Why are blue rectangles appearing around app icons, and why am I required to swipe the lockscreen twice, click apps twice, and _try_ to swipe calls twice -- often losing the calls?

Question

Following the Kit-Kat update, my Samsung Galaxy S3 16GB and apps were running very slowly.

I did a power reboot, with no effect.  Then I did a hard reset.

Now blue rectangles appear around my app icons and I am required to swipe or click twice for every operation, even turning pages and answering calls (which often results in dropped calls).  Also, there seems to be a voice associated with each command.

What is the reason for this and how do I fix it?  Is it because of the hard reset?  The rectangles and additional swiping are annoying and also a source of call failures.  Thank you.

Ann154 · Accepted Answer

Sounds like you turned on the Accessibility options. You will have to turn it off using the double tap and two finger swiping in the phone settings until it is turned off.