The Apple Watch walkie talkie is virtually useless

If you have a new Apple Watch Series 4 or if you've upgraded your Apple Watch to watchOS 5, you've probably noticed that your device has a new app called Walkie Talkie.

This particular application uses the FaceTime Audio APIs, so you can instantly communicate with another person with a walkie talkie, just as Sprint Push To Talk / PTT works with these phones.

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PTT is an extremely useful feature on these handsets because it does not require dialing. Not only does it support instant 1: 1 communication (like a CB radio or communication device on Star Trek), but it also supports a broadcast mode, where multiple devices connected to a group / channel can talk to each other simultaneously.

The feature is extremely popular in the construction and transportation industries and in other areas where it requires constant voice communication. But it also has great potential for consumer use, especially for families when they do group outings, for example in theme parks and in other places where people can be easily separated.

I've tried the walkie talkie, and it's really fun to use. I was able to have a few conversations with Jason Cipriani, our mobile columnist, and the interactions made me go back when I was working on the trading desk on Wall Street in the early 1990s and where I was carrying a Nextel phone.

When the application works, it is awesome. The quality of the voice is sufficient and fast.

The problem is that the application leaves a lot to be desired in terms of overall usefulness.

For starters, you can only use Walkie Talkie to communicate with someone with an Apple Watch, not even someone with an iOS device, such as an iPhone, an iPad or an iPhone. Apple TV.

So, this greatly limits the ability to talk about this feature. Forget the users of Android, PC or Mac, Google Wear, Samsung Gear or game consoles, or even a smart speaker such as an Echo, a Google Home or even the HomePod d & # 39; Apple.

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Then there is the whole process of inviting people. You can only invite contacts who have a mobile phone number in the iPhone Contacts app, and a separate list is kept in the Apple Watch management app on iOS, where the contact is actually "linked" to the watch.

This is problematic for a number of reasons. There have been many occasions where I have sent an invitation, only for someone else to not accept it or not to accept it (because 39; they do not have Apple Watch or another problem prevents it) and it stays in limbo.

When this happens, you must remove the contact from the Apple Watch app on iOS, as well as your Contacts app on iOS, and then add them again. Otherwise, you can not return the invitation.

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It's frustrating like hell.

I've also noticed a situation where, if you swap your Watch devices (with an upgrade, for example), your Walkie-Talkie contacts do not seem to persist and you need to add them. I had to do it with Cipriani, when we both updated a series of watches 4 the same day.

The implementation is simply horrible. There is also no "broadcast" function (as if you wanted to create a "family" channel with all your children and your spouse), and of course, if you used something else as the main contact manager for send SMS, like Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, it does not work. You must add them manually to iOS contacts.

You also can not selectively choose who you want to talk to all the time either: when you turn on the "Available" switch, each of your contacts can send you an instant voice message. This is bad for obvious reasons.

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This experience could certainly be better. I would like at least to see Apple's Walkie-Talk port on iOS, which would greatly open the user base. But I think if we want Watch to be a good instant communication device, we have to involve third parties.

This means that they should be communication platforms with a large population of existing users, namely Facebook with Messenger, Google with Hangouts and Microsoft with Skype / SfB. Certainly, platforms such as WhatsApp and a number of others would also be appropriate.

The problem is that for this to happen, Apple must open the FaceTime Audio APIs on the watch and allow low-level access to the watch's microphone.

That's what I understood from companies such as Zello, who owned a PTT application for watchOS version 1, but eventually had to withdraw their application due to lack of support Apple and its inability to programmatically access this microphone.

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I would love to be able to use the watch as the main voice communicator, as always. But it does not seem to be more than a curiosity.

Does Apple have to open FaceTime Audio on Watch and carry Walkie-Talkie on iOS? Talk back and let me know.

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