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Voice / Push-to-Talk

Voice turns your phone into a push-to-talk radio for your fleet group. You hold a button, you talk, everyone in the channel hears you. It runs over your data connection, so it reaches as far as your signal does and no further.

This is not a replacement for VHF

Voice needs a working internet connection. It is not a marine radio, it is not monitored by anyone, and it must never be used for distress or safety-of-life calls. Use Channel 16 and your VHF for that.

Before you start

Voice is a beta feature. Two things have to be true before the controls appear:

  1. Beta Options Enabled must be on. It is in Settings > Advanced.
  2. The group owner must turn on Enable Voice Chat for the group, in the group's edit page.

You also have to be signed in. If you tap the voice button while signed out, the app tells you: "You must be signed in to use voice chat. Please sign in from the Account tab."

Group settings the owner controls

Setting Description
Enable Voice Chat Real-time voice communication
Allow Party Mode Shared audio playback for the group
Allow Simultaneous Talking Let multiple members talk at once

Showing the voice button

Open the navigation menu on the map page and expand 🎙 Voice Channel. Turn on Show Voice Button. A round button with a group-and-microphone icon appears on the map.

Joining a channel

Tap the voice button.

  • If exactly one of your groups has voice enabled, you join it right away.
  • If more than one does, a Join Voice Channel list appears. Pick a group.
  • If none do, you get: "No voice-enabled groups found. The group owner must enable voice chat in group settings."

Once you are in, a status bar appears under the top of the map showing the channel name, the participant count, and who is currently talking. Tap that bar to open the voice channel panel.

Talking

Hold-to-talk (default)

Press and hold the voice button. The button fades to red and the status bar shows you are transmitting. Let go to stop.

If Allow Simultaneous Talking is off for the group and someone else is already speaking, your press is blocked and the button flashes red instead. Wait for them to finish.

Stuck key protection

If the button is held down for a long stretch -- two minutes by default -- the app plays a warning beep and releases the transmission for you. That stops a jacket sleeve or a wedged phone from holding the channel open.

Party mode (hands-free)

🎉 Party Mode in the voice expander leaves your mic open instead of requiring a held button. The hint in the app reads: "Mic stays open -- tap 🎙 to mute." Tapping the voice button mutes and unmutes you.

Party mode exposes two more controls:

Setting Description
Voice Detection (VAD) Only transmits when voice detected.
VAD Sensitivity Controls how sensitive voice detection is. Low = only loud speech, High = picks up quieter voices.

On a noisy boat, start at Low. If your crew says you are cutting in and out, move it up.

Listening to more than one group

You can listen to several groups at once but you only transmit to one.

  • Transmit To in the voice expander picks the group that hears you.
  • Group Channels below it lists every channel with a toggle per group. Turning a group off mutes it. The app notes: "Muted groups stop receiving audio from server (saves bandwidth)."

The same list appears under CHANNELS in the voice channel panel, where the active transmit channel is highlighted.

The voice channel panel

Tap the voice status bar to open it. It shows:

Section What it does
CONNECTED Everyone currently in the channel
CHANNELS Switch transmit channel and mute individual groups
MISSED RECORDINGS A count of sessions recorded while you were away. Tap to play or open them
Voice History Opens the recordings and transcripts page
Show Transcript / Hide Transcript Toggles the live transcript panel on the map
Background Audio Keep the channel alive when the app is not on screen
Mix with other audio Music keeps playing when nobody is talking; pauses briefly when you speak or hear someone
Audio Output Where the sound comes out (see below)
Leave Channel Disconnect

If the connection drops, an error banner and a Reconnect button appear at the top of the panel.

Choosing audio output

The panel offers three routes plus any connected device:

Option Description
Auto -- speaker, ear when held to face Loudspeaker normally, switches to the earpiece when you hold the phone up
Speaker (Loud) Always the loudspeaker
Earpiece (Quiet) Always the earpiece

Under Connected devices the panel lists Bluetooth and wired outputs that are currently attached; tap one to route voice to it. Refresh device list re-scans if you just plugged something in.

The voice expander on the map menu also has an Audio Output picker with Speaker and Default (Headphones/BT), and a line underneath telling you what is in use right now.

Microphone settings

These live in the 🎙 Voice Channel expander in the navigation menu:

Setting Description
Noise Cancellation Removes wind, engine, and background noise.
Auto Mic Gain Automatically adjusts your mic level for consistent volume.
Target Level The level auto gain aims for, when auto gain is on
Mic Volume Manual mic gain. Higher = louder outgoing audio. Shown instead of the target level when auto gain is off
Background Audio Keep voice chat active when app is in the background.
Leave All Channels Disconnect from every channel at once

There is also a Status line at the bottom of the expander showing the channel you are on, or Not connected.

Hardware buttons

You do not have to look at the screen to key up.

Hardware PTT Button

In the voice expander:

Setting Description
Enable Hardware PTT Turn hardware key transmit on or off
PTT Key Choose the key: Headset (79), Play/Pause (85), Volume Up (24), Volume Down (25), Call (5), or Custom
Detect PTT Key Tap it, then press the button on your device to capture its key code
Auto-switch to Bluetooth Automatically route audio when Bluetooth headset connects

Hardware Buttons

A separate 🔘 Hardware Buttons expander maps physical buttons (side keys, Bluetooth PTT mics, headset clickers) to in-app actions -- transmit, zoom, centre on your position, drop a waypoint.

  • Enable Hardware Buttons turns the whole system on or off.
  • Preset applies a known device profile. Profiles in the list include a generic Bluetooth PTT mic profile (HYS / HERDT / Zello-compatible), a generic Bluetooth headset, HugeRock X70, plain volume-keys-to-zoom, an iOS media-button profile, Anysecu radios, Inrico LTE radios, and Sonim rugged phones.
  • On Android, + Add Button lets you capture any button's key code by pressing it.
  • On iOS, Bluetooth mic media buttons (Play/Pause, Next, and so on) appear automatically when the device connects.

The hint in the app sums it up: "Android: tap '+ Add Button' and press your device's button to capture its keycode. iOS: BT mic media buttons (Play/Pause, Next, etc.) appear automatically."

Running in the background

With Background Audio on, the channel stays up when you switch away from Bristol Maps.

  • On Android, a notification stays in the shade while a channel is joined. That notification is what keeps the audio running -- do not force-stop the app if you want to keep hearing the fleet.
  • On iOS, audio keeps running while the app is backgrounded. If the phone comes under heavy memory pressure the system may still suspend the app, in which case you rejoin when you come back to it.

Leaving

  • Leave Channel in the voice channel panel disconnects the current channel.
  • Leave All Channels in the voice expander disconnects everything.

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