GoKawiilApple Watch is losing its Walkie-Talkie app in this fall’s watchOS 27 software update. Will you miss the Apple Watch push-to-talk functionality?
Apple hasn’t said why it’s discontinuing the Walkie-Talkie app
Over the years, Apple Watch has been a bit of a playground for quirky ideas that eventually go away.
Spinning the Digital Crown from the watch face used to move data on complications like weather and calendar events forward or backward in time.
Clicking the side button originally opened a circle of friends. Digital Touch still exists as an iMessage app, but it was originally an Apple Watch-exclusive form of communication.
Even Apple Watch faces come and go. Sometimes they get replaced with watchOS features like the widgets Smart Stack that essentially replaced the Siri watch face.
Other times the licensing deals seem to expire (the Toy Story watch face didn’t make it to see Toy Story 5). Sometimes perfectly good watch faces just go away with no explanation or comparable replacement. I’m still missing the excellent Explorer watch face that arrived with the cellular Apple Watch Series 3.
Walkie-Talkie mode is the latest playground experiment to disappear after an Apple Watch software update. watchOS 27 is coming this fall, and the push-to-talk feature that only works between Apple Watches is no more.
For a system-level feature, Walkie-Talkie was a bit complicated. You needed to add connections specifically for the Walkie-Talkie app. You also needed to leave the Walkie-Talkie mode on to receive voice messages.
The idea was real-time voice communication that happened in sessions. It sat between a live audio call and sending voice memos back and forth.
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