Remember Walkie-Talkie? Apple is apparently betting you won't.
The push-to-talk app has vanished from the first developer beta of watchOS 27, disappearing from both the app list and Control Center, with no way to bring it back. Apple hasn't said why, but it's probably because not many people used it.
If you include yourself in that cohort, here's a quick explainer.
Walkie-Talkie arrived with watchOS 5 back in 2018 and let two Apple Watch wearers send quick voice clips to each other over Wi-Fi or cellular, using the FaceTime architecture under the hood. It was niche for sure, but the people who used it likely really loved it.
Apple, for its part, mostly ignored it. Eight major watchOS releases came and went without a meaningful update, save for an emergency shutdown in 2018 after a bug let someone eavesdrop through your mic.
Could it return before the fall, when watchOS 27 is released to the general public? Technically yes, since we're still in early beta territory. But this comes across as more like a quiet burial for the app. If so, RIP Walkie-Talkie.
