Discord and Microsoft announced Discord voice chat last week, making it initially only available to invite Alpha and Alpha skip-ahead Xbox testers. The new feature is now available to Xbox Insiders in the beta ring, with no invitation required.
Microsoft is rolling out a new Xbox Dashboard update to beta testers today at 5PM ET/2PM PT that will include Discord voice integration. Voice chat works by first linking Xbox and Discord accounts and then connecting to a Discord voice call using the mobile app and transferring the call to an Xbox console using the Xbox mobile app.
The process is a bit involved, but once the initial setup is complete, it’s relatively easy to connect to Discord voice calls and transfer them to an Xbox console. Since there is no dedicated Discord app on Xbox, this means you will not be able to access Discord chat as it is only for voice calls.
On the Xbox dashboard itself, Discord calls are neatly integrated into the part of the Xbox dashboard where you’d normally find party and chat features. In a Discord voice call, you can view all of your Discord friends who are currently in the call, adjust the volume, and disconnect from the call directly from the Xbox Dashboard.
This new Discord voice chat functionality will be available in the beta ring for Xbox Insiders today, and we expect it to progress to the Delta and Omega rings before becoming widely available for all Xbox consoles in the coming weeks.