out to Free users. Advanced voice uses GPT-4o’s native audio capabilities and features more natural, real-time conversations that pick up on non-verbal cues, such as the speed you’re talking, and can respond with emotion. Usage of advanced Voice (audio inputs and outputs) by Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu users is limited on a daily basis.

  • Standard voice is available to all signed in ChatGPT users through our iOS, macOS, and Android apps. Standard voice uses several models to generate its response, including transcribing what you say into text before sending it to our models for response. While standard voice is not natively multimodal like advanced voice, standard voice conversations also use GPT-4o alongside GPT-4o mini. Each prompt in standard voice counts towards your message limits.

Voice conversations may make mistakes, so please check important information. Access to advanced voice and the associated usage limits are subject to change.

How do I start a voice conversation on mobile?

To start a voice conversation, select the Voice icon on the bottom-right of the screen:

When you begin an advanced voice conversation, you will be taken to a screen with a blue orb in the center.

iPhone displaying the ChatGPT iOS app during an advanced voice chat.

Please note that conversations using standard voice have a black circle in the center.

iPhone displaying the ChatGPT iOS app during an standard voice chat.

When you are having a voice conversation, you can mute or unmute your microphone by selecting the microphone icon on the bottom-left of the screen.

If this feature is not yet rolled out for you then instead of the new mute / unmute buttons you will see see the headphones entrypoint icon:

You can end the conversation by pressing the exit icon on the bottom-right of the screen.

If you start a voice chat for the first time, or if you are using advanced voice for the first time you will also be asked to pick a voice. Please note that the volume of the voice in the selector may be different from the volume during the voice conversation. You can change your voice any time in settings, and advanced voice users can also change the voice from within voice mode using the customization menu in the top right corner.

Please note that you will need to provide the ChatGPT app Microphone permission to use this feature.

How do I start a voice conversation on web?

This is available to all ChatGPT Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu users.

To start a voice conversation on chatgpt.com, select the Voice icon on the bottom-right of the prompt window:

If this is your first time using advanced voice on your browser, you may need to provide your browser permission to access your device's microphone.

When you begin an advanced voice conversation, you will be taken to a screen with a blue orb in the center.

Please note that conversations using standard voice have a black circle in the center.

When you are having a voice conversation, you can mute or unmute your microphone by selecting the microphone icon on the bottom-left of the screen.

If this feature is not yet rolled out for you then instead of the new mute / unmute buttons you will see see the headphones entrypoint icon:

You can end the conversation by pressing the exit icon on the bottom-right of the screen.

If you start a voice chat for the first time, or if you are using advanced voice for the first time you will also be asked to pick a voice. Please note that the volume of the voice in the selector may be different from the volume during the voice conversation. You can change your voice any time in settings, and advanced voice users can also change the voice from within voice mode using the customization menu in the top right corner.

How many voice options are available?

Choose from nine lifelike output voices for ChatGPT, each with its own distinct tone and character:

  • Arbor - Easygoing and versatile

  • Breeze - Animated and earnest

  • Cove - Composed and direct

  • Ember - Confident and optimistic

  • Juniper - Open and upbeat

  • Maple - Cheerful and candid

  • Sol - Savvy and relaxed

  • Spruce - Calm and affirming

  • Vale - Bright and inquisitive

For how long can I have voice chats?

Your daily use of advanced voice for Plus and Team users is subject to a limit each day, and daily limits may change. We provide a notice as you are approaching the daily limit. Plus and Team users will be notified when they have 15 minutes left of advanced voice for the day. Free users have access to a monthly preview to try advanced voice.

Once the advanced voice daily limit is reached, the conversation will immediately end and you will be able to continue your conversation using standard voice.

Standard voice shares message limits with the underlying model used to generate a response. Learn more about message limits in ChatGPT.

Can I keep a conversation going in the background while I am in other apps or with my phone screen locked?

Yes, you can keep a conversation going in the background in both standard and advanced voice by toggling “Background Conversations” on in settings.

