Every person can tune the walkie's presence for their own workflow without affecting anyone else. Personal settings live in Settings → Walkie-Talkie, in the second card, My talk bar:
Personal preference, hides the talk bar (the desktop radio bar and the strip above the phone tabs) on your own devices without leaving the radio. Audio for your tuned channel keeps playing.
Nothing on this card affects other people, and nothing here disables recording or leaves your channels. Even if you hide the talk bar entirely, you still hear traffic, the broadcast ripple still fires, and the radio squawk still sounds when a teammate keys up.
Visible on my devices
A single switch, on by default.
You can also hide it from the channel pill's menu on the talk bar itself (Hide talk bar), which is a shortcut to this same setting. That option is only visible to office staff, everyone else needs to reach the Settings page to undo it.
There is no placement or size setting any more: the talk bar has one home per screen size (see Using the Talk Button), so there is nothing to choose between.
Broadcast ripple
Quick full-screen pulse when a teammate starts talking.
The ripple is automatically suppressed if your operating system has "reduce motion" enabled, the talk bar's name and wave changes are your signal in that case.
Radio squawk
Short burst of static when a teammate keys up on your channel, like a real handheld. Emergency alerts always sound, even with this off.
Press Play next to the switch to hear it without waiting for someone to key up.
Three things worth knowing:
What every setting does and doesn't do
| Setting | Applies to | Affects other people? | Turns off audio? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visible / Hidden | You, everywhere | No | No, you still hear |
| Broadcast ripple | You, everywhere | No | No |
| Radio squawk | You, everywhere | No | No, it adds a sound |
The quick menu
You don't have to visit Settings to hide the bar. Tap the channel pill at the left end of the talk bar, the same menu that switches channels also has:
Changes save immediately and sync across your other devices in a few seconds.