VoiceOver Inaudible On Apple Watch

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Level 4

1,242 points

VoiceOver Inaudible On Apple Watch

VoiceOver, a screen reader for the visually impaired which is found on all of Apple's devices, is activated on my Apple Watch but appears to deactivate when I wake up from an extended period of sleep while wearing the watch to bed.

I do not know what the problem may be because when I check the accessibility settings via the Watch app on my iPhone, it indicates that VoiceOver is toggled on and the volume is set to 100%. Even trying to toggle it on/off by pressing the Digital Crown on the watch three times does nothing to remedy the situation.

The only recourse I have is to reset the device using the Watch app on my iPhone.

I have resorted to not wearing the watch to bed as it is a pain to have to keep resetting the device in order to use it. (I would like to be able to do so in order to track my sleep habits).

I know the watch is still functioning — despite there being no sound — as the haptic response still can be felt.

Of note is that I have not toggled on a Focus (e.g., Do Not Disturb) nor have I set a sleep schedule on the Apple Watch or iPhone. I also know that VoiceOver initially works while I am lying in bed before actually falling asleep and it even works while I am sleeping (I am a restless sleeper and change positions multiple times throughout the night) as I can hear it whenever I happen to move my wrist.

Why it seems to "mute" itself when I wake up is beyond me (Siri can not be heard either even though there is a haptic response to the command)…

Apple Watch Series 6

Posted on Dec 8, 2022 2:54 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

sgucukoglu

Level 1

126 points

Dec 8, 2022 3:04 AM in response to Pismo 900

That's very odd and I'm definitely not getting this, though I don't do much sleep tracking on my watch (Ultra) at the moment.

Do you, by chance, have any Bluetooth devices, particularly headphones, paired to your watch that might somehow be capturing output after an extended period of inactivity? Sometimes it would happen for me that the watch would capture a Bluetooth device instead of my iPhone, and I just had to switch back to the iPhone or turn off the headphones and, for the AirPods Max, put it in the case.

How about a hard reset (not wipe) by pressing the two buttons down until it restarts--does that bring speech back?

Are you using any premium voice? Does this happen if you stick with the compact variant?

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Answer 2

Pismo 900 Author

Level 4

1,242 points

Dec 17, 2022 8:09 PM in response to Pismo 900

Update:

It seems that the hard reset you mentioned — holding down the Digital Crown and side button — worked!

While it doesn't technically solve the problem and why the watch seems to mute itself when I wake up from sleeping in bed, it offers a way out.

Of note is that the muting problem surfaced this time NOT when I woke up from sleeping in bed but from taking a nap while seated on the couch.

After doing the hard reset and regaining VoiceOver functionality, I decided to again wear the watch to bed (I previously mentioned that I stopped doing so in order to avoid this muting problem that I've been experiencing). Ironically, this time, after waking up from sleeping in bed for about six hours? The watch was still functioning!

Weird.

But thanks for the help! (Now I know that when and if the muting problem ever occurs, I can just do a hard reset instead of starting from scratch and setting up the watch as new and restoring from a backup just to get back into action).

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Answer 3

Dec 11, 2022 2:20 AM in response to Pismo 900

Yes, I strongly suspect that the Siri voice eviction behaviour is cross-platform. Unfortunately I haven't found any particular reason why it happens, although I suspect that it will be in part influenced by free storage space on the device and that these voices are considered candidate for eviction for making space for other purposes. Have you checked your storage situation? You can do that from the Watch app in General settings. Perhaps, if you identified podcasts or music you could live without, audiobooks or apps you'd downloaded that you can download again, etc, and removed those, then your voices would stay on board longer. After all it can't be normal for this to happen all the time for Siri use, even though it's less of an issue there. Still, it's this temperamental behaviour that has me avoiding Siri voices for anything other than Siri. I'd give thought to writing to Apple Accessibility to let them know that you would find a more sensible behaviour useful.

Glad you found my answer useful, although I'm afraid I haven't found a solution for you.

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Answer 4

Dec 9, 2022 2:00 AM in response to Pismo 900

I would be inclined to avoid the Siri assets which are aggressively removed. I too use US Siri voice 3, and even now, I just checked to find that the voice had been purged presumably because I hadn't invoked Siri in a little while. This seems like something we should have more control over, or at least the voices that are selected for download should be downloaded as long as there's free space. But as things stand, on my watch, every voice I downloaded is still here, except the Siri voices.

With that in mind, perhaps give thought to setting up multiple languages for speech output, so that you can rescue yourself using the rotor. Or if you use Braille, pair a display so that if your speech goes suddenly silent, you can still recover. I don't think there's a simple way to get speech back otherwise, at least not without sighted help. Restarting might help, if the assets are freshly downloaded again, but I'd not rest my hopes on that.

Perhaps others have had this problem. Have you tried macvisionaries or Applevis?

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Answer 5

Pismo 900 Author

Level 4

1,242 points

Dec 10, 2022 4:26 AM in response to sgucukoglu

Before I posted to discussions, I did a search on Google for the topic and only came up with the following which also originates on this site:

Sleep schedule alarm no sound. Only Apple… - Apple Community

It's interesting that you mention that, regarding how downloaded voices don't stay downloaded.

While a bit off topic but still related somewhat, I find that happens often — a previously downloaded voice has to be redownloaded — on my iPad mini and sometimes on my iPhone. Without warning, my preferred voice, Siri, will revert to the default setting.

(I will be posting a new topic with regard to this).

As far as the Apple Watch is concerned, the Siri voice reverts to the default Samantha voice whenever I connect the watch to the Apple magnetic charging cable. When I go into the Settings app on the device itself, not the Watch app on the phone, the Siri voice is still selected but it requires it to be downloaded again in order to be active.

I totally agree with you about how once a voice file is downloaded, it should permanently remain and not require it to be redownloaded again and again…

Thanks for your insight so far. Very much appreciated!

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Answer 6

Pismo 900 Author

Level 4

1,242 points

Dec 8, 2022 3:32 AM in response to sgucukoglu

I do not have any Bluetooth devices (e.g., AirPods, etc.) paired to my iPhone or the Apple Watch at this time.

As far as the voice that I have selected on the watch, I prefer to use the Siri voices, in this case, Voice 3. (That happens to also be the voice I have selected for Siri as well). I do not "see" a button to download the voice in the VoiceOver setting unlike the same under the Siri setting where the voice must be downloaded in order for it to be used.

Of note is that I only have had this watch for a week and a half. I encountered the problem I described in my original post two times (both while using the Siri voice, never the default Samantha voice) and that was enough for me to stop wearing the watch to bed in order to avoid having to reset the device each time.

(I have not tried the reset method you suggested as I did not know about it until you mentioned such).

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VoiceOver Inaudible On Apple Watch

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