Talkback and JW Library

Since I wrote a thorough guide to using JW Library with VoiceOver, I thought it might be useful to write my observations about using it with Talkback. I just hope this page will be findable with a Google search since currently no information about JW Library and Talkback can be found that way.

I am an Apple iOS VoiceOver expert not an Android Talkback one, but I have been experimenting with using Talkback on a Google Pixel phone. Talkback has been improving quite a lot recently, so I no longer find it a useless screenreader. Many tasks you may want to do as a blind person will work quite well on an Android device. It's very good for text, money, and other camera related recognition tasks. It is superior to iOS for NFC tag identification. But this is about using JW Library with Talkback.

This will not be a complete guide or tutorial to using Talkback with JW Library. It is important to know that I am using Talkback version 15 and have only very limited experience with previous versions.

If you want the quick summery without reading more, then you need to know that as of JW Library version 15.3 and Talkback 15.2 the combination is worth using. Earlier versions of JW Library and Talkback didn't cooperate well enough for me to think anyone who values personal study or preparing well for meetings should consider the level of accessibility acceptable. I am sorry if you have an older device that can not be updated. Older versions of Apple hardware and software work fine, but Android ones really do not. That is fact, not personal opinion.

You can use Talkback to download and read all publications in JW Library. Navigating inside the publications using headings and links works well and all image descriptions are read out.

Talkback doesn't get stuck on the heading at the top of the Daily text as Voiceover has been doing lately. A 2 finger triple tap will read everything as it is supposed to.

Both ScreenReaders read punctuation that is around links that you'd rather not hear, but that is the nature of the way most ScreenReaders work.

It is unfortunate that Talkback does not have a verbosity feature to make a sound instead of saying link. I very much appreciate that VoiceOver feature, but of course that is just my personal preference.

The 1 thing that works in JW Library with Talkback that doesn't work with VoiceOver is deleting bookmarks. That is a feature I believe we should all be able to use. That means that Talkback users have the luxury of adding bookmarks to mark their reading position in a publication, or mark spots that they expect to use when discussing a certain topic in service. Both of these uses are impractical for VoiceOver users since bookmarks are permanent and very limited in number.

Talkback also lets you know when a publication is finished downloading. In fact it will make progress sounds. This does not happen with Voiceover, so one has to guess when the publication finishes downloading to an Apple device.

In the Bible tab all the Book names are only abbreviations on the Android version of JW Library. I find this makes finding the correct Bible book much harder than it is when the entire book name is spoken as on Apple devices. Evidently some low vision users actually find the abbreviations more useful because the text is bigger when the name is shorter.

Talkback Problems in JW Library

The names of magazine issues is not correctly read by Talkback. You will hear something like: "The Watchtower, No. 2 2020, The Watchtower 2020, Watchtower. 6 MB." instead of the far more informative "The Watchtower, No. 2 2020 What Is God’s Kingdom?. 6 MB."

Many years ago VoiceOver used to have the same problem, and I found it very hard to find the magazines I needed. I never remember the date. I need the name of the topic. In fact, I wish they would just put all the public issues of the magazines in one list since there are no longer so many issues, but correct labels are a necessity.

In April of 2025 the really huge problem with Talkback and JW Library was fixed. It is now possible to read material presented in the Study pane. Before almost everything in there was read one word at a time, which made comprehension pretty much impossible.

Now the scriptures referenced in articles can be read, and doing more research on a verse from the Bible by using the Study content really works. Songs and articles linked to can also be read from the study pane without having to download and open the entire publication.

Another issue was partially fixed by Talkback 15.2. When you double tap on a verse number in the Study Bible it brings up the context menu with several buttons. They include: Display Study Pane, Parallel Translations, Add Note, Bookmark, Share and a More button. The problem is that Talkback's focus is not placed in that list of buttons. The menu just appears just above the place you double tapped. It tends to be somewhat to the left side of the screen. Sometimes I can find it by finding the verse number I activated and then slightly rolling my finger up from there. It is difficult so it doesn't always work. Again, this procedure is no problem what so ever on my Apple devices with VoiceOver. When the context menu opens VoiceOver focus is placed in it. It even has the words "Study Content" instead of "Display Study Pane" so it is obvious that that is the button to get information on that verse instead of the button that opens the generic Study pane like that button that is alway present at the bottom right of the screen.

Talkback 15.2 allowed me to find the Context menu in JW Library much more easily even though focus is still not automatically placed in it.

Method:

Use a 3 finger swipe right to set the reading unit to Controls.

Find and double tap the verse you want to research.

Listen for the little thunk sound that means the menu has appeared.

