What push-to-talk (PTT) is, how it works on a smartphone and how Respondr connects PoC radios and smartphones to existing radio networks.
Push-to-talk (PTT) is the way people talk on professional radios: you hold down a button, you speak and everyone on the channel hears you live. When you release the button, someone else can talk.
Today push-to-talk also works on smartphones. A walkie-talkie app like Respondr carries the voice over the mobile network, Wi-Fi or Starlink: it works anywhere there is a network and connects to the radios your team already uses.
PoC radios combine the two: you use them like a radio, but the voice travels over the mobile network. Read the guide to PoC radios
DMR, TETRA and analog radios: rugged and independent of the mobile network, they talk inside the repeaters’ coverage on licensed frequencies.
For teams that already have a radio network or work where the mobile network does not reach.
Connect your radio networkYou use them like a radio, with a physical PTT key, but they have a SIM and talk over the mobile network, with no frequency licenses.
For teams that want a radio handset without building a network.
What a PoC radio isTurns iPhones and Android phones into walkie-talkies, with chat, photos and location on the same channel.
For teams that want to start today with the phones they already have.
See the app| Push-to-talk | Phone call | Messages | Traditional radio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you start | Press and talk | Dial and wait for an answer | Type and wait for it to be read | Press and talk |
| Who hears you | The whole channel at once | One person | The group, but not live | The whole channel at once |
| Where it works | Anywhere there is a network | Anywhere there is a network | Anywhere there is a network | Inside the repeaters’ coverage |
| Hands-free | Yes, with PTT buttons and accessories | With an earpiece | No | Yes |
| Recording | Yes, if you turn it on | Usually not | The text stays saved | Needs an external recorder |
Turns iPhones, Android phones and PoC radios into walkie-talkies, with chat, location and alarms.
See the app
In the browser or on a PC, the operator sees and controls every channel: apps, intercom and radios.
See the consoleTLS 1.3 on every connection and AES-128-GCM on audio sent over UDP.
Two-factor authentication, single sign-on and per-channel permissions.
Saved messages and recordings are encrypted with AES-256, on AWS in the EU or on your server.
On Android the app is configured from MDM, and the administrator sees every connected device.
In three steps: install the Respondr app on iPhone or Android, create a free workspace and invite your team, then pick a channel and hold the PTT button to talk.
Open the Respondr app, pick the channel and hold the PTT button on the screen while you speak; release it to listen. On rugged phones and PoC radios you can use the physical PTT key or a Bluetooth PTT button.
Yes. Unlike a radio, it has no fixed range: Respondr works wherever the phone has a mobile network or Wi-Fi, even hundreds of kilometers away or in another country, with no call charges.
Yes. Respondr turns both iPhones and Android phones into walkie-talkies, and they talk on the same channels as the PC and the browser.
Not much: the voice travels only while someone is talking and is compressed with the Opus codec, so push-to-talk uses much less data than a video call.
The app is for people working in the field: they talk, listen and write from their phone. The console is for the operator in the control room, who sees every channel at once, patches channels together and coordinates the teams.
Yes. The administrator creates the channels and chooses who joins each one. A user can be on several channels and switch between them.
Often, yes: you need no frequency licenses or repeaters, and your team uses phones it already has. If you have a radio network, you can keep it and connect it to Respondr.
We offer a 30-minute live demo built around your radio infrastructure.