Walkie Talkie on Apple Watch: How Does it Work?

We have all seen on occasion how several people communicate through a walkie-talkie at an airport or any other establishment. This radio feature is now applied to the Apple Smart Watch. We tell you everything you need to know about the Walkie-talkie function for your Apple Watch.

What is Walkie-talkie

Walkie-talkie is an application that is natively installed on Apple Watch and was jointly introduced to watchOS 5. If you have ever used a walkie-talkie in a traditional way , the operation can be said to be identical. With the push of a button you will start a conversation with the receiver and only when you stop talking can the other person respond in the same way. But obviously it has several advantages and that is that you can communicate with any type of person who is far away. This cannot happen with a traditional device since it works through radio waves that cover a specific space.

Walkie Talkie on Apple Watch

Specifically, this application is based on the PTT PoC communication protocol used by the GSM data network . This is the alternative that is presented to the radio frequency network. In this way, voice messages are sent through the data plan that is contracted as if it were done through a messaging service such as WhatsApp or Telegram.

walkie talkie

Requirements for using Walkie-talkie

The basic requirements to use this function is basically to have an Apple Watch Series 1 or later with watchOS 5.3 or a later version. Obviously this should occur on both the receiver and transmitter clock. You must also configure the FaceTime application on the linked iPhone that must have iOS 12.4 or higher installed . In this way you can make and receive calls without having to charge the data rate. If all these requirements are met, the application will appear on your watch and you can start interacting with it.

As usual with Apple, some functions are limited to a specific region of the world. Luckily Walkie-Talkie is available in the vast majority of countries such as Spain, Mexico and many others.

Enable or disable Walkie-talkie

For the service to work correctly, it must obviously be activated for communications to start arriving. The following steps should simply be followed:

  • Open the Walkie-talkie app on Apple Watch.
  • Activate the Walkie-talkie option that will appear at the beginning of the application. At the moment you can start communicating.
  • This same action can be performed from the control center by clicking on the application icon.

walkie talkie apple watch

In case you don’t want to be waiting for communications to arrive, silent mode can be activated through the control center. This way you can continue listening to your friend’s sounds and voice while talking to someone. If, on the other hand, you activate the ‘cinema mode’, the Walkie-talkie will no longer be available, so no one will be able to communicate with you. This is intended for when you are in a room where you require that you not be disturbed.

Add friends

In order to start a conversation you have to add your friends to the application. To do so, simply follow the following steps:

  • Open the app on the watch.
  • Tap on ‘Add friends’ at the bottom of the list and then choose one of the contacts from your phonebook.
  • Obviously, the other person must accept the invitation that you will send to start a conversation. Until I accept you, your card will appear gray and turn yellow when it has been accepted so that you can communicate immediately.

walkie talkie apple watch

In the event that you want to delete one of the friends, you simply have to enter the application and scroll through the contact cards that you will find while you scroll. Swipe left on the card in question and press the delete button marked with an ‘X’. You can also edit all the contacts through the iPhone linked through the application by following the Walkie-talkie> Edit route.

Start conversation and talk

In order to start a conversation, you must first accept or send a person’s invitation. Once it is added you will simply have to follow the following steps:

  • Open Walkie-talkie on Apple Watch.
  • Click on your friend’s card.
  • A large round button will appear where it says ‘Talk’. Hold it down and start talking and release just when you’re done talking.
  • Wait a few seconds and wait for the other person to press the button and respond.

walkie talkie

It is important to note that the moment you are talking, the message will be playing as if it were a traditional Walkie. That is, a message will not be sent so that it can later be reproduced by the other person. The volume can be adjusted through the digital crown on the side of the Apple Watch.

What to do if the application does not appear

In some cases, this native application may not appear on your Apple Watch at the moment even if you meet all the requirements. You can try to fix it by downloading the FaceTime app on your iPhone and making sure it’s active. If this application is not fully configured, it is impossible for the walkie function to work since communication is made through it. In the event that it still does not work, you must check that the FaceTime app is available in your country and also the Walkie app. Restarting both iPhone and Apple Watch can also end up fixing all these errors.