How To Use Walkie-Talkie On Your Apple Watch
An Apple Watch can do a lot more than just tell time — it can also let you engage in instant verbal communication with fellow users via its Walkie-Talkie app. Unlike conventional two-way radios, the range of the Apple Watch Walkie-Talkie is unlimited. This allows conversations between friends and family to take place instantly at a push of a virtual button, regardless of distance. However, getting your Apple Watch Walkie-Talkie app working means having to meet certain requirements. For instance, using it requires an internet connection via WiFi or cellular data, either through your iPhone or on the Apple Watch itself (viaApple).
If you’re planning on using the app outside the United States, make sure the place you’re visiting is included in Apple’s WatchOSFeature Availability list, as the service might not be available in certain countries. In addition, if the Walkie-Talkie app is not opening or is missing outright, make sure that your iPhone version is on at least iOS 12.4 and has FaceTime installed. While the app itself does work on models as old as the Apple Watch Series 1, updating your device to WatchOS 5.3 or later is necessary to get it working properly. Once all these requirements are covered, you can finally start using the Walkie-Talkie feature.
How to setup and use the Walkie-Talkie app
The whole process is as simple as it is intuitive and won’t take very long. Before you begin, ensure that you’ve already set up the FaceTime app using your Apple ID on your iPhone to avoid any issues with invitations (viaApple support). Here’s how to add your friends from your contacts and then chat with them using the Walkie-Talkie app.
If a contact invites you via the Walkie-Talkie app, you’ll receive a notification instead. To accept, tap on “Always Allow” and start chatting. To decline, simply tap “Dismiss.”
How to remove contacts or disable Walkie-Talkie
Removing contacts is an even easier and quicker process than adding them. To start, open the Walkie-Talkie app first using step 1 above.
If you don’t want to remove Walkie-Talkie contacts but want to temporarily prevent them from contacting you through the app, you can follow the steps below.
Alternatively, you’re able to enable Theater Mode to automatically disable Walkie-Talkie, according toApple.
Is the Walkie-Talkie app safe?
It took Apple years beforefinally releasing Apple Watch’s Walkie-Talkie app. However, it wasn’t long after launch that Apple caught wind of a worrying vulnerability. In 2019,Apple was forced to shut down the Walkie-Talkie service, albeit temporarily, due to a bug that potentially allowed hackers to eavesdrop on iPhones using FaceTime. While Apple didn’t report any cases of users being victimized by such exploits, it prevented Apple Watches from using the Walkie-Talkie app as a security measure.
Fortunately,Apple brought the Walkie-Talkie function back onlinea couple of weeks later after releasing the WatchOS 5.3 and iOS 12.4 updates, which patched up the potentially dangerous vulnerability. Now, Apple Watch wearers will no longer have to worry about using the troublesome version of the app since having WatchOS 5.3 and iOS 12.4 is a mandatory requirement to get it running, as mentioned above. Overall, safety concerns shouldn’t be much of an issue anymore, but if your Walkie-Talkie app isn’t working or is still missing, just make sure you’ve updated your Apple Watch to the latest version.
