The Sudden Voice
The Apple Watch features a “Walkie-Talkie” app that allows you to instantly broadcast your voice directly to a friend’s wrist. While this is a fun feature for coordinating at a crowded music festival, it operates exactly like a real radio: if the feature is turned on, your friend can instantly start speaking out of your watch speaker at any time, completely bypassing the normal phone call ringing process. If you are sitting in a quiet office meeting or attending a solemn event, having a friend’s voice suddenly scream out of your wrist without warning is a disaster. If you rarely use the feature, you should permanently revoke your “available” status.
How to Turn Off Walkie-Talkie Availability
You can quickly disconnect yourself from the radio network using the Control Center on your watch.
- Wake up your Apple Watch screen.
- Swipe up from the very bottom edge of the watch face to open the Control Center.
- Look for the Walkie-Talkie icon (a yellow circle with a black radio inside).
- Tap the Walkie-Talkie icon.
The Offline State
When the icon turns grey, you are officially offline. The Walkie-Talkie app will remain installed on your watch, but if any of your approved contacts attempt to hail you, their watch will simply state that you are unavailable, and no audio will transmit to your speaker. You can safely leave this turned off permanently until you actually need to use it for a specific event.