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Powered on my Galaxy S20 to test a website. Realized the test called for Chrome and I was still using Samsung Internet. Installed Chrome. Chrome caused Google's Talkback to stop repeatedly. Android eventually killed Talkback. Neither my Talkback shortcut nor my Prudence shortcut are working. I couldn't navigate the phone with a physical keyboard. There's no message on the screen about why the Talkback shortcut isn't working--it just isn't. My laptop's ADB key got removed or expired. So, I have a brick. Not an important brick, but still a brick. Or, I can call Aira and get them to painfully walk me through the process of finding the exact controls on screen while I enter my passcode (which I can actually do quite reliably), open settings, walk the lonely road to accessibility, find the thing I can't quite remember the name of because I'm using Google Talkback, turn it on and hope it doesn't crash again.
I can go back to Samsung Talkback, but it makes the phone feel half a decade slower. So I either need to tame Google's Talkback or give it to someone sighted, because I won't inflict this bullshit on anyone else.
in reply to Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)

Jakob Rosin
Jakob Rosin
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It won't turn on. I had the exact scenario on a galaxy flip 3 last week. Google talkback crashing so hard, no restart, no turning it on, not even reinstalling it from play store worked. Only factory reset worked for me.
in reply to Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)

Jakob Rosin
Jakob Rosin
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Thanks. I got the flip when it was released because I wanted to figure out the folding phone extravaganza. NOw that I've realised its a gimmick, I am happy to return to a normal phone. As I use it just for accessibility testing anyway, its no biggie, but I kinda want to test with up to date stuff, which requires google talkback.
in reply to Jakob Rosin

aaron
aaron
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@jakobrosin I’ve found the complete oppisite to be true; I could no longer go back to a candybar phone. The options a foldable offers are too powerful for me to give up.
@Jakob Rosin
in reply to Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)

aaron
aaron
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I didn’t see this at the time, so it's belated.

Did you try using Bixpy to turn Talkback back on?

A restart into safe mode might also have helped.

in reply to aaron

D.Hamlin.Music
D.Hamlin.Music
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@fireborn Neither that or google assistant can start it, however the shortcut is also not supposed to be killed like that, like that's actually not supposed to happen, and it's not supposed to crash TalkBack into the anr state, I’m almost certain this is samsung fuckery.
@aaron
in reply to D.Hamlin.Music

Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)
Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)
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@dhamlinmusic @fireborn I ended up just having an Aira agent point me to the "allow" button for ADB and restarting Talkback that way. I'm not sure if safe mode will work with Google's Talkback. That's a problem I hadn't considered. Unfortunately it seems that when a phone stops getting updates, Samsung stops updating their accessibility suite for that phone, so if I go back to Samsung's version I end up with a Talkback that doesn't have most new Braille keyboard features, image descriptions, or swipe actions. I'll definitely never buy another Samsung phone, but I got this from a store for $300 US when it was the current model, so I don't exactly regret it either.
@aaron @D.Hamlin.Music
in reply to Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)

D.Hamlin.Music
D.Hamlin.Music
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@fireborn Safe mode on anything where the android accessibility suite is the default will have talkback working, but not a clue about samsung.
@aaron
in reply to D.Hamlin.Music

Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)
Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)
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@dhamlinmusic @fireborn Right. When I install Google's Talkback, it shows up under other services, rather than showing up in the main accessibility settings. I am pretty sure the phone considers it to be a third-party app. I'd have to figure out a way to swap back to the default Talkback in safe mode.
@aaron @D.Hamlin.Music
in reply to Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)

aaron
aaron
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@dhamlinmusic install Samsung’s Talkback as well. You can assign it to another of the accessibility shortcuts and enable and disable both at will.
@D.Hamlin.Music
in reply to aaron

Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)
Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)
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@fireborn @dhamlinmusic I didn't think this could work. I thought the Talkbacks would clash somehow. If you try and do it the other way round (installing Google's while Samsung's is already installed) it doesn't work, so you have to uninstall Samsung's using ADB before you install Google's. At least that's how I remember it. I know I couldn't just install Google's and then start it. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't install at all.
@aaron @D.Hamlin.Music
in reply to Simon Jaeger (Procrastodon)

aaron
aaron
• •
@dhamlinmusic correct. You uninstall Samsung’s Talkback and then install Google’s. Then you can reinstall Samsung’s
@D.Hamlin.Music
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