Maybe earlier than that! I’ve called this “doing my Dick Tracy” ever since I took a call on my then-new watch, when I was in the basement and the phone was upstairs. Now, the challenge is to find people who get the reference
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How to Use Walkie-Talkie in watchOS 5
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Worthless feature, nobody I know has an Apple Watch, Apple needs to enable the feature on iPhone/iPad & Mac to make it of value.
It baffles me that people don’t see the usefulness of this Lol. Thank you for summing it up.
Pretty fun. Just one of those futuristic ideas coming to fruition. Not some kind of life changing feature here, just something fun for friends and family. I’m sure there are use cases where it could be useful also. Interesting that people bad mouth every little feature, lighten up.
ok when this feature was announced i just "didn't get it" i guess i am too old. today i remembered it was there so i tried it with my wife. we have been using it all day like a bunch of kids and love it. i don't know what it is but the immediacy of asking my wife to pickup a starbucks on her way home with my sudden voice just appearing from the watch makes you feel more connected than even answering a phone call or sending a text. its just fun. maybe it will wear off. i went on twitter and searched "apple watch walkie talkie" and 99% of the hundreds of posts are people saying it is the best feature of their apple watch and how they are in love with it.
i'm shocked, but i'm one of them.
i'm shocked, but i'm one of them.
Just had a Moto i90 flashback, I want to say on Nextel, back when they called it push-to-talk. Was that even this century?
Geez am I getting old. Although I do enjoy seeing these youngsters apparently new to the concept of the "Walkie talkie."
I STILL want Apple to make a walkie talkie Nextel Direct Connect style on the iPhone, that feature was the reason I bought an i80 & i90c back in the day!
[doublepost=1537395689][/doublepost]Does the Walkie Talkie feature work via peer-to-peer WiFi? If not that really is a missed opportunity when at some fair or something where there are no public WiFi base stations and you do not have cellular! Come on Apple!
Apple should have bought HeyTell and used their communication technique for the watch.
[doublepost=1537396435][/doublepost]Where is raise to walky talky?
[doublepost=1537396435][/doublepost]Where is raise to walky talky?
So if you don't have wifi or cellular W-T doesnt work? If so, that isn't a walkie talkie
Yes, it's very disappointing that this feature doesn't work via quantum entanglement.
[doublepost=1537398626][/doublepost]
Very true. And Apple products are not actually fruit.
You realize you are quoting a post that is almost 3 months old, right?
I was more of thinking that it could work by using the connection to the iPhone.
Nice to see this feature... finally.... Should have been on the phones since the beginning. Back in the day we had Push To Talk from Nextel/ Sprint. It was standard in the workplace and invaluable. Way faster than any texting or other such things. Sure it could be annoying at times and some people abused it, but it’s a feature that current phones are totally lacking. Maybe this will be as elegant in the not too distant future. Too bad it’s being treated as some experimental watch-only thing. And promoted as if it’s some great new idea. Dick Tracy, then Star Trek... The Motorola guys (hence Nextel) and their intitial foray into the flip phones after PTT had already been a success for years were admittedly inspired by Star Trek communicators since the beginning. With current voice recognition, AI and ML abilities, there’s really no reason why we don’t have phones that work on the same level as those Star Trek communicators. No reason I can’t lift my device and directly address who I want to talk to and make it so. Kinda feeling like Apple and Google are really missing the mark on this lately.
I carried my Nextel on the job for nearly 2 years after getting an iPhone when they first launched. Ultimately had to retire the nextel since other than PTT it was just not used and then suddenly everyone had smartphones and that was that. Sprint/Nextel tried to keep PTT alive for a while after with their Boost brand. Which seemed to be only marketed to bad stereotypes, pimps and drug dealers.
I carried my Nextel on the job for nearly 2 years after getting an iPhone when they first launched. Ultimately had to retire the nextel since other than PTT it was just not used and then suddenly everyone had smartphones and that was that. Sprint/Nextel tried to keep PTT alive for a while after with their Boost brand. Which seemed to be only marketed to bad stereotypes, pimps and drug dealers.
used it earlier to talk to my dad. worked really well once we figured out how to use it. and I was in a somewhat busy environment and could hear just fine at work.
What they could do to improve the experience is have your Apple Watch check ambient sound levels just as it is about to play a message and if there’s a lot of ambient sound, notify you of a pending message instead of auto-playing it.
I don't understand why this is limited to the watch. Sure - its handy to have it on your wrist for immediate access, but expanding it to support phones would really help increase the number of people that can use it. Even if you have an apple watch, you need to know someone else that also has an apple watch. I can see this being useful for family stuff but none of my immediate family has an Apple watch.
Could easily be a widget on the phone. And while you might not hear the audio if the phone is in your pocket, you would get a vibration, and it would play through your headphones.
Could easily be a widget on the phone. And while you might not hear the audio if the phone is in your pocket, you would get a vibration, and it would play through your headphones.
I think just sending audio messages via the iMessage app is a better idea, since it queues up the audio file if the receiver isn’t in a private enough environment to listen to the message.
Who ever wants audio randomly blaring out of their watch with no warning?
