How To Use The watchOS 5 Walkie-Talkie Feature

The 5th watchOS generation brings a series of spectacular new features to Apple’s smartwatch. Some of them are taking advantage of the new Apple Watch Series 4 enlarged display, but in this article we will talk about the new Walkie-Talke app which is compatible with all Apple Watch models, excepting the original model, a terminal that isn’t compatible with watchOS 5.

This new feature does what it says, it provides one more communication method between Apple Watch owners, using the old-school push-to-talk system. The benefits are that the feature works over any distance, unlike the traditional walkie-talkies that are limited to certain ranges. The downside is that your wrist-worn device requires cellular or Wi-Fi Internet connectivity in order to be able to send and receive Walkie-Talkie messages.

How To Walkie-Talkie On Apple Watch
1. Open the Walkie-Talkie app on your watchOS 5 device.
2. Pick a contact that you want to connect with. Scroll the list with the help of the Digital Crown.
3. Your friend is notified by an acoustic beep and will also notice the Walkie-Talkie icon at the top of the Apple Watch screen. Your communication partner has to a agree with the chat by taping on “Allow”.
4. Use the yellow “Talk” button to send voice messages to your walkie-talkie partner. Press and hold it while you speak. The message is audio dispatch when you release.
Fact: A Walkie-Talkie message is able to bypass Silent mode, Do Not Disturb mode as well as the Theater Mode. There is a Volume option available though which you can adjust with the help of the Digital Crown in order to avoid disturbing other people.

How To Mute A Walkie-Talkie Conversation
You can also mark yourself “Unavailable”, within the Walkie-Talkie app to stop receiving push-to-talk messages when you’re not able to handle them. This is done by tapping on the green “Available” icon. You can resume the dialog at anytime by pressing the same icon. While you’re unavailable your chatting partner will receive a message that informs him about your status in case he wants to send a message. You will be also notified that he tried to contact you. Both conversation partners have to be marked as “Available” for the push-to-talk discussion to take place.
Fact: You can engage in multiple Walkie-Talkie conversations at once. Each of them will be listed within the app.