Why Walkie Talkie Apps Haven’t Replaced Real Walkie Talkies

Understand and Overcome The Issues You Might Face in a Walkie Talkie to Smartphone Walkie Talkie Migration

Using Walkie Talkie App vs Using Regular Walkie Talkie

Smartphone based Walkie Talkie apps (Zello, Voxer, VoicePing) have been invented since 2012 but have had limited success in replacing Radio based Walkie Talkies in the Enterprise usage. Some deployments have also been rolled back after to operational concerns and not so good experiences.

In this article, I will share my experience as an industry insider. If you are considering a smartphone deployment to replace your current walkie talkie, this will prepare you for the important issues you should watch out and prepare for.

For each issue, I have assigned my personal rating of how close Walkie Talkie Apps can replace radio based walkie talkies.

The rating system is as follows:

8 to 10 points……….. No Difference from Walkie Talkies

6 to 7 points………….Almost Walkie Talkie Like

3 to 5 points………….Usable with Caveats

0 to 2 points………….Not Ready to be used

We will cover each of these issues in detail but I would like to share the summary rating here. Most issues can be overcomed with the correct deployment and proper expectation management.

Also other than replacing Walkie Talkies, companies usually have other objectives when deploying smartphones for field workers so even if the Walkie Talkie apps do not totally match up to Radio Walkie Talkies, Walkie Talkie Apps might still be deployed.

By covering these issues, I hope to help you anticipate issues that will arise from deployment of walkie talkie apps.