Have you ever used an old-school walkie-talkie? I loved playing with them as a kid. There was something so cool about pressing that push-to-talk button and hearing your friend‘s voice come crackling through the speaker.
Apple managed to recreate that magical retro experience right on your wrist with the Apple Watch Walkie-Talkie app. Keep reading, my friend, and I‘ll show you everything you need to know to master this fun way to chat…
A Brief History: From Battlefield to Wrist
Before we dive into using Walkie-Talkie on your Apple Watch, let me give you some context on where these devices originated…
Way back in World War II, handheld AM radios were used by infantry soldiers to communicate in the field. They were nicknamed “walkie-talkies” and officially called the “Handie-Talkie” by their creator, Motorola.
After the war, walkie-talkies made their way into popular culture through TV, movies, and toys. They became an iconic way for everyone from kids in their backyard fort to race car drivers to instantly chat by pressing a button.
Fast forward to today, and Apple wanted to reinvent this retro gadget in a slick, modern way. The Apple Watch Walkie-Talkie app lets you effortlessly tap your friends and chat with the push of a single button.
Let‘s look at how to use it…
Step 1: Locate the Walkie-Talkie App
First things first – find the Walkie-Talkie app on your Apple Watch‘s home screen.
The icon is yellow and features the silhouette of an old-school walkie-talkie. This makes it easy to spot among your other apps.
Go ahead and tap it to open the app.
The first time you open it, you‘ll see an introduction screen explaining how walkie-talkie chatting works. Go ahead and scroll past that to view your contacts list.
Troubleshooting Tip: If for some reason you don‘t see the Walkie-Talkie app on your home screen, check that FaceTime is enabled on your paired iPhone. The app needs FaceTime access to function.
Step 2: Send Invites to Friends
Once you locate the Walkie-Talkie app, it‘s time to invite some friends! After all, a walkie-talkie is no fun without buddies to talk to.
In the app, tap to select a contact from your friends list. This will send them an invite to start using Walkie-Talkie.
You‘ll see pending invites under the “Friends You Invited” section, with their contact icon grayed out while awaiting their response.
Once they accept, their contact icon will turn yellow to indicate they are onboarded and ready to be called through Walkie-Talkie. Pretty easy right?
To invite additional friends later on, tap the plus (+) symbol at the top and select more contacts. The more the merrier!
Insider Tip: For your friends to use Walkie-Talkie, they need an Apple Watch running watchOS 5.3 or later. Their paired iPhones also require iOS 12.4 or higher.
| watchOS Version | iOS Version | Walkie-Talkie Compatible? |
|---|---|---|
| watchOS 5.3+ | iOS 12.4+ | Yes 👍 |
| watchOS 5.2.1 | iOS 12.2 | No 👎 |
| watchOS 4 | iOS 11 | No 👎 |
Now on to the fun part…
Step 3: Check Your Friend‘s Availability
You‘re all set up, you‘ve got buddies onboarded, and now you‘re eager to start chatting!
But before you initiate a call, it‘s good practice to check if that friend is currently available first.
After selecting their name, you should briefly see a screen that says “Available” letting you know their Watch is active with Walkie-Talkie turned on.
If instead you see a message that they are “unavailable”, it likely means their Apple Watch is powered off, they have Do Not Disturb activated, or Walkie-Talkie is currently turned off in Control Center.
No sweat – just try them again later. The beauty of walkie-talkies is you can instantly check your friends‘ readiness to chat.
Step 4: Push to Talk!
This is the fun part I know you‘ve been waiting for. Time to push that button and talk!
First, select an available friend‘s name that you confirmed is ready to chat. You‘ll then be taken to the call screen with a big yellow circular button in the middle.
Press and hold this button to start transmitting your voice to your friend!
Yes, just like those retro walkie-talkies – so cool. While holding the button, speak clearly into your Apple Watch mic.
You‘ll see “Checking availability…” displayed while it connects. Once connected, your friend will hear a couple quick confirmation tones, followed by your amazing voice piping through their watch speaker.
When you‘re done talking, simply release the button. Your friend will hear a final tone indicating the channel is clear for them to respond.
I love how seamless and quick the back-and-forth chatting is – it makes it perfect for quick convos or even just silly jokes and bursts of laughter.
Feel free to turn the Digital Crown during your transmission to adjust the volume level on your watch.
Pro Tip: Enable the “Tap to Talk” mode under Walkie-Talkie‘s accessibility settings for hands-free transmissions! Just tap the button to start and stop talking.
And that‘s all there is to it! With those four basic steps, you can now use the Walkie-Talkie app to chat back and forth with your pals.
Pretty amazing how Apple made this old-school technology feel new and innovative again simply by putting it on your wrist!
Advanced Tips and Tricks
Now that you know the basics, let me share some advanced insider tips…
Add Favorites – Flag friends and family members you chat with often as Favorites. They will be pinned to the top of your Walkie-Talkie contacts for quick access.
Channels – Tired of 1-on-1 convos? Create a Channel to instantly group chat with up to 32 participants at once! Great for parties or trips.
Effects – Before transmitting, tap the star icon to add fun voice effects like Chipmunk or Helium to disguise your voice for extra giggles.
Troubleshooting – If chatter cuts out mid-chat, toggle Airplane mode on briefly to reset the connection, then toggle back off to resume.
I especially love how seamless Walkie-Talkie is for keeping in touch when you don‘t have cellular connection, like at a crowded event or on a hike. The push-to-talk simplicity and instant sound transmission beats texting back and forth.
Give it a shot next time you and some friends want to coordinate meetups or share laughs!
Bottom Line
The Apple Watch Walkie-Talkie app brings back the nostalgic fun of old-school walkie-talkies in an incredibly sleek, futuristic way.
With just a quick invite, availability check, and push of a button, you can be effortlessly chatting with friends and family on your watch in seconds.
So ditch the crackly plastic toys of the past, my friend. Your wrist is now home to the walkie-talkie of the future thanks to Apple!
Let me know if you have any other questions getting up and running. Happy chatting!
