Apple Watch audible time

Rod


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I’m a bit puzzled why the only Apple Watch face that speaks the time when you tap the face is the Micky (and Minnie) Mouse face.
I tried it for a couple of days but the voice becomes a bit wearing after a while. Then it occurred to me that the feature could be optional on any face. Yes, I could ask Siri, but that would require me waking Siri then asking the time.
Maybe it’s more complicated than I thought but it would be handy and the Siri voice would be fine.
Given all the Accessibility features built into the iPhone it just seems like an obvious allowance to make. The large number face is good but at some times even that may not be enough.


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Good idea, Rod. Maybe you should send that to Apple. Maybe it could be part of a set of Accessibility options? I do know they offer large fonts and zoom for Accessibility.

BTW @Moderators, this thread should maybe be in the  watch forum?
 
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I just went to the Apple Watch app on the iPhone, then to General, Accessibility and turned on Voice Over and then Speak on Wrist Raise. Does what you asked for, speaks the time when you raise your wrist.

EDIT: Turn off Speak on Wrist Raise and you get exactly what you want. Tap to have it speak the time.
 
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Whaaat! I don't have any Accessibility Settings on my watch under General.
 
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@Rod, try the Watch app on your phone.
 
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@Rod, almost all of the  Watch features are controlled by the Watch app on the iPhone. You can do a lot with that app.
 
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After a bit of trial an error I worked out how to make this work but not how it was suggested exactly.

Firstly I warn everyone there may be some differences dependent on which Apple WatchOS one is using at the time, I have the series 3 an obviously I can only work with what I have.

Then I am Running iOS Beta 13.3 on my iPhone which could account for some differences, it seems to me that the watch is becoming more and more autonomous which each new Watch OS update.

So this is how it worked for me;
1. Forget about the iPhone Watch app. I went to General in the iPhone Watch app, there are no Accessibility settings although Jake, that may be due to the Beta iOS.

2.On the Watch go to Settings > General > Siri > Here I turned off "Hey Siri" (not sure what happens if you don't, I think it's optional). > Turn on Raise to Speak > Voice Feedback > Always on.
3. Now go to Settings (on the watch) > General > Accessibility > Voice over > switch on. Now you can turn this feature on and off by triple clicking the Crown.
On the Watch Face you can now highlight any Complication and Siri will read it. It can be the date, time, weather, messages etc. dependent on what complications you have added BUT if its a function like Breath or Heart Rate Siri will just read what it is, eg "Heart Rate," you must double tap it to turn it on on, which takes a bit of practice. If you choose a face with just an analogue watch then you can leave that selected and Siri will speak the time every time you raise the watch and tap the clock.

So with a bit of fiddling I can get it to do what I want but the instructions are very hard to find online, in fact I couldn't find anything at all until I searched for Voice Over. "Raise to Speak" (thanks Patrick) is just a way of getting rid of "Hey Siri," good in itself but of course what I wanted was to get Siri to speak to me, not the other way around.

I had been searching for terms like "How to make Apple Watch speak the time," or "Audible Time on Apple Watch," I found nothing relevant.
Once I knew what I was looking for though I found this excellent reference; How to set up and customize VoiceOver on Apple Watch | iMore
On this page ther are even more options and possibilities including Taptic Time and Screen Curtain some of which are not available on Series 3 Watch.
 
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Rod, I don't know about the beta, I don't put beta versions on devices I need. Here is a screenshot of my iPhone: IMG_0485.jpg
As you can see, Accessibility is just below the orientation setting. I cannot image why they would change the app for the beta, but is that where you looked for it? It has zero to do with Siri, but sounds like Siri when it speaks, which is exactly what you asked for. I have the AW4, but that should not have anything to do with the setting. I think it's been there since my first one, the  Watch 2.
 
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PS. In step 3 to get the Triple click on off function for Voice Over you will need to tick that action in the iPhone Watch app Accessibility > Voice Over > Accessibility Short Cuts > voice Over.
You can also toggle Voice Over Volume, Speak on Wrist raise (which will drive you mad) and Screen Curtain which turns the screen off.
 
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I'm confused, Rod. I thought you didn't have Accessibility on the iPhone Watch app?
 
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Jake mine's not the same. In iOS 13.4 beta the Accessibility menu is on the first page. There are other differences too but the principals remain the same.
 
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I was just looking in the wrong places.
 
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OK, understand. I guess they moved it to be more visible at setup. I tried your way on the watch, didn't like the results. And the triple tap wasn't working, so I had to go back to the iPhone app to turn Voice Over off. Kind of a fun experiment overall. :)
 
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Thanks Jake, I realized that the Triple Click of the Crown function has to be switched on in the iPhone Watch app under Accessibility Shortcuts. I really need to be able to switch the Voice Over function on and off.
 
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I’m a bit puzzled why the only Apple Watch face that speaks the time when you tap the face is the Micky (and Minnie) Mouse face.


Going back to the beginning here, I'm a bit surprised why someone would be concerned about a feature not working when they're actually using a Beta release.

Isn't that what the reporting feature is for, otherwise wait until the Grand Master OS version has been released and maybe things will actually work properly or more or less as expected. Or let's just say hopefully!!!



- Patrick
======
 
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I'm not using a beta release on the Apple Watch.
 
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I might add though there was an update to Apple WatchOS last week to Version 5.3
and it did report some compatibility issues I had found between the previous iOS beta and the Apple Watch which mostly seemed fixed with beta 3 and iOS public bêta 4 was released today although I haven’t installed it yet.
I did explain my reasons for installing the iOS beta (for the first time) back in my original post on how to instal the beta 13 versions of iOS and iPadOS

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I'm not using a beta release on the Apple Watch.

My apologies Rod, I guess my old brain just gets confused when the betas are mixed up with the discussion and I was sure you had been trying the latest out with your iOS stuff.


- Patrick
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No worries, you’re not alone in that Patrick. The process of installing a beta on the watch was extremely complex and although I was fairly confident about being able to restore iOS 12 to my phone if necessary the watch is a completely different story.


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