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Can you use your iPhone as a walkie talkie?
Yes, with an app. COPY turns your iPhone into a walkie talkie for friends, with recorded voice messages they can listen to when they're ready.
What happens when you let go?
Your message sends. Your friend opens COPY to hear it, then holds the button to reply. You can go back and forth while you're both there, or pick it up later.
It doesn't play your voice live through their speaker. If you need an answer right now, call them.
Two iPhones, one channel
You both get COPY. Tap an empty channel and send your friend an invite. Once they join, turn the dial to them.
Hold down. Talk. Let go. That's your first message.
Talking is free. There's no account to create. Each of your twelve channels can be a friend or a group.
Live walkie talkies or recorded voice messages?
A live walkie talkie needs someone listening at the other end. COPY records your voice and waits for your friend to open the app, so you don't both have to be there.
You get to say the thing while you're thinking about it. They get to hear it when they can.
That's the timing we chose
Matt and I built COPY around that back and forth. Hold down to record. Let go to send. Your friend opens the app, hears you, and replies.
Sometimes you should call
If you need to go back and forth right now, call. COPY doesn't have a live-audio mode.
The button makes it feel like a walkie talkie. The messages give you room to answer later. We like that combination.
Try it with one friend
Do walkie talkie apps work without internet?
COPY works over cellular data, so you don't need Wi-Fi. If you have neither, you'll need a different way to communicate.
It looks like a radio. Messages travel over your phone's data connection.
No bars, but there's Wi-Fi
If you're at a house with terrible cell reception, COPY can use Wi-Fi instead. Each person can use whichever connection is available to them.
On a trail with neither cellular data nor Wi-Fi connected to the internet, COPY won't carry the conversation.
For nearby phones without internet
Some apps connect nearby phones over a local wireless network.
We haven't tested those, so we can't recommend one. COPY needs Wi-Fi or cellular data.
3 guides
How it works
Can you use your iPhone as a walkie talkie?
Live walkie talkies or recorded voice messages?
Do walkie talkie apps work without internet?
Some things are easier to say
You start typing a story. Three messages in, you're still explaining who's who. It would've been easier to say it out loud.
That's where COPY fits. Pick your friend's channel, hold the button, and talk. They can listen when they're free. You don't have to turn a thing you wanted to tell them into a whole phone call.
Matt and I built COPY as a little walkie talkie for your phone. Twelve channels for your friends and groups. Turn the dial. Hold down. Talk. Let go.
We wanted it to be fun to pick up. Something that felt like yours.
You can still text them
The address is probably better in a text. So is the link you promised to send. Nobody wants to replay a message to find a house number.
But the story about what happened when you got there? We'd rather hear you tell it.
And if you need an answer right now, call. COPY messages wait until your friend opens the app to listen.
A walkie talkie app for your family
COPY gives your family a shared voice channel on iPhone.
Put the family on the dial
Tap an empty channel and choose A group.
Send the invite link in your family chat. Everyone who joins shares that channel.
Turn to it, hold the button and talk. Let go to send your message to the group.
When someone replies, that channel shows new messages. Tap it to listen.
Your brother can have his own channel too
A group takes one spot on your dial and holds up to 25 people. Give your brother a separate channel for the things meant for him.
Staying close with long-distance friends
You have something to tell them on Tuesday. Your next call is on Sunday. With a voice message in COPY, you can send it now.
Send the Tuesday thing
You might just have an opinion about the show they're watching.
COPY is a walkie talkie app for iPhone. Your friend has a channel on the dial. Turn to them, hold the button and say it while it's still in your head. Let go to send.
They open COPY to listen and hold the button to reply. When you come back, their channel shows new messages. Tap it to hear what they thought.
Same channel, different time zones
You can leave a message while they're asleep. It waits until they open COPY, for up to seven days. You don't both have to be there.
Put them on the dial
3 guides
Your people
Some things are easier to say
A walkie talkie app for your family
Staying close with long-distance friends
COPY or iMessage voice messages?
COPY is for when you'd like a walkie talkie of your own, with your friends on the dial and a button to talk to them.
A channel for the back and forth
In Messages, your audio sits alongside your texts, photos and links. If that's where you both talk, you can keep sending it there.
In COPY, you turn the dial to your friend and hold the button to talk. Let go to send. When they reply, their channel shows new messages. Tap it to hear them.
