Open mic

Turn on Open mic and KeyUp sends only when it hears your voice. Tune how much noise gets through, and pause it after some minutes without your voice.

With Open mic on, the button shows Listening with a slow pulse while it waits, and turns red On air when it hears you. About a second or two after you stop speaking it stops sending and goes back to Listening until it hears a voice again.

Ways to talk. Pick Hold, Tap, Raise or Open mic, hold to talk, and tap to talk on the watch. Captions only, no sound needed.

Turn on Open mic

Phone

Pick Open mic under the talk button, then tap the button to turn it on. Tap again to turn it off.

Watch

Swipe up, tap Settings › How you talk and pick Open mic (“Uses much more battery”). Or swipe up and tap How you talk in the actions until it says Open mic.
To turn it off, tap Turn off Open mic under the choices. It goes back to the way you talked before, like Back to Crown. Or pick another way.

Web app and iPhone

Pick Open mic under the talk button, then tap the button.

Sensitivity and noise getting through

Sensitivity sets how readily the open mic picks up your voice: Low, Normal or High.

Phone

Go to You › Talk › Advanced › Open mic › Sensitivity.
Pick Low, Normal or High.

You › Talk with Advanced open: Open mic sensitivity (Low, Normal, High) and Pause open mic after (Off, 15, 30 or 60 min), then Raise to talk. — You › Talk.

Watch

Swipe up, Settings › How you talk › Advanced › Open mic sensitivity.

Web app and iPhone

Go to You › Talking › Open mic sensitivity. It is saved in this browser.

Pause open mic after a while

After the time you pick without your voice, your open mic pauses. Other people talking doesn’t count. Tap the button (or turn the crown) to turn it back on.

Phone

Go to You › Talk › Advanced › Open mic › Pause open mic after: minutes without you talking. Your mic pauses; you still hear the room. Tap the talk button to turn it back on.
Pick Off, 15, 30 or 60 min. It is Off by default.

Watch

Swipe up, Settings › How you talk › Advanced › Pause open mic after.
The watch starts at 15 min. Choosing Off warns that it uses much more battery.

Web app and iPhone

Not in the web app. Turn the open mic off yourself when you are done.

Good to know

Nonstop sound for 5 minutes switches the open mic off: Open mic turned off ... Tap to turn it back on.
After a call of under a minute the open mic comes back by itself. After a longer call it says Open mic paused. Tap to turn it back on.
On the watch, the open mic pauses when you take the watch off your wrist or put it on the charger (Open mic paused: watch off your wrist or on the charger). It stays paused until you tap the button, even if you put the watch back on.
A paused open mic comes back on when you pick a room on that device or open KeyUp yourself. It stays paused when the pause was a safety stop (off your wrist, on the charger, or switched off for nonstop sound), and when the device only followed a room change you made on your other device. Then a tap on the button or a crown turn brings it back.
The first time you turn on Open mic on the watch, it shows a short tip once. To see the tips again, tap Settings › You › Help › Show talk tips again.
Open mic works the same on the phone, the watch and the web: the mic stays on, and sound goes out only while KeyUp hears speech. Bangs, beeps and steady machine noise don’t open it, and a hum or a noise that starts while you talk no longer keeps it open after you stop.
Still sending after you stop? Open mic follows any voice it can hear, so a TV, a radio or someone talking near you keeps it going. On the watch, with Open mic picked, turn on Only a close voice for Open mic (see Only a close voice): it then stops 2 seconds after your own voice stops.
Open mic can’t tell your voice from someone talking right next to the mic. In a loud shared place, use the crown or Raise to talk, or turn on Only a close voice for Open mic on the watch so it opens only for a voice near the watch.
The phone can’t turn on the watch’s Open mic, because that switches the watch’s mic on from another device. Pick Open mic on the watch.
Save battery with Pause open mic after. Too much noise getting through? See Open mic sensitivity.
Open mic turning on from noise? Set it to Low and lower Mic boost.
Near a radio or a loudspeaker with people talking, the open mic can’t tell their voice from yours. Use Hold or Tap there.

Still stuck? Email [email protected]. Tell us your phone and watch model and what you tried.