ChatGPT headphones icon, used for voice chat, missing for many users

Ivan V
/ Updated:

Many ChatGPT users are experiencing a sudden disappearance of the headphones icon, which is essential for enabling voice chat functionality. This bug seems to have emerged following a recent update to the application. 

Users report that reinstalling the app doesn't resolve the issue, suggesting it's not a client-side problem:

I just experienced the same issue minutes ago. I was trying out the feature and then after I exited the chat to start another the headphones icon is gone. Anyone have any ideas?

I am an Android user and I have the same issue! Anyone who could tell us if this feature is removed by OpenAi itself.

I have the same issue. Uninstalling and reinstallingn didn’t resolve it.

Some speculate that the bug might be a consequence of the rollout of new features. The problem appears to be affecting both Android and iPhone users, and there is no official fix available yet.

Before that, when the icon still was there, many complained that voice chat didn't work, instead of answering the input, AI complained that it could not handle the request, due to a critical servers overload.

Perhaps after the update, the OpenAI servers experienced an unprecedented load, which is why the feature had to be urgently disabled.

ChatGPT status monitoring website reported, that there indeed was an issue with the voice chat:

Elevated error rates for ChatGPT voice
We are currently investigating this issue.
We have identified the cause of this issue and are in the process of implementing a fix.
We are continuing to monitor performance, and will keep doing so along with providing updates until performance has returned to normal.

And the last message on May 14, 2024 - 16:51 PDT stated:

This incident has now been resolved. Performance should be back to normal for all customers. Thank you for your patience.

But the icon is not yet visible for many users. Probably their solution was to cut off some secondary regions and concentrate on US customers.

 

Update 17th of May

It seems that OpenAI has fixed the problem and voice chat has become available to almost all users again.

Update 1st June

Looks like some users still have this problem. Well, I'm sorry folks, but there is not much you can do. Perhaps, OpenAI is rolling out this feature for a limited number of countries and will continue to spread it to others soon.

One thing, that you can try to do is to register a new account as the USA user. But this will require appropriate VPN and local (US) phone number, which you will need for one time to receive a SMS conformation. You can rent a virtual American phone number for a small price just to get the message. Also you will need a new email address, which was never used before in OpenAI services.