Raise to talk (Experimental)

No rotating crown, or want to be completely hands-free? Raise the watch to your mouth to talk, and lower it to stop. Works with the screen off too.

What it is

If your watch has no rotating crown, or you just want to be completely hands-free, raise your wrist to talk. Bring the watch up to your mouth with the screen rolled toward your face and hold it there about half a second. One strong buzz means you’re live right away. Lower the watch and you’re done. It’s experimental, so tell us how it works for you.

When to use it

Use it when both hands are busy, when turning the crown is awkward, or on a watch without a rotating crown.

How to do it

On your phone, go to You › Watch. Under How you talk on the watch, pick Raise to talk. On the watch, you can pick it too: swipe up for the controls and find it under Crown.

Screenshot coming soon raise-01

Pick Raise to talk.
Raise to talk needs KeyUp crown talk turned on in the watch’s Accessibility settings, so the mic works with the screen off. If it’s off, the watch says so and offers Set up in Accessibility. See Turn on screen-off crown talk.

Screenshot coming soon raise-02

Raise to talk on the watch.
To talk, raise the watch to your mouth with the screen rolled toward your face, and hold it there about half a second. You feel 1 strong buzz and you’re live right away.
Talk as long as you like, pauses included. The mic stays on while the watch is up. If you say nothing for 30 seconds, it stops by itself as a safety net.
To stop, lower the watch or turn the screen away from your face. You feel 2 buzzes: stopped.
If someone else is already talking, you feel 1 long buzz and nothing is sent. Lower the watch and raise it again once they’re done.
For the best fit, set it up on the watch: under Raise to talk, tap Set up raise to talk. Hold your watch like you’re talking while it counts 3, 2, 1, then hold still for about 3 seconds. Lower your arm and do it again, 3 times in all. If you moved too much or the screen wasn’t toward your face, it asks you to try again. When it says Calibrated, Raise to talk only starts when you hold the watch close to the way you just did. Open it again to Redo it, or Reset to go back to the standard pose.
Tune it with three choices, on the watch under Raise to talk or on your phone in You › Watch. Hold time: how long to hold the watch up before you’re live, Quick (0.3 s), Normal (0.5 s) or Deliberate (1 s). Angle: how close to your talking pose it has to be, Relaxed, Normal or Strict. Stop when lowered: how soon lowering the watch stops you, Sooner, Normal or Later. Changes work on your next raise.
Only send when I speak is off by default. Turn it on and a raise gives you the 1 strong buzz, but nothing is sent until KeyUp hears your voice, with the start of your first word kept. If you say nothing within about 3.5 seconds, it stops with 2 buzzes. Fewer accidental sends, a little slower.

Tips

Checking the time, resting your arm, or a watch turned away never turns it on. Only the watch held at your mouth, screen toward your face, counts.
It works with the screen off too, including a quick raise straight to your mouth.
Crown and Raise to talk are one or the other, never both. While Raise to talk is on, turning the crown doesn’t talk and the crown settings are hidden.
Raise to talk works in Tap to talk, while you’re in a walkie room. It pauses during calls, and waits while you’re talking on your other device.
Battery: while Raise to talk is picked and you’re in a walkie room, the watch’s motion chip keeps watching for a raise in low power, even with the screen off. That’s a small extra drain, roughly a few percent of the battery a day. Switch back to Crown if you’d rather save it.
Double tap the dimmed screen to talk is a separate switch, off by default. When KeyUp stays on the dimmed watch screen, double tap to start talking and double tap again to stop.
Does it start when you drink, eat or light something? Run Set up raise to talk, then try Angle: Strict or Hold time: Deliberate, or turn on Only send when I speak. Missing your raises? Try Relaxed or Quick. Cutting out while you talk? Try Stop when lowered: Later.
The calibration stays on the watch. The three choices and Only send when I speak are the same on your phone and your watch.
Experimental means we’re still tuning it on real watches. If it starts when you don’t mean it to, or misses you, switch back to Crown and tell us.
Raise to talk does nothing while you’re off in a room. See Availability.

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