Use push-to-talk

  1. Overview
  2. For Coaches
  3. Use push-to-talk

Use push-to-talk

Dinghy Coach includes a local push-to-talk (PTT) voice system that lets the coach speak to all sailors or to one sailor individually. It works entirely over your local Wi-Fi network — no phone signal or internet is needed, and there's no per-minute cost.

Requirements

  • Coach and all sailors on the same Wi-Fi network (see Wi-Fi / hotspot setup)
  • Voice comms enabled in Options (on by default for coaching sessions)
  • A microphone on the coach's phone (built-in or Bluetooth headset)

Enabling voice comms

  1. On the start screen, tap ⋮ → Options.
  2. Under Coaching, confirm Voice comms is toggled on.
  3. The first time you enter a coaching session with voice enabled, the app may request microphone permission — tap Allow.

Speaking to the whole fleet (group PTT)

On the Coaching screen, tap and hold the GROUP tile. While you're holding, your voice is broadcast to all connected sailors. Release to stop transmitting.

Each sailor's phone plays incoming audio through the speaker (or Bluetooth headset if one is connected).

The GROUP tile shows a microphone icon:

  • Green mic = voice system ready
  • Red mic = voice unavailable (check that voice comms is enabled in Options)

Speaking to one sailor (1:1 PTT)

On the Coaching screen, tap and hold the microphone icon on an individual sailor's tile. While you're holding, only that sailor hears you. Release to stop.

Using a headset

A Bluetooth headset (earpiece with mic) or wired headset works with push-to-talk. When a compatible headset is connected:

  • The audio system automatically routes incoming and outgoing audio through it
  • The headset's button (play/pause) can also trigger PTT — one press starts group talk, a second press stops it
  • The current audio routing is shown on the GROUP tile: "Using: [device name]"

To override audio routing preferences, go to ⋮ → Options → Bluetooth Audio toggle.

Voice notes and transcription

Coaches can record voice notes during a session that are saved and transcribed automatically using on-device speech recognition. The transcription uses sailing-specific vocabulary corrections (for example, "tact" → "tack", "lee ward" → "leeward").

Voice notes appear in the Notes tab in the debrief view. Notes are private by default; the coach can make individual notes public so they're visible when a session link is shared with sailors.

Tips for on-water use

  • PTT works at typical racing distances (within roughly 100–200 metres of the hotspot, depending on conditions). The range depends on your Wi-Fi network, not on Bluetooth.
  • If a sailor goes out of range, their session continues recording. When they return to range they reconnect automatically and can hear PTT again.
  • For coaching from a RIB, keep the hotspot phone in a dry bag with the antenna unobstructed.
  • Sailors don't need to hold anything — they receive audio passively through their phone speaker.
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