Remember using walkie-talkies and playing cops and robbers with the entire neighborhood crew when we were kids? Or is it just the millennial in me, and Gen-Z goes straight to their phones? Well, recreating the same nostalgic feeling, Apple has a Walkie-Talkie app that is like sending short voice messages without having to place a call.
The only prerequisite for using the walkie-talkie app is that you should have an Apple Watch running watchOS 5.3 or later and an iPhone running iOS 12.4 or later with FaceTime enabled. The same goes for at least one of your contacts. Here’s a step-by-step on how to use the walkie-talkie feature on the Apple Watch:
Invite friends and talk to them with Walkie-Talkie
Image Courtesy: Apple
- Open the Walkie-Talkie app on your Apple Watch from the list of apps.
- Select the contact you want to invite to use the Walkie-Talkie feature, and it will send them an invite.
- To add more contacts, tap on ‘Add Friends’ on the Walkie-Talkie screen and select contacts from the list.
- You can start using the feature when the other person accepts the invitation.
- To start talking to your friends over the Walkie-Talkie, open the app and tap on their name.
- Touch and hold the ‘Talk’ button to speak and release the ‘Talk’ button when you’re message has been recorded.
- While speaking, use the Digital Crown to adjust the volume levels up and down.
- If you don’t want to hold the Talk button while speaking, go to Settings > Accessibility > Walkie-Talkie > toggle on ‘Tap to Talk’. When this setting is on, simply tap the ‘Talk’ button once to talk and tap again to stop.
- If your friend is ‘available’, they’ll hear the message in real-time.
Adjust your availability
To let your friends know when you’re available,
- Head to the Walkie-Talkie app > turn Walkie-Talkie on/off at the top of the screen.
- Alternatively, press the side button (watchOS 10) to access the Control Center and tap the Walkie-Talkie icon. On watchOS 9 and previous versions, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to get to the Control Center. This will turn the icon a yellow color and signal your friends that you are available. Tap this icon again to become unavailable.
Remove contacts
- Amongst your added contacts on your Walkie-Talkie app, to remove someone, swipe left on their name and tap the red cross icon.
Walkie-Talkie messages in different modes:
| Modes | Walkie-Talkie availability |
|---|---|
| Silent | Available and messages play. |
| Theater | Unavailable. |
| Do Not Disturb | Mirrors your iPhone settings and can be managed if the messages and alerts will appear or not. |
Wrap Up
What I like about the Walkie-Talkie app as opposed to text messaging is the convenience. Even without needing a phone, I can easily send a message across and we all know how inconvenient typing a text message on the Apple Watch is.
It is also very hard to miss messages with this feature because it will work over the Wi-Fi even when you don’t have your phone on you and your watch is practically reading out the message. Yes, you do not need a cellular version for this feature to work. All this, along with its one-way communication method, makes it more likely that people will hear your message and not talk all over it.
