Apple’s rumored iPhone to iPhone ‘walkie talkie’ project shelved
According to new reports that have surfaced for future plans for Apple products, Apple have shelved plans for a walkie talkie feature on the iPhone. A similar feature has been on the Watch since watchOS 5, however it was briefly removed in a new update and then put back onto the watch on a future update.
The reports have said that the possible new feature would have acted exactly like a ‘walkie talkie for iPhones and text messaging’, and was referred too as Project OGRS (Off Grid Radio Service). The report from The Information, stated;
Apple was working with Intel on the technology that would have let people send messages from their iPhones directly to other iPhones over long-distance radio waves that bypass cellular networks, said two people familiar with the project. The technology would have functioned something like a walkie-talkie for text messages, giving people the ability to communicate in areas unserved by wireless carriers.
The project would have run on the 900 megahertz radio spectrum, which is currently the standard for dispatch radio communications. This is the same frequency used in the fields of utility, oil and gas companies. This would mean if the iPhones did adopt this feature, that would mean that they could reach these frequencies and overhear and communicate on the same frequencies, without the need of cellular coverage.
This feature has not been widely covered before now, so the reasoning of its being put on hold is unclear, and it is also unclear as to how and what iPhones would receive the new update. One thing that has been confirmed, is that the ‘departure of the projects champion from Apple being a big factor’ as to why it was shelved.
Rubén Caballero left Apple back in April, having described the Project OBRS as ‘his baby’. One last reason as to why the project was doomed, was due to the evolving relationship between Apple and Intel. The new feature was said to rely on the technology used within Intel Cellular modems inside the upcoming iPhones (Possibly the 2019 or 2020 iPhones).
The project is not completely dead, as it could come to future iPhones however the timeline and the possibility of this being true is unclear at the moment.