Anybody with a moto actions not working? (Approach)

[pykim]

So I noticed that my moto action (approach) stopped working on my phone.

I know some people hate this feature because it seems to wake up the phone unnecessarily, but in terms of impact to battery it's minuscule to none.

I actually like this feature because using the power button to wake up the phone seems rather inconvenient after having gotten used to the approach feature.

The problem is that it suddenly stopped working for me. I know that people are going to ask if I enabled this in the moto actions menu, it's definitely turned on. I rebooted the phone several times with it on and off. None of those measures have worked.

I knew that there were IR transmitters and a sensor combination that made this trick work so I started to look at the phone with the camera on my Nexus 7 (all phone cameras are sensitive to IR wavelength).

It turns out that the wave function works on moto actions. I could clearly see the three IR transmitters on when I go to try out the wave function (viewed through Nexus 7 camera - not visible to my eyes). Those 3 IR transmitters turn off when I exit the "try" mode. (3 IR transmitters are at top right and both corners on the bottom)

My wife's phone approach function works (she has the same phone - Droid Turbo), and I can clearly see the three transmitters on at all times. When I approach my wife's phone, the screen wakes up and displays the clock. On my phone, the three transmitters are not on - but they turn on when the phone rings (in preparation for the wave detection I presume).

Would you guys have any idea how I fix this? I know this is not a hardware fault. Something is interfering with moto actions from working correctly. Someone suggested that I re-install moto actions in an effort to fix any configuration issues, but I can't remove and install moto actions on my phone.

Does anybody have any suggestions debugging this issue?

Also this might be related - when I get a text message, etc. the screen doesn't seem to turn on. I have moto display enabled also so it should wake up the phone, but the screen remains blank.

- Peter

 

[Ashley Breitenbecker]

Hello,

Have you found a solution for this yet? Mine just started doing this as well. The only thing I can think of causing this is maybe a sensor has gone bad.

-Ashley

 

[digo99]

Hi Peter, hi Ashley,

Did you find a solution for this? It just started happening to me. Both the approach and the notification display when the screen is locked stopped working yesterday. Everything is enabled in the moto settings.

Thank you for sharing anything you found out!

--Di

 

[SMWAS]

This just started happening to me a well. Did anyone figure out a way to fix it?

 

[Codger1212]

What doesn't work for me is the wave to silence a call. That is one of the features that made me excited to get this phone.

 

[maxman1]

What doesn't work for me is the wave to silence a call. That is one of the features that made me excited to get this phone.

What works for me is waving from left to right being sure to pass over the top left IR sensor.

 

[Codger1212]

What works for me is waving from left to right being sure to pass over the top left IR sensor.

I shall try that on a consistent basis. Thanks

 

[MA2GA28]

Wave to end the call has always been spotty, at best, for me. Seems to be very picky about the height of your hand over the phone as well as speed and direction.

 

[MA2GA28]

But, back on topic, either a setting was inadvertently changed, the screen is very dirty, or the IR sensors are covered (by a case, for example) or went bad.

 

[doogald]

But, back on topic, either a setting was inadvertently changed, the screen is very dirty, or the IR sensors are covered (by a case, for example) or went bad.

SMWAS posted on another forum that his/her phone overheated and went into emergency cool down mode. I suspect it's possible the ir sensors were damaged when the phone overheated.

 

[SMWAS]

Certainly possible, but they work with other apps that utilize them. I saw where another user had the exact same problem a few months ago in a different forum, and he was able to correct it simply by reinstalling Moto Actions or Moto Display. Unfortunately, I cannot do that.

Curiously enough, many users on other phones experienced this same problem with the Lollipop upgrade, but Motorola updated the apps for those phones and it solved the problem. If Lollipop were imminent for the Turbo, I would just wait for it and the corresponding updated apps to see if that worked. As the version of Moto Actions and Display on my phone from the get to have been the most recent updates for the Turbo, I worry that even if I do a factory data reset, it will have no effect, and I still won't know if it is the app that is buggy or the sensors.

 

[maulik pawar]

Hi,

Don't know if this will work on your device or not but it worked for me.

What i did earlier was that i turned on a feature under Settings--> Display--> Ambient display.
I turned this feature on and only after that i noticed that wave to wake up function has stopped working.
I disabled this feature again and whoooossshhhhhh... wave to wake started working again!!

Please check it with your device and see if it works.

