How to use Walkie-Talkie on the Apple Watch

Using Walkie-Talkie on the Apple Watch, you can communicate immediately with a contact. We explain how to use it.

Apple Watch users know that they can make and receive calls and FaceTime calls through their iPhones. Not everyone wants to use their Apple Watch for a real-time two-way voice call.

While shopping, if two people want to contact each other quickly, a phone call is the obvious option. Calls are live throughout the duration of the call, so all unmuted conversations and sounds that may not be pertinent to the other party will be picked up and transmitted.

In such situations, the Walkie-Talkie is the best way to stay in touch. As with its physical radio namesake, Walkie-Talkie involves a push-to-talk call between two people, in which one person calls out from the Apple Watch speaker and it is immediately received by the other.

Listeners will hear only the broadcasting side of the call, without the unexpected two-way conversation. As broadcasts are only sent when necessary, a connection between two contacts can last for a long time without communication.

A Walkie-Talkie is useful for broadcasting information, such as where one party is or will be at a certain time, without requiring the other to respond. Parents could use audio messages to call their kids home or to the car without overstepping boundaries.

It’s not meant for conversation, but rather for distributing information immediately.

Walkie-Talkie requires Apple Watch Series 1 or later running watchOS 5.3. On your iPhone, FaceTime needs to be enabled. In countries that support it, Walkie-Talkies are available.

Add your Walkie-Talkie contacts

Open the Walkie-Talkie app on the Apple Watch.
Click Add Friends.
Browse the list of contacts.

The Apple Watch will show an invitation that must be accepted to use Walkie-Talkie. If they accept, they will be moved to the “Friends” list.

How to use a Walkie-Talkie

Run the Walkie-Talkie app.
Make sure the toggle at the top of the app is set to On.
Select the contact you would like to add.
When connected, talk to them.
You can adjust the contact’s volume by turning the Digital Crown.

Turn Walkie-Talkies on and off

and tap the Walkie-Talkies app on the Apple Watch.
Click the toggle on the top.
You can also use the Walkie-Talkie button in Control Center.

Some attention-related modes can turn off Walkie Talkies, but not all. Examples: Silent Mode will disable Walkie-Talkie communications, but Theatre Mode will allow them to function.

When Do Not Disturb is enabled, the Apple Watch will mirror the settings on the iPhone, so it depends on user settings.