The app contains 4 main tabs on on the default main screen:
- Channels - this is where you will find your radio channels and be able to make and manage voice calls
- Chat - this is your messages for text, media, and more
- Contacts - message your teammates directly
- Map - see your team's locations (if they have shared them) and your own location on the map
Channels Tab
- Select any channel and hold the wide green button at the bottom of the screen to transmit on that radio channel
- Long press any channel for more options:
- Access Recordings from this channel. Recordings are available in-app for 24 hours after transmit.
- See members of the channel
- Adjust settings for the channel
- 4 Buttons on each channel control further settings:
- Default - you can only have 1 default channel. This will be the top your channels list. If you transmit while your app is closed using Bluetooth accessories or the iOS UI, this is the channel you will transmit on if there is no already active call. Most users will want to set their primary dispatch channel as Default.
- Priority - a channel marked as Priority will interrupt other channels when it transmits. Most users want their primary dispatch channel to be a priority channel. If, for example, you share channels with neighboring agencies, you probably want to leave neighboring channels as non-Priority and set your own dispatch channel as Priority. In this case, if there is traffic on your own channel, it will interrupt traffic from neighboring channels, letting you monitor their traffic but never miss your own.
- Favorite - favorite channels are the top of your channels list
- Mute - this mutes a channel on your phone, you will need to un-mute the channel to hear any traffic on this channel
Critical Settings
- Do Not Disturb
- Do Not Disturb mode turns off all voice traffic from the app. Think of it as the "off" switch for your virtual radio.
- To turn on DND:
- Click the small green speaker icon in the bottom right of the Channel screen to turn on DND (and tap again to turn off DND) or
- Go to More, then toggle the Do Not Disturb slider at the top of the screen.
- If you want to receive tone outs or alerts while in DND:
- Go to Alerts > the Settings gear in the top right of the screen > and enable "Receive Incident Calls In DND"
- This will allow you to still receive your two tone pages and CAD Alerts if other radio traffic is blocked by DND mode
- iPhone Users, make sure that Background Services is enabled to receive traffic when your app is closed.
- Go to More > ensure that the Background Services toggle is enabled.
- You will see a small blue icon in your status or Dynamic Island while Background Services is enabled. This is an Apple-level design choice - Apple wants to make sure that iPhone users know if their phone is in a "call" and it views two-way radio traffic as being "call".
- Note that, despite the fact that the background icon shows at all times, the app only "wakes up" when it receives traffic and is "asleep" at other times. Users typically only see 30 minutes of usage per day. You can see your usage under iPhone Settings > Battery where you can see app by app usage.
- To tweak your call notifications go to More > Notifications
- Select Vibrate on Incoming Call if you'd like your phone to briefly vibrate when a radio call starts or stops
- Select on or off Notify on Call Progress if you'd like to receive a notification when radio calls start or end
For more detail on in-app features, see our full Guides page at tangotango.net/guides.
