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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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In the first watchOS 5 beta, the Walkie-Talkie app, which is one of the key new features in the update, was unavailable and said only "Coming Soon," but in the second watchOS 5 beta, the Walkie-Talkie feature is available.

When you launch the Walkie-Talkie app after installing the second beta update, you'll be able to scroll through your contacts and choose a person to connect to. The person on the receiving end of your Walkie-Talkie message will hear their Apple Watch beep and then they'll see a screen that will allow them to approve a connection.

walkietalkieconnection-800x282.jpg

At the current time, it appears that you can only choose "always allow" when opting to enable a connection with a person.

Once a two-way connection is established, you simply press and hold down on the talk button to communicate, as does the person on the other end. Conversations, which we've been testing, are crisp and clear with excellent audio quality.

walkietalkieinuse-800x282.jpg

If your Apple Watch is on silent mode, Walkie-Talkie ignores it, so you're still going to hear Walkie-Talkie beeps and incoming conversations. The same is true for Do Not Disturb Mode and Theater Mode, but there is a Walkie-Talkie volume toggle accessible by turning the Digital Crown. With a push-to-talk connection turned on, you and the person you're connected to can chat at any time, with no additional approval options available.

You can have multiple Walkie-Talkie conversations going at once, with each conversation listed in the app.

walkietalkieallow-800x282.jpg

While a Walkie-Talkie conversation is enabled with another person, both of you will see a yellow Walkie-Talkie icon at the top of the Apple Watch.

walkietalkieicon.jpg

If you want to mute a Walkie-Talkie conversation so you can no longer be contacted, you can scroll up on the Walkie-Talkie app interface and toggle off the "Available" icon. When unavailable, if someone tries to speak to you, they'll see a message that you are unavailable, and you'll receive a notification.

walkietalkieunavailable-800x282.jpg

If you want to resume your conversations with people, you can turn the toggle back to "Available" and everything will work as normal. Both people in the conversation need to have themselves set to "Available" in the Walkie-Talkie app for it to be fully functional.

Walkie-Talkie and the other watchOS 5 features will be limited to developers until watchOS 5 is released in the fall, as Apple does not provide betas of watchOS to the public.

Article Link: watchOS 5 Beta 2 Includes Functional Walkie-Talkie App
 

and 1989 others

macrumors 6502
Sep 21, 2016
474
2,226
That's not what a wallow talkie does. A walker talkie it's a hand set which is in an open frequency with zero latency between speaking and the listeners hearing. More than one. This is nothing more than VoIP on the watch.
 
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ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,541
6,027
Can I just say "Kirk to Spock" if my name is Kirk and I want to speak to Spock? Can Spock just say "Spock here" to accept Kirk's summoning of him?

If so, I will buy an Apple Watch right now, solely for the purpose of making this bit of Star Trek come to life.
 

RogerWilco

macrumors 6502a
Jul 29, 2011
822
1,361
Why not just phone the person....:confused:
Where is your child-like wonder? We're all just kids inside and this app brings out the best in us. Just think, at the next business meeting you can joke with a pal across the room. Everyone will be in awe at your mastery of this new frontier in social media! Jony, Tim, Phil, you are all on a roll, just keep those winners coming!!
 

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,553
9,745
I'm a rolling stone.
That's not what a wallow talkie does. A walker talkie it's a hand set which is in an open frequency with zero latency between speaking and the listeners hearing. More than one. This is nothing more than VoIP on the watch.

What is that thingy you talk about....:)

Totally unrelated and off topic, I thought for a moment 1989 others replied to this thread, see screenshot below.

Screenshot 2018-06-19 at 22.23.41.png
 

oneMadRssn

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,958
13,938
What most people that never used Nextel didn't appreciate was it was extremely low voice latency with the walkie talkie feature. Like, nearly CB radio low latency. This is one of the reason construction guys liked it so much. When operating a crane or loading big heavy things, the delay you get with a cell phone voice call can be too much. When you say stop, you want the other guy to hear it immediately (or as close to immediate as possible). Other than using a CB radio, Nextel was the next best thing.
 
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Lidar

macrumors member
Feb 9, 2015
58
121
Can I just say "Kirk to Spock" if my name is Kirk and I want to speak to Spock? Can Spock just say "Spock here" to accept Kirk's summoning of him?

If so, I will buy an Apple Watch right now, solely for the purpose of making this bit of Star Trek come to life.

The only thing I dont understand why Apple didn’t add, is the ability to notify you before the other person blasts out over your speaker something obscene in a crowded area.

At least Star Trek’s communicators told you that someone was wanting to talk to you first. You know that beep that is coincidentally my text tone? :cool:
 

manu chao

macrumors 604
Jul 30, 2003
7,219
3,031
Maybe I am missing something, but isn't one key feature of a walkie-talkie that you must press down (and hold pressed down) a button while you speak, allowing you to reliably and easily stop 'transmitting' by simply releasing this button. And it is exactly this* that differentiates a Walkie-Talkie from a phone call, including VoIP and thus FaceTime calls?

*Plus the ability to reach multiple people but FaceTime has gained that now as well.
 

jclo

Managing Editor
Staff member
Dec 7, 2012
1,968
4,296
Does Theatre Mode set Walkie-Talkie availability to "OFF"?

Nope. Neither does Do Not Disturb. But there is a volume toggle that you can control with the Digital Crown to turn down the volume of the person on the other end.
 
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bbeagle

macrumors 68040
Oct 19, 2010
3,539
2,972
Buffalo, NY
Nah, the whole fun of walkie talkies is that the other person doesn't even approve. You just blast whatever you want on a certain frequency.

The other person HAS to approve. They need to have their walkie talkie ON, and on the particular channel you're broadcasting on.
[doublepost=1529441007][/doublepost]
The only thing I dont understand why Apple didn’t add, is the ability to notify you before the other person blasts out over your speaker something obscene in a crowded area.

Walkie Talkies don't function that way. Your walkie talkie is on, and connected to the same channel as the other person, you can't control what they say.
 

Lidar

macrumors member
Feb 9, 2015
58
121
Walkie Talkies don't function that way. Your walkie talkie is on, and connected to the same channel as the other person, you can't control what they say.[/QUOTE]

Very true, but we could improve on the functionality of the person-to-person communication method by having some control over when and where you get audio messages delivered without warning.

Maybe have a function that sets your walky talky mode to do-not disturb whenever I’m at work (via LBS) or any other specific LBS rules you want to add.

Apple could even add functionality to ask you to talk to someone via the app if it has been more than 30 seconds, 1 minute, 30 minutes, etc. since you last talked. If it has been longer than that specified time, you have to ask to talk again.
 
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