New PlayStation 5 owners beware. As we mentioned in our review, the DualSense controller has a built-in microphone that must be muted manually. That’s right, when players set their consoles up, the PS5 mic is on by default. This could be catastrophic for someone who doesn’t know how to set up the DualSense mic to be muted by default.
Fortunately, there is a way to mute the PS5 mic by default. The system doesn’t explain it well (a problem shared with the SSD), but the menu needed to mute the DualSense microphone isn’t buried too far in the UI.
How to mute the DualSense mic by default on PS5
It’s pretty simple to mute the DualSense mic; in fact, there’s a button on the controller dedicated to doing so. When the button is lit up orange, the controller is muted. However, players have to do this for each game, and each time they log into the PS5 if they don’t change the right setting.
To mute the PS5 mic by default, players must:
- Enter the PS5 Settings
- Select Sound
- Highlight “Microphone Status When Logged In,” and select “Mute.”
With this option checked, the microphone on the PS5 controller will be muted by default. However, this setting only applies to the currently logged-in profile. If there are multiple profiles on the PS5, this option will have to be set for each of them. This same menu can be used to change microphone inputs, which is handy when the PS5 doesn’t switch manually.
Even when the controller mic is muted by default, it’s not entirely disabled. We’ve found no option to deactivate the DualSense microphone completely. It can be unmuted by pressing the button below the PlayStation logo. Fortunately, it gives players a bit of a warning by playing a sound and showing an icon onscreen. However, it wouldn’t be hard to miss in the heat of battle, so make sure to keep an eye on the indicator.
