Push-to-talk
Push-to-talk keeps chosen chats ready for incoming voice. When someone starts speaking in one of them, your device plays it at once, without opening the chat, and you can answer without unlocking your phone. Use it for a chat that works like a walkie-talkie: a family, a crew, a small team.
How it works
- The owner turns on Push-to-talk mode in a chat, and each member adds the chat to their Push-to-talk list.
- When someone starts speaking in the chat, Voxt wakes the devices of the members who have it in their list. On a phone, the app wakes even if it was closed or the screen is locked.
- The voice plays on the device. Nothing has to be opened or tapped.
- For a short time after the voice ends (the answer window, 15 seconds by default), you can answer: with a gesture, the headset button, the lock screen button or the Reply button of the notification. The microphone opens, you speak, and the reply goes to the chat like any other voice message, with its transcript.
Only voice wakes devices. Text messages do not. A device is not woken for people who are already in the chat's live conversation, because they hear it live, and not for the speaker. Push-to-talk wakes are sent only in chats with up to 100 members. Opening the app does not open the microphone; only an answer window, or the Reply button, does.
What decides whether you hear it
Three separate switches control push-to-talk. Voice from a chat plays only when all three are on.
| Switch | Who sets it | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Push-to-talk mode of the chat | The chat's owner. In a direct chat, either person. | The chat's Push-to-talk entry in the right panel. |
| In your Push-to-talk list | You, for each chat. Up to 10 chats. | The banner in the chat, the chat's Push-to-talk entry, voice settings, or Settings → Push-to-talk. |
| Use Push-to-talk on this device | You, for each device. | Settings → Push-to-talk. |
Turning on the mode in a chat does not make anyone listen. Each member adds the chat to their own list. Push-to-talk is not available in threads or in chats with only one member, such as your notes.
A chat can also be paused for everyone by its owner, or muted by you for a while. Both keep the chat in your list and stop its voice. A chat whose notifications you muted never wakes you, even when it is in your list.
Where it works
| Where | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Phone app | Full support. The app wakes for incoming voice even when it is closed. The gestures, the headset button and the lock screen button below are available. |
| Computer app | Works while the app is running. Closing the window keeps it running; quitting the app, sleep, or closing the laptop lid stops it. Armed chats are not played while the system is in Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode. No gestures or headset button. |
| Browser | Works only while a Voxt tab is open and awake, on any page of Voxt; you do not have to open the chat. Browsers slow down background tabs or put them to sleep, and a sleeping tab misses incoming voice. A closed tab cannot be woken up. The browser asks for a click before it plays audio, so the first voice after opening the tab may need your tap. No gestures or headset button. |
In a browser or a computer app, Settings → Push-to-talk starts with the notice Partial Push-to-talk support; select Details to read this. The same explanation opens after you add a chat to your list or turn push-to-talk on for the device, at most once every 15 minutes. For full support, use the Voxt mobile app.
Turn on push-to-talk in a chat
- Open the chat and its right panel. The Push-to-talk entry shows the chat's state: Push-to-talk mode is off, Paused for everyone, Push-to-talk mode · Not in your list, In your Push-to-talk list, In your list · Off on this device or In your list · Muted. Its icon is blue when the chat is in your list, white when it is not, and gray when the mode is off or paused.
- Select Push-to-talk. In the dialog, turn on Push-to-talk mode. The note under it says that members can add this chat to their Push-to-talk lists.
- Members who are not owners see the dialog read-only: Only chat owners can change this.
Screenshot — The Push-to-talk entry
The right panel of a chat with the Push-to-talk entry and its state.
Screenshot — Push-to-talk mode of a chat
The Push-to-talk dialog with Push-to-talk mode and In your Push-to-talk list turned on.
Add a chat to your list
When the mode is on in a chat, and push-to-talk is on for your device, the chat shows the banner Use this chat's Push-to-talk mode on your devices? Select Add, or dismiss the banner on that device to be asked no more until the owner turns the mode off and on again.
Screenshot — Add the chat to your list
The banner in a chat that asks a member to use its Push-to-talk mode on their devices, with the Add button.
You can also add or remove a chat later:
- In the chat's Push-to-talk dialog, with In your Push-to-talk list. The note says that voice from the chat plays right away on your devices with push-to-talk on.
- In the chat's voice settings, with the same switch.
- In Settings → Push-to-talk, in the chat list described below.
The list holds up to 10 chats. When it is full, the switches are disabled and the message Your Push-to-talk list already has 10 chats asks you to remove one in Settings. If the device switch is off, the chat's dialog says Push-to-talk is off on this device with a link to turn it on in Settings, and the banner is not shown.
If an owner turns the mode off and later on again, members have to add the chat again. You are asked in the chat: Push-to-talk mode was turned on again in the chat. Add it back to your Push-to-talk list?
Settings → Push-to-talk
Open Settings and select Push-to-talk.
Screenshot — Push-to-talk settings
Settings → Push-to-talk in a browser: the support notice, Use Push-to-talk on this device and the list of chats.
