This past weekend I started using the Walkie-Talkie feature on Apple Watch and WatchOS 5. And, I must say, this is a not only a cool feature but a functional one as well. The Walkie-Talkie feature on the Apple Watch may be an overlooked feature in the latest OS, perhaps because its immediate benefits aren’t recognized. We are all used to just picking up our phones and sending a quick text to someone when we need to communicate, most of us probably do this more often than actually making a call to that someone. The messages are instantly sent, why would you need to Walkie-Talkie them?
The big difference between Walkie-Talkie and texting, in my experience, is the instant communication no matter what you might be doing. If I am out in my barn my phone isn’t always right with me, same when Luke is in the basement working on a project. Being able to just raise our wrists and send an instant voice message is more convenient than sending and waiting for a text. Walkie-Talkie works everywhere! You can be several thousand feet away and need to send a message or you can be miles and miles apart. We have used the Walkie-Talkie feature for silly things like asking each other what our lunch plans are to working fixing a broken water line and making sure we aren’t flooding the other end of the building. Best of all, setting up Walkie-Talkie is quick and simple!
All you need to talk with some else is to make sure they are running WatchOS5. You simply tap on Walkie-Talkie within Apple Watch. Once you have the app open, it’s as simple as hitting the + sign and adding contacts you wish to join you with Walkie-Talkie. Anyone you send an invite to will get a message on their watch asking them to confirm they want to connect with you. To talk to anyone you are connected to in Walkie-Talkie, all you need to do is select their name and then press Talk. That is all there is to it, handy!
If you are worried about a sudden message coming through your watch when you are in a meeting or maybe sitting in the dentist chair, do not worry. You can silence alerts and make yourself unavailable as needed. There are two ways to ensure messages don’t come through when it’s inconvenient, simply go into Walkie-Talkie and toggle the available switch to off. You can also simply turn on Theater Mode or Do Not Disturb, these options ensure all communications to your watch are silent. According to Apple, just putting the watch in Silent Mode will not prevent voice communication through Walkie-Talkie. Take Walkie-Talkie for a spin.