Parents' Guide to Walkie-talkie - COMMUNICATION

The concept of this app is fun and the simple design is refreshing, but the cumbersome nature of connecting with others, along with the privacy concerns, are very difficult to overlook. The lack of bells and whistles works well given the intended function of the app. But, it could be useful to incorporate some sort of notification when a user is trying to talk to a friend through the speaker. A much greater concern is the potential for communication with strangers. This seems impossible for parents to monitor unless they constantly eavesdrop on kids’ conversations, and even then, no one would know if a stranger was quietly listening or if kids were trolling through channels trying to find other people using the app. Some users report in app reviews that they share channel information in other apps and use Walkie-talkie - Communication to talk to them. Others report choosing a channel and discovering that there is a stranger on the other end. And reviews also indicate that kids like to use this app in school, as they can leave it open -- tuned to a channel -- and not have to type or make a call. Finally, regular users report lots of bugs including the app randomly closing and channels not working in the middle of the conversation. So, this one is better for older teens, used with oversight.