Update: Android 13 screen freezes when tts begins reading [same as 12 - original post]

[luke-2136]

update 10-7-23 - phone just upgraded to A13 - thought maybe the issue might go away with 13 but not to be - 13 is doing exactly the same as 12 did (described below); fyi

nobody else having this problem?

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Android 12 phone - screen freezing issue when tts begins to read:

1. Open TTS Util app click read from clipboard the text loads normally
2. Click start the tts reader begins normally then after 5-10 seconds the screen will freeze and become totally unresponsive
3. If i do nothing the tts reader will continue to read normally to the end of the text while screen remains frozen
4. If i try to click buttons or menu (no buttons will work, menu will not open) after a 10-15 second delay the app will pause and 'TTS Util isn't responding' popup (see attached image) will appear - pushing wait the app still does not respond again
5. If not using the popup to close app then swiping up is the only way to close it after freezing (after swiping away to close - the app still continues reading - reopening the app only way to stop the reading if it did not get to end of text; app is reset upon opening)
6. If i open the app but do not start the tts reader to read from screen everything else works normally - it will write to a wave file and record it normally - also will read from a file normally (as the text/file does not show on screen)
7. Have cleared cache, data, uninstalled - reinstalled, etc. - tried different keyboard/clipboard - all no difference

That describes the issue clear as can. Hopefully it would be an easy fix.. but have to say seems surprising if this issue has not come up before - unless it's just me (?). Fantastic app though - use it everyday Thank you for it..

A12 moto edge+ 2022

[drmfinlay]

Hello @luke-2136,

Thank you for opening this issue and my apologies for the late reply.

Unfortunately, I am unable to reproduce this error on Android 12 or 13, running TTS Util version 4.0.2. (I assume you are running version 4.0.2 -- the latest.) Can you please let me know which text-to-speech engine are you using? It might be related. You can find out in TTS Util's settings screen.

[luke-2136]

Hi drmfinlay .. thanks for the response. Phone is using the google speech engine. Just updated it to the latest version [10-'23] to see if that would make a difference - but - it did not [on 4.0.2]

Anyway since there were no other reports on this issue i was already half-expecting it might be the case that you would not be able to reproduce it - that maybe it's somehow specific to this motorola phone - or the particular build on it. Really can't say. It's a brand new phone (came with 12 then upgraded itself to 13 a month later).

Best i can tell seems to be something to do with scrolling. If there is only one paragraph on the screen and no scrolling is possible then it does not freeze no matter what you do. The screen-freeze happens on the longer text passages when scrolling. Sometimes quickly, sometimes works for a bit (10-20 seconds) before freezing.

Anyway that is just to pass on the info to you. If you want to close this issue that's ok with me since you can't reproduce it and no one else has reported.

Thanks again I'm still using the app [best out there imo] just a little work-around (not scrolling) sometimes.

[luke-2136]

..looking at date see this issue was a year ago ..

anyway an update on it .. just to let you know at some point, somehow, the issue resolved itself. Maybe a motorola update - can't say - but TTS Util now works perfectly on this phone and does not crash or freeze at all

did not notice till recently even though use it all the time still - my workaround was to paste the text into the TTS-Util window then switch to source document to follow the reading. This worked so it became a habit. Not too long ago though tp my surprise dixcovered that TTS Util was now woking fine with none of the previous issues.

• This fyi and so you can mark this one solved/closed.

Thanks again drmfinlay for TTS Util - super app