Preteen girl looking at a cell phone with her parents

Family movie night? There's an app for that

Download our new mobile app on iOS and Android.

Get the app
Parents' Guide to

Walkie-talkie - COMMUNICATION

By Debbie Gorrell, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Bare bones communication tool; major privacy issues.

App iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android Free Social Networking
Walkie-talkie - COMMUNICATION Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

Community Reviews

See all
age 11+

Based on 4 parent reviews

s1s1
s1s1 Adult
September 24, 2021
age 2+

s1s1

s1s1
Mommabear22
Mommabear22 Adult
September 20, 2020
age 18+

Watch your teens with this app!!

Please watch your teens with this app! Our daughter was getting sucked into some bad stuff using this app. The guys on here were grooming her and was able to get her to comply with sending her Instagram and her phone number. Instagram has secret messages you can not view twice. Please watch your children predators are everywhere in this day and age!
See all 4 parent reviews

Privacy Rating Warning

  • Unclear whether personal information is sold or rented to third parties.
  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.
  • Data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • Unclear whether this product uses a user's information to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Data profiles are created and used for personalised advertisements.
Learn more about our privacy ratings

What’s It About?

WALKIE-TALKIE - COMMUNICATION is an app that lets kids talk to each other over distances. It’s design and user interface are extremely simple. Kids tune to the same channel using manual touch keys, and then the person who wants to talk presses on the designated speaker area of the screen. Kids can change the background color of their walkie-talkies, and they can send a mostly boilerplate message request to friends asking them to join their channel. The app must be open in order for the receiving person to hear a message. In other words, users don’t get a notification when a friend tries to talk to them. Use of the app requires cellular data or a Wi-Fi connection.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (4 ):
Kids say (3 ):

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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why it’s fun to talk to each other with Walkie-talkie - Communication. Why is it sometimes more fun that other forms of communication? How is it different than talking on a phone?

  • Talk about the dangers of communicating with strangers and why certain things should never be discussed within a social networking app. What are the risks of using an app like this? What information should you never share online?

App Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended app lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate