What you need to know
- Microsoft is bringing its Walkie Talkie app to Teams phones.
- It works like a regular walkie talkie, wherein you have to press and hold a button to be heard.
- The feature's Teams phone availability is in development.
Microsoft's walkie talkie feature for Teams has already been around for months on Android, but it's now coming to Teams phones. If you're wondering what Teams phones are, they're third-party phones built with specific Teams optimizations in mind, such as displays. Now, they can join in the walkie talkie fun.
As can be seen on Microsoft's 365 roadmap, where all good Teams updates are found, the company has decided it is finally time for Teams phones to get all the fun of pressing a button and holding it in order to talk.
Here's how Microsoft describes its feature: "Like traditional walkie talkies, the Walkie Talkie app on your Teams phones provides an instant push-to-talk (PTT) communication for your team. It allows you to press and hold a button to speak to your team, and release the button to listen. Users can connect with their team using the Teams channels."
Microsoft does not describe the secondary benefits of the walkie talkie feature, wherein you can make "bzzt" noises and say "over" at the end of every sentence, but rest assured: That functionality is there, should you choose to make the noises and speak the words yourself.
The feature's Teams phones availability is still in development and is set to be so until September 2021, according to the current tentative date on the roadmap. Remember, though, that those dates are set to change at any time, so Teams phones' walkie talkie capabilities could come sooner or later.
You want a walkie talkie. Microsoft Teams has it. Now's your chance to get in on the action while keeping in contact with work colleagues during day-to-day operations.
