When your iPhone is in your pocket or bag, a vibration helps to inform you about an incoming call or text if you’re unable to hear the sound of your alert tone. If you’re in a quiet place like a library, it’s even more important to ensure your iPhone vibrates instead of rings so that you don’t disturb others.
To ensure your iPhone can vibrate to notify you at all times, here’s what you can do when you notice your iPhone is not vibrating on Silent or Ring mode.
How to put iPhone on silent
If your iPhone doesn’t vibrate in silent mode, make sure that silent mode is turned on:
On iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Models
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, or iPhone 16 Pro Max, then you can toggle Silent Mode by following the steps below:
- Open Settings.
- Tap on Sounds & Haptics.
- Turn on Silent Mode toggle.
On all other iPhone models
If you have another iPhone model, you can toggle Silent Mode by flicking the mute switch towards the top of its left edge. If you can see the red dash on the switch, then it’s silenced.
Test Your iPhone’s Vibration Motor
The next’s step is to test your iPhone’s Vibration Motor to rule out hardware issues. Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Next, use the Sound Volume slider below the Ringtone and Alerts section to increase the volume level. You should feel your iPhone vibrate. If you don’t feel your iPhone vibrate, the vibration motor might be broken.
Once you’re confident that the iPhone’s Vibration Motor is working, the likely reasons your iPhone doesn’t vibrate are bad settings or temporary software glitches.
Take Off Any Magnetic Case Or Wallet Cover
From my experience, i’ve fixed the iPhone vibration problem by removing magnetic wallet cover. A magnet can sometimes interfere with an iPhone’s vibration motor. Try removing any accessories and taking your iPhone out of its case.
Does your iPhone vibrate now? If not, follow the steps below to fix the problem.
Other Software Troubleshooting Steps
Turn On Vibration In Accessibility Settings
If Vibration is turned off in Accessibility settings, your iPhone will not vibrate on Silent or Ring mode either.
Therefore, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, and then toggle on Vibration.
Check Your Vibration Setting for Ringtone and Alerts
Now, if your iPhone vibrates on Silent mode but doesn’t on Ring mode (or vice versa), it’s likely because you set a different vibration preference for each mode. To check this, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap on Sounds & Haptics.
- Tap on Haptics under Ringtone and Alerts.
- You’ll find four self-explanatory options:
- Always Play: Your iPhone will vibrate whether it’s silenced or not.
- Play in Silent Mode: Your iPhone will vibrate only when silenced.
- Don’t Play in Silent Mode: Your iPhone will vibrate only when not silenced.
- Never Play: Your iPhone won’t vibrate whether it’s silenced or not
- Choose the haptics behavior for ringtones and alerts:
- If you want your iPhone to ring and vibrate at the same time, choose Always Play.
- If you want your iPhone to only vibrate when the device is in silent mode, choose Play in Silent Mode.
Make Sure You’ve Selected A Vibration Pattern
It’s possible that your iPhone doesn’t vibrate because you’ve set your vibration pattern to None. Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Under the Ringtones and Alerts section, let’s start by tapping on Ringtone. Then, tap Haptics.
This is where you can set custom vibration alerts on your iPhone. But among the vibration options available, notice that one of them is None, which means your iPhone will not vibrate at all if you select this.
Check that you have **Synchronized or one of the Standard **vibration patterns selected, such as Symphony or Staccato. If you have Custom selected, tap on it to play the vibration recording and make sure it’s not just an accidental replica ofNone.
After you select a valid vibration pattern for Ringtone, go back to the Ringtone and Alerts section. Repeat these steps for Text Tone, New Voicemail, New Mail, and so on.
Turn On System Haptics
Haptic feedback is an iPhone feature that provides a physical response, usually in the form of a subtle pulse or vibration, as you interact with your device. When System Haptics is off, you won’t hear or feel vibrations for incoming calls and alerts.
To turn on System Haptics, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Then, toggle on System Haptics.
My iPhone Doesn’t Vibrate At All!
If your iPhone isn’t vibrating at all, there may be a software problem with your iPhone. One way to resolve this is to restart your iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Shut Down. Drag the power off slider from left to right to shut down your iPhone. Press the power button to turn your iPhone back on.
If a restart didn’t work, try updating your iPhone. Apple’s iOS software updates often come with bug fixes and performance improvements. Therefore, updating your iPhone may be the solution when your device doesn’t vibrate on Silent or Ring mode. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. If an update is available, follow the on screen instructions to update your iPhone.
If updating the software on your iPhone doesn’t work, you can attempt to reset all settings. This procedure returns all settings on your device to the default factory state.
If you have a lot of data on your device, the process can take quite a while, so you should only try this method when you don’t need to use your iPhone immediately.
Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset. Choose Reset All Settings.
Do not accidentally select Erase All Content and Settings, as this will delete all the data on your iPhone.
My iPhone Still Doesn’t Vibrate
If you’ve tried all of the previous steps and your iPhone doesn’t vibrate, you’re probably experiencing a hardware issue. Generally this means that the vibration motor in your iPhone has died and needs replacement. This is a very technical task, so we don’t recommend that you attempt this repair at home.
Visit The Apple Store
Make a Genius Bar appointment before visiting the Apple Store. Apple also has phone and live chat support if you don’t live near a retail location.
Hopefully, Your iPhone Vibrates Perfectly Now!
The problem with your iPhone not vibrating should be fixed by now. Please share this article with others to teach them what to do when their iPhone won’t vibrate. If you have any other question about your iPhone, please let us know.