- Use Push-to-talk on this device turns it on or off for the device you use. When it is off, this device does not wake, play or transmit push-to-talk voice, whatever your list says. Your list itself is kept.
- Push-to-talk chats (up to 10) lists the chats in your list with a switch for each. Under Not in your Push-to-talk list are the chats where the mode is on but you have not added them. If none is available, the page says that no chat is in push-to-talk mode yet and that its owner turns it on in the chat itself.
- Reply window → Keep the mic open sets how long the microphone stays open in silence after you start a reply: 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
- Cues → Audible cues plays a sound when a reply starts and ends.
On phones, Settings → Push-to-talk has more sections, described under Answer and hush on a phone.
See your Push-to-talk chats
- Chat titles in the chat list and in the chat header have a push-to-talk icon. It is blue only when the chat is armed on this device: in your list, not paused or muted, and push-to-talk on for the device. For any other reason it is gray.
- Active Chats shows the chats in your list with a push-to-talk badge, next to the chats where you are in a call or recording.
- The Push-to-talk chats row at the top of your chat list shows the chats in your list as round pictures, with the chat that spoke last first and +N when more chats do not fit. Select the row to open Settings → Push-to-talk.
Screenshot — The Push-to-talk chats row
The chat list with the Push-to-talk chats row of round chat pictures above the chats.
Mute a chat for a while
While someone speaks in one of these chats, select the chat's picture to open Mute Push-to-talk, and choose for 15 minutes, for 1 hour or for 8 hours. A muted chat's picture opens Unmute Push-to-talk.
Screenshot — Mute for a while
The menu opened from a speaking chat's picture, with for 15 minutes, for 1 hour and for 8 hours.
In a muted chat, the banner Push-to-talk is muted for shows the time left and an Unmute button. Dismiss the banner to hide it for this mute; the next mute shows it again. On a phone, the notification reads Push-to-talk muted with an Unmute button.
Muting is temporary and keeps the chat in your list. When the time is up, the chat plays again. To stop receiving a chat for good, turn it off in Settings → Push-to-talk.
Pause or turn off the mode (owners)
In the chat's Push-to-talk dialog, turn Push-to-talk mode off. Voxt asks Turn off Push-to-talk mode? and offers two ways:
- Pause for everyone (the default, Pause): nobody in the chat gets push-to-talk voice while it is paused, and the chat stays in members' lists. The chat shows Paused for everyone. Turn the mode on again to resume; members' lists and personal mutes are kept.
- With the switch off (Turn off): the mode ends for everyone. If it is turned on again, each member has to add the chat to their list again.
Screenshot — Pause or turn off
The Turn off Push-to-talk mode? dialog with Pause for everyone selected.
Answer and hush on a phone
On a phone, push-to-talk shows an ongoing notification (Push-to-talk on · tap Reply to talk) with Reply, Stop talking and Mute buttons. The Reply button starts a reply at any time. The gestures work during the answer window after someone has spoken in a chat in your list (or in yours, after you spoke), so a jostle in your pocket cannot open the microphone at other times. These settings appear in Settings → Push-to-talk on a phone with a motion sensor:
- Headset button (Android): press the button on your earbuds to reply. A long press hushes.
- Flip to talk: rotate the phone 90° and back.
- Double shake: shake the phone twice to talk, and again to stop. Shake sensitivity is Low - a firm shake, Medium or High - a light shake.
- Hush gestures: turn the phone face down, or double-pat your pocket, to stop the voice and mute every chat in your list for a while. Hush mutes for sets 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours. A message Push-to-talk muted for the chosen time appears with Undo.
- Gesture response window: after a message ends, gestures can still start a reply for 15, 30 or 60 seconds.
- Watch for gestures all the time: gestures then work whenever push-to-talk is on, not only in the answer window. It uses more battery.
- Practice: opens the dialog Phone gesture practice, with a meter for each gesture, to try the gestures without sending anything.
- Lock Screen talk button (iPhone): reply from the lock screen without unlocking.
When you open the app after the phone was in the background, Voxt opens the chat that spoke most recently, unless it is muted or paused.
If you do not hear it
- Check the three switches: the chat's mode, your list, and the device switch in Settings → Push-to-talk.
- The chat may be paused, muted for push-to-talk (In your list · Muted), or have its notifications muted.
- The chat may have more than 100 members, which do not wake devices.
- In a browser, keep a Voxt tab open, and click in it if the browser asks to allow sound. In a computer app, keep the app running and leave Do Not Disturb off.
- If your phone is on silent, vibrate or Do Not Disturb, incoming push-to-talk voice does not play.
- If a notification says that push-to-talk could not record, allow the microphone for Voxt, or open the app to restore it.
- If your list is full, remove a chat in Settings → Push-to-talk.
Related guides
- Voice and transcription for speaking in a chat.
- Notifications for alerts and muting chats.
- Account and settings for the other settings pages.