Matt and I wanted that to feel good to pick up. You can choose a device that changes the look, sounds and controls. Your friends stay on the dial when you change it.
Give one friend a channel
You both get COPY on iPhone. Tap an empty channel and choose A friend.
Send them the invite link in your existing conversation. Once they join, turn to their channel.
Looking for a voice-only Marco Polo alternative?
COPY is a voice-only Marco Polo alternative for iPhone. You send a message, your friend listens when they're free, and they send one back.
Just say it
You can tell the whole story without pointing a camera at yourself. Pick your friend on the COPY dial, hold the button and talk. Let go to send.
Your friend opens COPY to listen, then holds the button to reply. Their channel shows new messages when there's something for you. Tap it to hear them.
Try one message each way
You both get COPY on iPhone. Tap an empty channel and choose A friend.
Send them the invite link. Once they join, turn to their channel and tell them something.
Talking is free over Wi-Fi or cellular data. You connect through the link, with no phone number or email to register.
Apple removed Walkie-Talkie in watchOS 27. What now?
Apple removed Walkie-Talkie in watchOS 27. You can't reinstall it on a watch running that version.
If you used it with someone, that's a strange little thing to lose. A button you could press to talk to them, right there on your wrist.
If you haven't updated
Walkie-Talkie works on watchOS 5.3 through 26.6. Both watches need a supported version. Once either person moves to watchOS 27, that exchange stops working.
What did you like about it?
If you liked talking live, a FaceTime audio call still does that. If you liked sending a quick bit of audio, Messages can do that too.
If it was the feeling of having a walkie talkie, Matt and I make one for iPhone. It's called COPY.
A dial for your friends
3 guides
Coming from another app
COPY or iMessage voice messages?
Looking for a voice-only Marco Polo alternative?
Apple removed Walkie-Talkie in watchOS 27. What now?
How to send voice messages that disappear after listening
iMessage deletes audio from your device two minutes after you send or play it by default. WhatsApp has a view once option, and COPY deletes messages automatically after everyone has played them, or after seven days.
In COPY, you don't have to remember to switch deletion on.
In iMessage
Open Settings, then Apps, then Messages. Under Audio Messages, find Expire and choose After 2 Minutes or Never.
Each person controls the copy on their phone. The listener can tap Keep. Your copy disappearing doesn't mean theirs has disappeared too.
In WhatsApp
Open the chat, hold the microphone, and slide up to lock the recording. Tap the view once icon, the 1 in a circle, before sending. That voice message plays once and can't be forwarded.
Sources: Apple's iPhone User Guide and the WhatsApp Help Center.
What makes a voice message private?
COPY voice messages are end-to-end encrypted. The people on your channel can listen. We can't.
What happens to the recording?
Your recording is encrypted before it leaves your phone. An encrypted copy waits for your friends to receive it; we don't have the keys to listen.
Once everyone has played it, it's deleted. Unplayed messages expire after seven days. COPY Club's Skip & Replay keeps an encrypted copy on the listener's phone for ten minutes after listening.
You choose who joins
People join through an invite link. Send it to the people you want on that channel. A new group member doesn't receive the older messages.
You can see who's in a group in the group controls.
The full privacy details
Can you send voice messages without a phone number?
COPY is a private walkie talkie app for iPhone. You can send voice messages without registering a phone number or email. Send a friend an invite link and you'll have a channel together.
Connect through a link
Get COPY on iPhone. Tap an empty channel and choose A friend.
Send the invite through whatever chat you already use. Your friend needs COPY too.
Once they join, turn to their channel. Hold the button to talk and let go to send.
They open COPY to listen and send one back. Your connection stays on the dial, so you can turn to them next time.
The link gives access to the channel, so send it directly to the person you mean to invite. For a few friends, make a group and share one link with them.
Keep your recovery key
3 guides
Privacy
How to send voice messages that disappear after listening
What makes a voice message private?
Can you send voice messages without a phone number?
Browse Guides
Overview
How it works
iPhone as a walkie talkie
Live or recorded voice
Without internet
Your people
Voice notes or texts
Talking with family
Long-distance friends
Coming from another app
COPY or iMessage
A Marco Polo alternative
Walkie-Talkie in watchOS 27
Privacy
Disappearing voice messages
Private voice messages
Without a phone number
