3 Of The Best Walkie Talkie Apps For Android

Walkie talkies are a fun way to stay in touch despite smartphones having completely taken over our communication. Besides fun activities, walkie talkies are handy for scenarios where quickness and efficiency in conversations matter the most. Whether you just want to use them for recreational or outdoor indulgences or utilities such as security or event planning, you can get a walkie talkie's (push-to-talk) functionality with dedicated apps on your phone without having to buy the actual hardware.

This article discusses three of the most helpful walkie talkie apps for Android phones. We chose the top three apps out of a larger pool by accounting for features, pricing, security, and ease of use.

Besides instantly sending your audio messages to other users, some of these apps also offer additional messaging capabilities with options to secure your chats with encryption (similar to using Google Messages), which is something a physical walkie talkie apparatus is incapable of. Most of them also work in the background without significantly slowing your Android device down. It must be noted that all of these apps run on the internet and cannot be used to intercept radio waves or tune into frequencies used by physical walkie talkies. This also means the apps may not work very well in emergency situations where internet services are disrupted. However, you can use Android apps that let you listen to set police broadcasts or shack radio stations out of interest or to stay updated about local activities.

Zello is one of the oldest walkie talkie apps that have survived the test of time. Unlike most of its competitors, it features a modern and updated interface and has over 100 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Zello is a cross-platform walkie app that works on Windows, Mac, iOS, and even smartwatch operating systems such as Google's Wear OS and Apple's watchOS.

A large push-to-talk icon is placed centrally on Zello's primary screen, but the app also allows you to send text messages and media within channels. You can either join existing broadcast channels or create new ones, which can be set as private or public. For ease, you can also use Zello directly from your phone's notifications shade without opening the app.

Zello also offers a Driving mode with a simplified interface, including larger buttons, colorful cues to indicate when your message is being recorded, and swipe gestures to navigate through different channels.

All of these features are available for free, but Zello also lets you upgrade to a paid version called Zello Work for $8 per month per user. With this, all your chats are end-to-end encrypted, making your quips accessible to no one other than your team members.

Two Way is a simplistic app with a minimal interface built around the push-to-talk functionality. This is a no-fuss app lacking any distracting or gimmick features, which allows the app to run in the background without needing too much power.

The app's main screen is primarily occupied by a large button you hold down to speak. You can start using Two Way without any sign-ups, making it appealing to people uncomfortable with sharing personal details.

The app uses six-digit channel identifiers, analogous to frequency on real walkie talkies. An unlimited number of users can join a channel by entering this number and start communicating instantly, irrespective of their geographical location. You can also search for other broadcasters in any area by using the map view.

Two Way does not store a log or history of the communications other than the list of the recent channels you engaged with. However, the interactions are not encrypted and unmoderated, allowing anyone with the six-digit channel code to listen to join — just like a physical walkie talkie. So, we recommend not sharing any sensitive information while using it. Further, the app shows ads, which unfortunately can not be removed by paying.

While the other two options in our list appeal mostly to enthusiasts, ProPTT2 is intended for more serious users, with an interface hugely inspired by profession-grade walkie talkie sets. A distinguishing feature of the app is its ability to send quick videos in a push-to-talk fashion.

The app lets you join numerous private and public channels, with quick access to three channels directly from the main screen. Your location is automatically shared with each message, allowing for precise tracking in tactical or industrial applications.

ProPTT2 offers a high degree of customization for the button configurations as well as for voice and video quality. You can turn on the Vox mode, which automatically sends messages as you speak while the app is running in the background.

In addition to Android, ProPTT2 is available on iOS and Windows. Using the eponymous company's proprietary hardware, you can view security footage from actual cameras and communicate with actual UHF or VHF two-way radio systems.

The free version limits you to a single channel with up to 20 users. For $4 per user per month, the paid version activates options for up to 30 channels with 500 members each and one-on-one channels.

The three walkie-talkie apps listed above were chosen from a larger lot based on a few factors. Although downloads and ratings on the Google Play Store initially helped us gather a range of options, we narrowed our recommendations down to these three after testing the apps. Firstly, we looked at the ease of use of the walkie-talkie functionality and omitted messaging apps that offered push-to-talk as one of the features. We chose options with uncluttered user interfaces and preferred apps that continue to be updated by developers. Instead of selecting similar options, we gravitated towards presenting three very distinct options to help you decide among the three quickly. 

Lastly, we also considered the pricing of the apps; all the apps above can be used for free, while two of them unlock more features if you pay a subscription fee.