Apple Watch Walkie Talkie new conversation causes iPhone to ring; iOS 14 or watchOS 7 to blame?

The Walkie-Talkie feature was one of the biggest additions that Apple brought with the watchOS 5 update. And given that the feature was already pretty good to begin with, Apple has not made any significant changes to the Walkie-Talkie option.

However, the Cupertino-based tech company had to disable the function last year because of a vulnerability that allowed third-parties to eavesdrop on others conversations without consent.

Fortunately, Apple fixed the problem swiftly and Apple Watch users have since then been able to use the Walkie Talkie app to chat with their contacts as intended.

But recently, some Apple Watch users began reporting that whenever a contact initiates a new conversation on the Walke Talkie app, their iPhone starts ringing as if there’s an incoming call.

We’ve shared a few reports from users who experienced the problem:

Glad I’m not the only one having this issue. My wife and I just got the SE watches and updated iOS on phones (14.2) and watches (7.2). (Source)

When someone initiated Walkie talkie even when my phone and Watch were awake, the phone not only rang once, it kept ringing like a phone call, worse than before. (Source)

Same here! With my iPhone 12 pro max and watch6! When I press the yellow button in walkie-talkie the Phone X of my wife rings once. But it is strange that it is not the other way around, when she is contacting me – my phone doesn’t ring! (Source)

This problem appears to have popped up after users installed the iOS 14 and watchOS 7 updates on their iPhones and Apple Watches respectively.

At present, there are a lot of contradicting reports and claims from those who have been experiencing the issue.

This is because some say the problem was apparently fixed own its own, one individual claims the issue was fixed with the iOS 14.2.1 update, and another says that the problem came up after installing iOS 14.2.1.

Of course, it’s also likely that Apple Watch Walkie Talkie issue could be due to a glitch or bug in watchOS 7.1 as highlighted by one individual.

Since Apple has not acknowledged it, users can only continue speculating as to what might be causing the problem in the first place.

Thankfully, based on the current evidence, it’s clear that the issue is not affecting Apple Watch users on a large scale. However, we’re seeing new reports come in daily.

Having said that, it’s possible that the issue may be addressed with the upcoming iOS 14.3 update since a couple of users have claimed that the problem disappeared after installing the iOS 14.3 beta.

I was having the exact same issue. Updating to iOS 14.3 Public Beta 2 from iOS 14.2 fixed the problem completely. (Source)

Needless to say, this too is purely speculation and we will have to wait until Apple rolls out iOS 14.3 in order to know whether it addresses the issue.

We will continue tracking the situation and will post an update once any new developments surface. In the meantime, you can head to our dedicated tracker to know the status of all the known bugs and issues on iOS 14.

Furthermore, in case you have been troubled with the same problem, do let us know what fixed the issue for you or whether it’s still persistent.

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