How to: Push-to-Talk

Push-to-Talk (PTT) is the voice mode where your mic stays muted until you hold a key. AutoPTT can give you a Push-to-Talk in any Windows game or app, and there are two ways to do it, depending on what the target app supports.

Two ways to get Push-to-Talk

Just press the key

If the app or game supports Push-to-Talk, you just set up the key in its settings and that’s it. Press down to talk, release to stop. You don’t necessarily need AutoPTT, unless you use want to make use of the additional features like the overlay or sound effects.

AutoPTT mutes the mic for you

The Open Mic to PTT activation mode works everywhere, even in apps that only offer Open Mic. When you’re not holding your PTT key, AutoPTT mutes the mic system-wide, and unmutes it while you hold the key.

Setup

Here’s what you should do with a fresh installation of AutoPTT:

• Click on Audio in the left side menu
• Select your mic in the Device field
• Set Activation Mode to Push-to-Talk or Open Mic to PTT
• Click on Hotkeys in the left side menu
• Add a hotkey for Push-to-Talk

Push-to-Talk hotkeys accept a single key. Secondary PTT also accepts key combinations, mouse buttons and game controller buttons, but it requires you to first add a Push-to-Talk key (which can be empty, though). See the game controller guide for details.

Which mode should I use?

• Your app supports Push-to-Talk –> Push-to-Talk
• Your app only offers Open Mic –> Open Mic to PTT

You can check what each game supports in the Voice Chat Support in Games list.

Adding a system-wide mute on top

With the Push-to-Talk activation mode your mic is unmuted system-wide by default. You can use a Push-to-Mute (Global) or Toggle Mute (Global) hotkey to change that. This is handy when the app itself only offers Open Mic, and you want an extra layer of protection. See How to: Push-to-Mute and How to: Toggle Mute.

App-specific guides

• How to: Push-to-Talk, Push-to-Mute and Toggle Mute on a game controller
• How to: Push-to-Talk, Push-to-Mute and Toggle Mute in Microsoft Teams
• How to: Fix voice chat in Marvel Rivals

Related reading

• What is Push-to-Talk? PTT vs Voice Activation vs Open Mic
• Which activation mode should I use?
• How to: Voice Activation
• How to: Push-to-Mute
• How to: Toggle Mute

Try it yourself

Download the free trial and set it up in a couple of minutes.