Who ever wants audio randomly blaring out of their watch with no warning?
I wish my wife wore an Apple Watch so we could use this feature in our own damn home.
The number of times we're on different floors and can't hear each other is stupid. The number of responses of "pardon" or "Whaaaat, I can't hear you" is too frequent.
This would be way quicker than calling or texting, or as we do now go and find the other person and talk.
Tap, "wife, please grab me a beer on the way". Yeah I could get used to that.
I just want everyone to be awrr
I would like everyone to be aware that you don’t have to press on the talkie button the whole entire time while you are speaking. There is a setting in your phone that you can press one time and speak and press again when finish speaking.
Go into your apple phone-watch-general- accessiblity- walkie talkie and turn on tap to talk.
Apple's watchOS 5 update, out now for all Apple Watch models with the exception of the original Apple Watch, introduces a fun new feature that mimics old school walkie talkies. With Walkie-Talkie, you can connect to your friends and family and have push-to-talk conversations right on your wrist.
The video below demonstrates Walkie-Talkie in action, while the post explains the steps to set it up and use it.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Turning on Walkie-Talkie and Adding Friends
Walkie-Talkie is an app on the Apple Watch with an icon that looks like a little walkie talkie on a field of yellow. Whenever you want to use Walkie-Talkie to communicate with someone, you'll need to open up the Walkie-Talkie app. The first step, though, is adding a friend to chat with.
If a connection cannot be established, you'll see a popup that says "[Your Friend] is not available." If this happens, it means the person on the other end did not answer the incoming Walkie-Talkie notification.
- Open the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Turn the Digital Crown to scroll through your contacts.
- Choose a friend who has an Apple Watch and watchOS 5.
- Tap on the person's name in the contacts list.
- When a yellow card with their name appears on your Apple Watch in the Walkie-Talkie app, tap on the card.
- Press on the "Talk" button to initiate a connection.
- You'll need to wait for your friend to receive your message and approve the Walkie-Talkie connection. It will say "Connecting to [Your Friend's Name].
- When a connection is established, it will go back to the Talk button and you will be able to have a Walkie-Talkie conversation with your friend.
If the Walkie-Talkie connection screen hangs indefinitely on the connecting screen, it means the person does not have an Apple Watch or does not have watchOS 5 installed.
When a friend adds you to Walkie-Talkie, you'll see an incoming notification that your friend wants to establish a connection with you. To chat, you will need to tap on "Always Allow."
Talking With a Friend Using Walkie Talkie
Once a connection has been approved between you and your friend, you do not need to get approval for each and every message. You can just push to talk and whatever you say will be beamed to your friend's Apple Watch.
You can have multiple Walkie-Talkie connections with your friends, but you can only communicate with one friend at a time because Walkie-Talkie is a one-on-one feature. Group chats between multiple people are not supported.
- Open up the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Tap on the card for the friend you want to talk to.
- Hold down the "Talk" button for the entire time that you're speaking. You will see little concentric circles flashing, which means your message is being relayed to your friend.
- When you're done speaking, stop pressing on the Talk button. This will allow your friend to press the Talk button on their end to send a response to you.
Accessing Walkie-Talkie Quickly
Once you have a Walkie-Talkie connection established with at least one person, a little Walkie-Talkie icon will be displayed at the top of the Apple Watch's main screen. If you tap it, it will take you right into the Walkie-Talkie app.
This icon also serves as an indicator that you're available for Walkie-Talkie conversations and that any friends you've established a connection with can message you at any time.
Adjusting Walkie-Talkie Volume
Using Walkie-Talkie With AirPods or Bluetooth Headphones
- Open the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Choose a Walkie-Talkie contact card.
- At the talk interface, turn the Digital Crown.
- A downward turn lowers the Walkie-Talkie volume, while an upward turn makes it louder. Turning it all the way down effectively mutes the conversation.
If you have AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones connected to your Apple Watch, you will hear incoming Walkie-Talkie messages through the accessory rather than directly through the Apple Watch. You will also be able to speak into the microphone of the AirPods, keeping your conversations more private.
Turning Off Walkie-Talkie and Removing Contacts
If you want to shut off Walkie-Talkie conversations and refuse incoming messages, you can do so by setting yourself to unavailable.
When your Walkie-Talkie availability is disabled in the Walkie-Talkie app, people who attempt to connect to you will see the message "[Your Name] is Not Available" and you will get a notification that someone attempted to reach you but you were unavailable with an option to go to the Walkie-Talkie app to resume the conversation.
- Open up the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Scroll all the way to the top to see the "Available" toggle.
- Toggle "Available" to off.
To remove a contact from Walkie-Talkie, at the main contact card interface, swipe to the left on a name in the list to bring up a red "X" button. Press on the X to remove the contact.
Walkie-Talkie Warnings
Walkie-Talkie takes precedence over other settings on your Apple Watch. You will hear your friend speaking even if your Apple Watch is set to silent, but it does not ignore Do Not Disturb settings.