Then use a 1 finger swipe down to find the Study Pane button.

Confirm it is the Study Pane button in the context menu by swiping right to the Parallel Translations button and then swiping back left to the Study Pane button.

Of course you can also use any of the other buttons available in this context menu instead by continuing to swipe right.

Believe me, I tried and tried to get that method to work in the past, because I thought it idiotic that Talkback couldn't navigate to a button that was there on the screen just because it was not in the web container. It never worked before.

I have not found a reliable way to start playing audio at that verse. The Audio option is only present after activating the More button in the Context menu, but after double tapping it, focus on the menu is lost. You could put Audio in the screen search but it more often than not only finds the Audio button at the top of the screen that plays the chapter from the beginning instead of the selected verse. Hopefully they will increase the size of the context menu on the screen as they did in the version for Apple devices. That makes the entire menu fit without having to use a More or Arrow button to find the rest of the options.

I have found the Screen Search feature of Talkback to at times be useful for finding other things.. It can be activated by touching and holding with 3 fingers.

It will open with an edit box to enter what you wish to find on the screen. The Onscreen keyboard should appear at the bottom of the screen.

Type something in and activate Search.

Results should appear in the list above the keyboard, but honestly sometimes they don't.

Usually redoing the search by using the Screen Search option in the Talkback Reading menu goes better.

Sett your Talkback Reading menu option to Search by swiping right or left with 3 fingers until you hear Screen Search.

Then swipe up or down with 1 finger to look for the previously entered search text either above or below your current position on the screen.

If your Talkback doesn't have Screen Search in the Reading Menu

If you have a version before 15 the Screen Search feature will exist, but the ability to repeat a search by using the Talkback Reading Menu will not be. If you have a later version it will exist but might not be enabled.

The reading menu is the navigation options you cycle through by swiping left or right with 3 fingers?

You may be able to add the previous Screen Search option by going to your Talkback settings.

Tap once quickly with 3 fingers.

When the Talkback menu appears swipe left until you find Talkback Settings and double tap.

Swipe left until you find Customize Menus and double tap it.

Swipe left until you hear Customize reading controls and double tap that.

Swipe through the options until you hear Screen Search and double tap it if it is not already checked.

Now go back several times until you are back in JW Library, and try swiping through the menu options with 3 fingers until you hear Screen Search.

Media

The Media player in JW Library works well with talkback. When playing audio the 2 finger double tap gesture will play and pause successfully. Oddly, that gesture does not work to play/pause video. Sometimes Talkback focus ends up on the control that shows the progress of playback which causes it to blab continuously. Just swipe until you get focus on something harmless and quiet.

It is almost better to turn off Talkback while playing a video so that the 2 finger single tap gesture will play and pause it. When Talkback is off and the full-screen media player is openDouble tapping at the left side of the screen will rewind, and double tapping at the right side of the screen will fast-forward. Swiping up will speed-up, and swiping down will slow playback Oddly, swiping left will skip forward to the next chapter, and right back to the previous chapter. That seems backward.

All the keyboard controls that work on Apple devices in this media player don't work on Android.

When in lists of publications, especially videos, it can be very helpful to set the reading control to Containers. Swipe left or right with 3 fingers until you hear Containers. Now when you swipe down with 1 finger Talkback will often successfully move through the categories available. It will first say the category title, then the next swipe will go to the first item in that category. Swiping again will select the next category. It really only works well when swiping down not up.

Swipe left to go through the rest of the items in the category. If there are way to many to swipe through 1 by 1, remember that a 2 finger swipe left will scroll a page to the right and say how many there are and which are showing.

My experiments with a keyboard haven't given me any delightful results. I guess a keyboard just isn't as much of a superpower with Talkback and Android as it is with VoiceOver on iOS. It's fine if you just prefer buttons over using the touch screen, but there aren't really any more features available with it.

The most disappointing thing is that having a keyboard connected doesn't hold your place when you return to a publication from the Study Pane as it does on an iPhone.

Talkback doesn't have a simple Find command that can be used with a keyboard as Voiceover has. VoiceOver's item Chooser that is kind of like Talkback's Screen Search is completely awful and useless, but the actual Find command that is available with keyboards and Braille displays works wonderfully.

My experiments with a Braille display have been even more dismal. Bluetooth only pretended to work, but showed nothing on the display. USB connected and worked, but only when phone and display were plugged in to a powered USB hub. No matter the braille table used, Bible names with their diacritics were very hard to read.

That's all I have to share for now, but I'll add things if I find anything else that seems useful.

If you have a reason to want to communicate with me about any of this you can leave me a voicemail or send me a text. (651) 321-4786