Can I resume a previous conversation I had with voice mode?

Advanced voice conversations can be resumed in advanced voice, text, or standard voice. Because advanced voice does not yet support capabilities like images, conversation with text or standard Voice conversations cannot be resumed in advanced Voice Mode.

Conversations with standard voice can be resumed at any time with standard voice or text, but cannot be continued with advanced voice.

Do you have any tips for preventing interruptions with advanced voice conversations?

Occasionally, interruptions may happen during a conversation with advanced voice conversations. We recommend having advanced voice conversations with headphones.

On iPhone, enabling Voice Isolation mic mode can help to avoid unintentional interruptions. You can enable Voice Isolation by opening your Control Panel while having an advanced voice conversation, selecting Mic Mode, and switching to Voice Isolation.

If you are still experiencing issues, we recommend closing your app and restarting, turning up the volume of your assistant, or moving to a quieter environment.

Please note that the advanced voice conversation experience is not yet optimized for use with in-car bluetooth or speakerphone.

Can I have voice conversations with GPTs?

Standard voice conversations are available with GPTs. GPTs have their own voice option named Shimmer that is distinctly different from the nine output voices available to use when having voice conversations with ChatGPT.

Advanced voice conversations are not yet available for use with GPTs. If you attempt to have an advanced voice conversation with a GPT, you will be invited to start a new chat using standard voice.

Can I access my memories and custom instructions in voice conversations?

In both standard and advanced voice modes, you can create and access memories, as well as access custom instructions.

Can I generate musical content with voice conversations?

No. To respect creators’ rights, we’ve put in place several mitigations, including new filters, to prevent voice conversations from responding with musical content, including singing.

How do I change voices during a chat with Advanced voice mode?

You can change your voice in settings or, if you have access to advanced voice, from the customization menu in the top right corner of voice mode.

Voices are set per conversation. If you change your voice within voice mode, you will be prompted to start a new chat.

Can I browse resources from the internet with voice mode?

Standard voice can access resources from the internet to supplement its response. Advanced voice cannot yet.

I’m located in a country that has advanced voice, but I don’t have it in my app yet. What should I do?

As of October 1, 2024, Advanced Voice is available to all Team and most Plus users, except for those in the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. Free users outside of those in the European Union, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein can also access a monthly preview to try advanced voice.

If you’re located in one of the supported countries, please try some of the following actions:

  • Update the ChatGPT app to the latest version.

  • If you are already on the latest version, try closing and reopening your app.

  • Disable any VPNs that you use to access our service.

If you’ve tried the above and still are not seeing advanced voice, please reach out to us for support by opening up a conversation with our support bot on this page.

Why do the voice transcripts sometimes not match the conversation I had?

Advanced voice conversations with GPT-4o are inherently multimodal, allowing for audio exchange between you and the model. As a result, when this audio is transcribed, the transcription might not always align perfectly with the original conversation.

Is there a volume limit I can set for voice conversations?

No, there is not a volume limit for voice conversations as a setting in ChatGPT. Volume will be set on the device itself.

How can I leave feedback on my voice conversation?

All users having voice conversations will see a banner after their voice conversation has ended. This feedback survey collects information on the experience of the voice call, not about the conversation or its contents.

Only users on Plus and Team accounts will see the options to rate with the thumbs up/down included in that banner.

While Enterprise and Edu users will see this banner after ending a voice conversation, their banner will not include the rating options thumbs up or down.

Do voice conversations include subtitles?

No subtitles are not included or displayed during a voice conversation. After you exit a voice conversation, the transcription is added to your current text based conversation with ChatGPT. You can refer back to the transcription of your conversation in your chat history on the left-hand side of the ChatGPT app on web and desktop and in the menu on the left-hand side of the ChatGPT mobile app.

How many voice conversations can I have going at once?

You can only have one voice chat at a time.