Article Link: How to Use Walkie-Talkie in watchOS 5
Apple's watchOS 5 update, out now for all Apple Watch models with the exception of the original Apple Watch, introduces a fun new feature that mimics old school walkie talkies. With Walkie-Talkie, you can connect to your friends and family and have push-to-talk conversations right on your wrist.
The video below demonstrates Walkie-Talkie in action, while the post explains the steps to set it up and use it.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Turning on Walkie-Talkie and Adding Friends
Walkie-Talkie is an app on the Apple Watch with an icon that looks like a little walkie talkie on a field of yellow. Whenever you want to use Walkie-Talkie to communicate with someone, you'll need to open up the Walkie-Talkie app. The first step, though, is adding a friend to chat with.
If a connection cannot be established, you'll see a popup that says "[Your Friend] is not available." If this happens, it means the person on the other end did not answer the incoming Walkie-Talkie notification.
- Open the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Turn the Digital Crown to scroll through your contacts.
- Choose a friend who has an Apple Watch and watchOS 5.
- Tap on the person's name in the contacts list.
- When a yellow card with their name appears on your Apple Watch in the Walkie-Talkie app, tap on the card.
- Press on the "Talk" button to initiate a connection.
- You'll need to wait for your friend to receive your message and approve the Walkie-Talkie connection. It will say "Connecting to [Your Friend's Name].
- When a connection is established, it will go back to the Talk button and you will be able to have a Walkie-Talkie conversation with your friend.
If the Walkie-Talkie connection screen hangs indefinitely on the connecting screen, it means the person does not have an Apple Watch or does not have watchOS 5 installed.
When a friend adds you to Walkie-Talkie, you'll see an incoming notification that your friend wants to establish a connection with you. To chat, you will need to tap on "Always Allow."
Talking With a Friend Using Walkie Talkie
Once a connection has been approved between you and your friend, you do not need to get approval for each and every message. You can just push to talk and whatever you say will be beamed to your friend's Apple Watch.
You can have multiple Walkie-Talkie connections with your friends, but you can only communicate with one friend at a time because Walkie-Talkie is a one-on-one feature. Group chats between multiple people are not supported.
- Open up the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Tap on the card for the friend you want to talk to.
- Hold down the "Talk" button for the entire time that you're speaking. You will see little concentric circles flashing, which means your message is being relayed to your friend.
- When you're done speaking, stop pressing on the Talk button. This will allow your friend to press the Talk button on their end to send a response to you.
Accessing Walkie-Talkie Quickly
Once you have a Walkie-Talkie connection established with at least one person, a little Walkie-Talkie icon will be displayed at the top of the Apple Watch's main screen. If you tap it, it will take you right into the Walkie-Talkie app.
This icon also serves as an indicator that you're available for Walkie-Talkie conversations and that any friends you've established a connection with can message you at any time.
Adjusting Walkie-Talkie Volume
Using Walkie-Talkie With AirPods or Bluetooth Headphones
- Open the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Choose a Walkie-Talkie contact card.
- At the talk interface, turn the Digital Crown.
- A downward turn lowers the Walkie-Talkie volume, while an upward turn makes it louder. Turning it all the way down effectively mutes the conversation.
If you have AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones connected to your Apple Watch, you will hear incoming Walkie-Talkie messages through the accessory rather than directly through the Apple Watch. You will also be able to speak into the microphone of the AirPods, keeping your conversations more private.
Turning Off Walkie-Talkie and Removing Contacts
If you want to shut off Walkie-Talkie conversations and refuse incoming messages, you can do so by setting yourself to unavailable.
When your Walkie-Talkie availability is disabled in the Walkie-Talkie app, people who attempt to connect to you will see the message "[Your Name] is Not Available" and you will get a notification that someone attempted to reach you but you were unavailable with an option to go to the Walkie-Talkie app to resume the conversation.
- Open up the Walkie-Talkie app.
- Scroll all the way to the top to see the "Available" toggle.
- Toggle "Available" to off.
To remove a contact from Walkie-Talkie, at the main contact card interface, swipe to the left on a name in the list to bring up a red "X" button. Press on the X to remove the contact.
Walkie-Talkie Warnings
Walkie-Talkie takes precedence over other settings on your Apple Watch. You will hear your friend speaking even if your Apple Watch is set to silent, but it does not ignore Do Not Disturb settings.
Article Link: How to Use Walkie-Talkie in watchOS 5
Jeez, we spent months back when telling people with Nextels do NOT talk, just click on it so we hear the beeps and wait for us to respond to tell you it's okay to talk, and here we go again.
On a more useful note, I clicked on the WT app and had the yellow icon popping up at the top of the screen on my AW2 every time I woke it up. Had to google to see that I needed to go in and go to the top of it and slide the 'available' slider to off. No real way to shut the app down I can find. Anyone else have a better answer?
It comes up and flashes for a half-second, doesn't stay around long enough to be useful.
On a more useful note, I clicked on the WT app and had the yellow icon popping up at the top of the screen on my AW2 every time I woke it up. Had to google to see that I needed to go in and go to the top of it and slide the 'available' slider to off. No real way to shut the app down I can find. Anyone else have a better answer?
It comes up and flashes for a half-second, doesn't stay around long enough to be useful.