You Can Turn Your Apple Watch Into a Walkie-Talkie With the Touch of a Button — Here's How

It seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same — and this is especially true when it comes to technology.

Gone are the days when we used beepers and landlines to communicate. Now, features like voice notes and text-to-talk apps have made old-school devices obsolete. However, this handy dandy Apple Watch feature reminds us that no matter how far tech has come, we can never really forget where we came from.

You may or may not be aware that your wristwear is capable of transforming into a two-way radio with the touch of a button. Here’s everything you need to know about how to enable and use the Walkie-Talkie feature on your Apple Watch.

To use the Walkie-Talkie feature on your Apple Watch, first, you want to make sure that Facetime is enabled on your iPhone. You also want to make sure that the person you’re signaling has their Facetime settings set to ON too, or your alert won’t come through.

Next, you’ll pull up Applications on your watch using the digital crown. Select the Walkie-Talkie option on the list. If you don’t see it there, don’t fret. The add-on can also be downloaded straight from the App Store to your device.

Once you’ve accessed the Walkie-Talkie app, you’ll see the option to Add Friends from your Contacts to your call log. Once you shoot out an invite, you’ll have to wait for your request to be accepted.

When they do, you will be able to tap their icon and check their availability. Once connected, a yellow button will appear on your screen that says Touch & Hold To Talk.

After a long day of walking and talking, you might be ready to call it quits. To do so, there’s a very easy way to turn the feature off and make yourself unavailable.

Along with disabling your iPhone’s Facetime feature, you can also use the Control Center. Next to the button that allows you to access your Wi-Fi Settings, you’ll see the same yellow button that appeared in the Walkie-Talkie app. Tap that button to toggle the feature on and off.

Additionally, you can set your watch to Do Not Disturb.