Why am I receiving the response "Sorry, my guidelines won't let me talk about that" during a voice conversation?

This happens due to our safety measures. If it seems like your prompt is in line with our Usage Policies then please send us that feedback through the thumbs up/thumbs down options after the chat.

Why does the voice input detect a different language from the one I’m speaking?

At times, the language you speak might not be accurately reflected in our voice input feature. You can verbally correct the model to speak your language of choice. For standard voice, you can also specify a preferred language in the app Settings for a more accurate detection.

  1. Open the sidebar by selecting the two lines on the top-left of the screen, and select your name at the bottom to open the Settings.

  2. In the Settings page, scroll down to the Speech section. Click on the "Main Language" dropdown to select your language.

Privacy & Controls

How long do you retain audio clips from my voice chats?

With advanced voice conversations, audio clips from your voice chats are stored alongside the transcription that appears in your chat history. We provide a visual indicator in the chat history that shows which chats happen with advanced voice mode: just look for the grayed out text and the small microphone.

Audio clips from your advanced voice chats will be retained for as long as the chat is part of your chat history. When you delete the chat, we’ll also delete the associated audio clip within 30 days unless we need to keep it for security or legal reasons or if you previously shared your audio clips with us to train our models and the audio clip was previously disassociated from your account.

You cannot recover chats once you delete them. If you want to remove a chat from being visible in your chat history but retain it in your account, you should use the archive function. Audio clips associated with archived chats continue to be retained.

Please refer to this article to understand how content may be used to train our models and the choices that you have.

With standard voice mode, audio clips from ChatGPT are transcribed before we generate a response. We delete audio clips once transcription is complete, unless you’ve chosen to share your audio clips to train our models. Learn more about sharing your audio to train our models.

Do you train your models on audio clips from voice chats?

Nope, unless you choose to share audio clips from voice chats for us to train our models.

If you have “Improve the model for everyone” enabled, then we may use the transcriptions of your voice chats to train our models, depending on your choices and plan. But we won’t use the associated audio clips to train our models unless you have shared your audio clips with us for model training. Learn more about your choices.

Sharing audio to improve voice chats for everyone

Free and Plus users may choose to share audio from their voice chats to help us improve our voice models by toggling on ‘Improve voice for everyone’ in Data Controls settings, or by responding affirmatively to a prompt to share audio. This section provides more information on what sharing your audio means.

Who can share audio to improve voice chats?

ChatGPT users on Free and Plus plans can share audio from personal workspaces. Users cannot share audio from voice chats in ChatGPT Team, Edu, and Enterprise workspaces.

What happens if I share my audio to improve chats for everyone?

If you choose to share your audio clips, then we will use those clips to train our model. This means that we’ll also begin to store audio from your standard voice chats. We will take steps to reduce the amount of personal information in audio from voice chat that is used to train our models. Learn more about how we use your content to train our models. Our team may review the audio clips that you’ve shared with us.

How can I stop sharing audio?

You can stop sharing through the data controls page in your ChatGPT settings. Just toggle the “Improve voice for everyone” setting to off.

If you do not see “Improve voice for everyone” in Data Controls settings, then you haven’t shared your audio with us and we will not use your audio for training our models.

What happens if I decide to stop sharing my audio?

If you choose to stop sharing, then audio from new voice chats will no longer be used to train our models. Audio clips that were previously disassociated from your account may continue to be used to train our models. Prior to using audio clips from voice chats for training, we take steps to reduce the amount of personal information in the audio clip.

If you stop sharing your audio from your voice chats, we may still use transcriptions of those chats to train our model if you have “Improve the model for everyone” enabled. To opt out entirely, please disable “Improve the model for everyone.”

Is my choice to share audio to improve voice chats for everyone a device-specific setting?

Your choice to share audio to improve voice chats for everyone is tied to your account. If you choose to share audio from your voice chats, then that choice will also apply to other devices where you are logged in. You can stop sharing audio through your Data Control settings in ChatGPT.

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