OK.. got a Bluetooth watch.. needs TalkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on), how can I get it out of the off position?

[Kage87Z]

OK... got a bluetooth watch... needs talkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on)

Just a cheapo off of Amazon, to see if I want to go with something more expensive later.

This thing requires TalkBack to operate, but for whatever the reason I can't get either "TalkBack" or "Switch Access" to turn on... both from the accessibility>vision page in settings.

Any ideas why they seem to be stuck in the "off" position? What can I check?

Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: OK... got a bluetooth watch... needs talkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on)

You might have disabled it before. Go to Settings>Apps>Disabled and see if TalkBack is there. If so, select it and Enable.

On a side note, I wouldn't necessarily judge the Android Wear experience based on a cheap non-Android Wear Bluetooth watch. I suspect that you'll find your watch to be lacking in many respects, but your experience with Android Wear would likely be far superior.

 

[Kage87Z]

Re: OK... got a bluetooth watch... needs talkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on)

Nope... it shows under the "all" column as active and does not show under the "turned off" column. Am I looking in the wrong place?

As for the cheap watch, I just presumed that at least some of it's functionality would be useful as a barometer as to if I'd need the more expensive model... I'd hate to shell out out $150 for something that would gather dust. In this case, without talkback working, half of what this thing is supposed to do doesn't work, and I'm thinking there's a good chance that it needs to work for android wear as well.

Am I right on that?

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: OK... got a bluetooth watch... needs talkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on)

It's odd that the watch would require TalkBack--that's not necessary for Android Wear devices.

Is TalkBack fully updated? If you've never updated it, it might not show up in the Google Play Store's My Apps list. In Google Play Store, search directly for TalkBack, and see if the app page has an Update button.

 

[nahoku]

Re: OK... got a bluetooth watch... needs talkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on)

First off, I'm on Kitkat, so I don't know if they changed anything in Lollipop.

Talkback on my phone won't turn on unless I turn it on manually by clicking on the Home button 3 times. To enable Talkback to be turned on you need to go to Settings > Accessibility > Direct Access. Switch on Direct Access and check "Talkback".

Once you've done this, hit the Home button 3 times and a "hand" icon will show up in the notification bar at the top of the phone.

I don't use Talkback, and I don't know if it's supposed to launch automatically for devices, but this is how I was able to turn it on.

 

[Kage87Z]

Re: OK... got a bluetooth watch... needs talkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on)

That did it... thank you both so much!

 

[Kage87Z]

Re: OK... got a bluetooth watch... needs talkBack which is stuck in the off position (won't turn on)

B. it only required TalkBack for set up... which is, well, weird. But the App that came with it is on the Accessibility list at the bottom. I couldn't fully turn that on without TalkBack being on, and once i established that connection and marked it "on," (Smart Watch Helper is the app name on G-Play) I could (and have) turned TalkBack back into the off position.

Now the watch works as advertised.