Troubleshooting
Symptom-first reference. Each entry gives the likely cause, what to try, and when to escalate.
First-line checks
Before anything else, for almost any report:
- Is there a working internet connection? Audio downloads, Translate, daily goals and membership checks all need one.
- Is Verbie up to date? Check the App Store.
- Has the app been fully closed and reopened? Swipe it away from the app switcher.
- Which iOS version and device? Worth having on every ticket.
A quiz will not start
| Message or symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "No Sneaker Speaker sentences match your Practice Levels." | Practice Levels too narrow | Turn on more levels in Settings → Practice → Practice Levels |
| "No Vocabulary Speaker words match your Practice Levels." | Same | Same |
| "Select at least one Practice Level in Settings." | Every level deselected | Select at least one |
| "Bookmark some quiz items before starting Bookmark Speaker." | No bookmarks yet | Bookmark items during a quiz first |
| "Could not prepare this quiz. Please try again." | The bundled question database could not be read | Reopen the app; if it persists, reinstall. Escalate if reinstalling does not fix it — this points to a broken install or a build problem |
| "Could not read this quiz's data." | A question could not be decoded | Escalate with the category name |
| Tapping a category does nothing | The membership screen is about to appear, or the app is still preparing | Wait a moment; check Settings → Membership |
No sound
Work down the list:
- Ringer/silent switch and volume.
- Does audio work in another app? If not, it is the device.
- Bluetooth — headphones or a car elsewhere may have claimed the audio.
- Internet connection: each clip downloads on first use.
- Try the other Voice (Arjen / Ruth) and the other Voice Speed — a clip may exist at one setting and not another.
- Settings → Storage → Clear Audio Cache, then try again.
The speaker icon shakes = that specific clip could not be fetched. If it happens on one item only, it is a missing recording and is reported automatically. If it happens on everything, it is the connection.
Remember: Separable Verbs and Er Usage play audio only after an answer is chosen. That is deliberate, not a fault.
Recording does not work
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing happens on Record | Microphone permission was declined | iOS Settings → Verbie → Microphone, or Privacy & Security → Microphone → Verbie |
| Recording stops on its own | Working as designed — recordings are capped at 5 seconds | Use Stop for shorter ones; nothing to fix |
| Me is greyed out | No recording exists yet, or one is currently playing | Record first |
| The recording is very quiet | Phone microphone obstructed, or a headset microphone in use | Try without headphones |
Translate problems
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing translates | No connection — Translate is server-backed with no offline mode | Restore connectivity; read back any alert text shown |
| It translates mid-word | It fires after a short pause in typing | Keep typing; it retranslates |
| Robotic Dutch pronunciation | No recording exists for that phrase, so iOS's built-in voice is used | Expected behaviour |
| History is empty | The history sheet loads on demand | Reopen the sheet; check the connection |
Streak, XP or progress looks wrong
| Symptom | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Streak reset despite practising | The session must be finished — an abandoned quiz (✕) records nothing. Speaker activities never count |
| No XP after a session | Same cause; also check whether it was a Speaker activity |
| Perfect score but no +50 bonus | The bonus requires the quiz to be finished, not stopped by the timer |
| XP or streak changed unexpectedly | Progress syncs to Verbie's servers; the higher XP and the more recent practice date win. Ask whether more than one device is in use |
| Everything reset after a new phone | Expected — there is no login, so progress does not follow the customer. An iCloud or encrypted local device backup does carry it |
See 06 – XP, levels and streaks.
The daily goal or Learning Review card is missing
| Symptom | Explanation |
|---|---|
| "Loading today's goal…" that never finishes | No connection, or the service is briefly unavailable. Verbie retries; leaving and returning to the Quiz tab requests it again |
| No goal card at all | Same cause. Everything else still works |
| "No reviews due" | Normal. Either nothing is scheduled yet, everything is scheduled for later, a review was already done today, or the due items are at deselected levels |
| The review count dropped | Items removed in a content update are dropped from the queue automatically |
Membership problems
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Paid, but Verbie asks for a membership | Settings → Membership → Restore Purchases, then verify the Apple Account is the purchasing one |
| The preview did not reset after reinstalling | Expected — preview time is tracked against the App Store identity |
| Restore fails with an error | Capture the exact error text, device model and iOS version, then escalate |
| Charged after cancelling | Apple's billing; direct to reportaproblem.apple.com |
See 14 – Membership and billing.
Apple Watch problems
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Start Sneaker Speaker on iPhone" | The idle screen — start the activity on the phone |
| Buttons do nothing | The phone must be reachable and running Verbie; check Bluetooth and Wi‑Fi |
| Watch display lags behind the phone | Brief lag is normal |
| No audio on the watch | By design — audio plays through the iPhone |
Performance and storage
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Verbie is using a lot of storage | Settings → Storage → Clear Audio Cache. Two voices at two speeds add up for heavy users |
| Downloaded audio disappeared | iOS clears cache storage when the device runs low. Files re-download automatically |
| The app feels slow starting a quiz | The question set is prepared when the category is tapped; a moment's delay is normal on older devices |
Escalation checklist
Collect all of this before passing a ticket on:
- Device model and iOS version (and watchOS version, for watch issues)
- Verbie version, from the App Store listing
- The exact on-screen message, word for word — a screenshot is best
- Which category or screen it happened on
- Practice Levels, Voice and Voice Speed settings
- Whether more than one device is used with Verbie
- For content problems: the exact Dutch text, and whether the in-app report was sent (see 15)
- For membership problems: whether Restore Purchases was tried, and its error text
Actions that are safe to suggest
These lose nothing:
- Force-quitting and reopening the app
- Clear Audio Cache
- Changing Voice, Voice Speed, Practice Levels, or the speaker gap
- Pull-to-refresh on a quiz question
Actions to warn about
Deleting and reinstalling Verbie removes bookmarks and translation history, which are stored only on the device. XP and streak are backed up and usually return, but the free preview does not reset. Suggest a reinstall only as a last resort, and say what will be lost first.