After months of anticipation, OpenAI is finally rolling out its advanced voice chat to the public, starting with paid subscribers—and it's awesome!
Over the past week, I've been experimenting with Kyutai's open-source voice chat called "Moshi", which is great but limited to my computer and capped at five-minute sessions. Now, with OpenAI's advanced voice chat, I'm experiencing seamless conversations with much more flexibility.
And with last week's iOS 18 release, you can customize the toggles on the lock screen. I've already swapped my camera button for a quick launch into ChatGPT's advanced voice chat!
Here's are two ways that you can set up ChatGPT's voice chat on your iPhone lock screen:
Widget Method (easier):
Long-press your lock screen, select "Customize"
Tap "Lock Screen"
In the widget bar, search for ChatGPT
Drag and drop the voice chat widget to your preferred position
Toggle Replacement Method:
Open Shortcuts app and create a new shortcut
Add the "Start voice chat with ChatGPT" action
Choose an icon (there's one in camera and photos similar to ChatGPT's logo)
Customize your lock screen
Remove the Camera button from the bottom right corner
Tap "+" in the bottom right corner where the camera toggle was
Select "Shortcut" and choose your new ChatGPT voice chat shortcut
Now you can access ChatGPT's advanced voice chat directly from your lock screen, making AI interactions more seamless and integrated into your daily routine.
BTW, if you're on a paid ChatGPT plan and live outside the US, but haven't seen the advanced voice chat feature yet, try turning on a VPN set to the U.S. (New York or California should work). Restart the app, and you should see Advanced Voice Chat in your ChatGPT.
Happy freakishly natural-feeling AI conversations to all!