You may find this helpful
Hi everyone! I’m new to the forum and this is my first post. That being said, you might find this helpful:
I’m only about a year into road biking and just got a friend of mine involved as well. We both like to listen to music when we ride via various different devices that have transparency modes or use bone conduction.
Like many of you, I wanted to find a simple and reliable solution that would allow us to not only communicate with each other safely but also still allow us to listen to podcasts or music as we saw fit.
That said, I think I might’ve found a homerun solution.
I downloaded an app called Zello (available for iOS and android). It is a free to use walkie-talkie app that utilizes your cell phone’s LTE or 5G service (can also use Wi-Fi if you are ever in a situation where you would need to use Wi-Fi) - basically, as long as your cell phone or other smart device has the ability to send and receive data, you can send and receive walkie-talkie messages.
The beauty of the app is not only that it’s free but it allows you to pair third-party Bluetooth headsets from a variety of manufacturers.
You can also set up hotkeys on various devices to allow you to push a button on your desired device and have it trigger the walkie-talkie function in like a button on a smart helmet or on a pair of headphones if yours come with a button. Bear in mind that the button may work when you do that but may also still try to complete whatever other task it was designed for.
My friend is using a pair of aftershocks bone conduction headphones and I am using some AirPods Pro set to transparency mode.
The app also allows you to have the walkie-talkie messages cut off whatever media you may be listening to or allow the media to continue but have the messages play over the media.
As for some easier controls, I mentioned that you can map the push to talk feature to a button on your desired listening device, if applicable but the app also allows for the integration of various third-party push to talk button‘s, one example I have listed here on Amazon is about $30 and mounts to a bicycle handlebar, giving you an easy to reach and simple button to push when you want to talk.
*edit - apparently you cannot post links in a reply if you have not made at least ten posts, so do a quick Amazon search for: Pryme BLU PTT-ZU Mini and you’ll find it*
Finally, one of the niftiest things about this free app is that you are able to send one on one messages but can also set up a group, so if you are into group rides and would like to be able to talk to the rest of the peloton, you can totally do that!
The only downside that I have been able to find with this system is that it is reliant on the Internet – so if you are somewhere that you do not get good data service, this may not be the choice for you. Past that, for anyone doing any kind of writing in a city, you should be A-OK.
I hope that this may be of use to all of you. I suspect it will be as it is a very affordable option that works with a variety of different audio playback devices and can pair with a variety of smart phones and other smart devices.