Open mic all day

How open mic behaves on a long shift: it sends only your voice, holds the room only while you speak, and waits its turn.

How to do it

1. Turn it on once. Pick Open mic above the talk button and tap the button. It stays on until you tap it again. You feel 1 buzz when it turns on and 2 when it turns off, never every time you speak.

2. Just talk. Open mic ignores most noise like bangs, beeps, conveyors and backup alarms, and learns steady noise like fans and motors within a few seconds. In You › Sound › Your voice › Open mic sensitivity, pick Low for loud places, Normal for most places, or High for quiet voices in a quiet room. See Open mic sensitivity.

3. If someone else is talking, your open mic stays on and waits. What you say while you wait isn’t sent. If you’re still talking when they stop, the room is yours. Someone waiting with Hold or Tap goes first.

4. One at a time or Everyone at once. The room’s admin picks this in Room settings › When people talk. In One at a time rooms, one person talks and the others wait, as above. In Everyone at once rooms, several open mics can talk together. Whoever started talking first plays at full volume, and anyone who starts after them plays quieter (about a third of the volume) so the first voice stays clear. Hold and Tap still come through over every open mic.

5. Talking over someone. With the room playing in headphones, earbuds or a Bluetooth headset, your open mic keeps listening while others talk. In an Everyone at once room you can talk right over them; in a One at a time room you’re next in line. On the phone speaker, the earpiece or the watch speaker, open mic waits until the room is quiet, so your mic doesn’t pick up the room and send it back as an echo.

6. Mind the battery. Open mic keeps a microphone running. For a full shift, use it on your phone and use Tap or the crown on your watch. You can also let open mic pause itself after 15, 30 or 60 minutes of quiet. See Save battery on your phone and watch.