Unlikely. Have you measured the voltage present at Vin?
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Yes, I measured across ground and Vin and it shows ~4V. Across ground and Vout 0V.
Just to be sure: positive probe on Vin, negative probe on GND, measurement shows no minus sign?
Yes, that's what I did and what it shows. I also attached a picture of my test setup just in case I did something wrong there
Huh, that's weird. Double checking the part markings would've been my next suggestion, but the picture shows they're correct. Maybe try a 1kOhm load resistor across Vout and GND, though in theory you should be able to see the output voltage without it.
I tried with the resistor, same thing, 0V. I made two images showing the measurements
Here's something I've been using in my own esp8266 projects for a while, LiFePo4 18650 cells. Their working voltage range, 2.6 - 3.6, 3.2v typical, makes them perfect for esp chips, and you remove the quiescent drain (though really low for mcp1700). Downsides of LFP being, lower capacity in the same size (energy density), pouch cells are generally not available and LiIon is a far more mature tech, with easy (and cheap tp/tc 4056) charging solutions.