Please keep us updated so that we can know if your issue is sorted out or not.

Cheers!!


Warm Regards,
Maulik

 

[SMWAS]

Thanks, I don't have an Ambient Display option (I tried turning on and off Attentive Display with no luck).

I really want to try to reinstall Moto Display and maybe Moto Actions to see if that does the trick before resorting to a factory data reset. If anyone knows where I can find an apk of either to try to side load, I would greatly appreciate it. Even if it is an older version, that is fine.

 

[SMWAS]

FYI, after trying numerous things suggested by Verizon, I finally ended up having to do a factory data rest. That really blows, but at least everything seems to be working fine now. Thanks everyone who tried to help.

 

[Attila the Pun]

"Approach for Moto Display" just stopped working on my Droid Turbo today. I've tried unsetting, off/on, soft reset, etc. Took it to the nearest Verizon store where two guys played with it for an hour with no success. Have enough "folders" set up that a factory reset would be a REAL pain to recover from.

"Wave to Silence" and "Twist for Quick Capture" both work fine.

Two things happened recently thay may have a bearing. One, we were camping last week and got a high temperature warning at one point - moved it into the shade and saw no apparent effects. Two, inadvertently let the battery get VERY low last night. Location setting went into battery saving mode - had to manually reset to high accuracy.

I don't have an "Ambient Display" option. But do have "Attentive Display"

Anybody have any other suggestions short of a factory reset?

 

[SMWAS]

Some folks seem to have been able to fix the issue by reinstalling some of the Moto apps. I assume you are in the same situation I was, in that the most recent versions of those apps came with your phone, so there isn't a (non-root) way to do this. There was a known conflict with Lollipop on other devices that caused Approach to Moto Display to stop, which was corrected with an update to the app. If Lollipop is coming very soon (big if), you might wait until then, because the applicable Moto app update should then be available, the installation of which may fix your problem.

 

[Katrina Maynard]

I found a solution. I tried everything even thought it was broken. My husband told me to back up my stuff then do a factory reset. It worked!! Settings- backup&reset then factory reset

 

[rwhite65]

Maulik wrote... "What i did earlier was that i turned on a feature under Settings--> Display--> Ambient display.
I turned this feature on and only after that i noticed that wave to wake up function has stopped working.
I disabled this feature again and whoooossshhhhhh... wave to wake started working again!!"

Thank you for posting Maulik. I acitivated Ambient Display out of curiosity - not realizing it would conflict with Motorola's Active Display (dahhh). Deactivated Ambient Display and bammm, It fixed my problem - Active Display on my Moto X is working again!!

R White

 

[DRMcKee]

I, too, had enabled Ambient Display in the Display settings menu. I did that one day ago and today noticed the loss of Moto Approach feature.
Disabled Ambient display and life in Moto X world is good. I just upgraded to 5.1 and was thinking that might be the problem until I read the simple solution posted by Maulik. My thanks

 

[pykim]

Hi,

I'm the original poster of this problem. I have waited patiently for the Lollipop upgrade to see if that will resolve the conflict. Unfortunately Lollipop did not resolve this problem.

This is not a hardware problem, but a software issue for sure. And I have been able to demonstrate that using different methods. One easy way to see that the sensors are working is to look at the sensors through another phone/tablet camera, since all cameras are sensitive to IR, you will see the blinking sensors come on when it's active. And I posted on the motorola.com forum that that I know a sure way to get this working (althought not practical) -


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I noticed today that I can get the moto approach working every single time! (but not a practical workaround)

So when I'm connected to the phone via bluetooth in my car, I make a phone call. While the phone call is still on, the screen will turn off pretty rapidly - at this point I hang up. And the moto approach works - every single time. As soon as I unlock the phone and it gets locked in any way the moto approach stops functioning. Nothing physical will break the moto approach functionality once I "unlock" the feature this way (at least until the next screen unlock/lock event).
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Toggling the ambient display does not work for me.

Factory reset seems to produce more durable result for some, but it will be a real pain for me because of lack of real backup solution for Android. Not sure if there is rooting is available on Droid Turbo to allow me to use Titanium Backup. I'm really disappointed that Google has never provided a real backup solution for a non-rooted devices.

Any ideas from anyone on making this work without factory reset or a credible way to really back up prior to factory reset?

This may be due to some sort of app conflict - if that is the case it's a matter of collecting a complete list of apps installed from everyone with the issue and identifying the common app.

- Peter