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My iPhone Doesn’t Vibrate! Here’s The Real Fix.

    Andrew Kunesh
  • 2 years ago
    • Categories: Sounds

You pull your iPhone out of your pocket and see three missed calls from Grandma. You’re sure you had it set to vibrate, but you couldn’t feel the buzz! Uh-oh—your iPhone stopped vibrating. In this article, I’ll show you how to fix an iPhone that doesn’t vibrate and what to do if the vibration motor is broken.

First Things First: Test Your iPhone’s Vibration Motor

Before we begin, let’s see if your iPhone’s vibration motor is turned on. Flip your iPhone’s Silent / Ring switch back and forth (the switch is above the volume buttons on the left side of your iPhone), and you’ll feel a buzz if “Vibrate on Ring” or “Vibrate on Silent” is turned on in Settings. (See the next section for details about how the switch works.) If you don’t feel your iPhone vibrate, it doesn’t mean the vibration motor is broken—it means we need to take a look inside Settings.

How The Silent / Ring Switch Works With The Vibration Motor

  • If “Vibrate on Ring” is turned on in Settings, your iPhone will vibrate when you pull the Silent / Ring switch toward the front of your iPhone.
  • If “Vibrate on Silent” is turned on, your iPhone will vibrate when you push the switch toward the back of your iPhone.
  • If both are turned off, your iPhone won’t vibrate when you flip the switch.

When Your iPhone Won’t Vibrate In Silent Mode

A common problem that iPhone users face is that their iPhone doesn’t vibrate in silent mode. Other people’s iPhones won’t vibrate when the ringer is turned on. Fortunately, both of these issues are usually easy to fix inside Settings.

How To Enable Vibrate on Silent / Ring

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap Sounds & Haptics.
  3. The two settings we’re going to look at are Vibrate on Ring and Vibrate on Silent. The Vibrate on Silent setting will allow your iPhone to vibrate when in silent mode, and Vibrate on Ring setting enables your phone to`ring and vibrate at the same time. Tap the switch on the right-hand side of either setting to turn it on.

Take Off Any Magnetic Case Or Wallet Cover

We’ve received a few comments from people saying they fixed the vibration problem on their iPhone by removing their 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 won’t vibrate even if the vibration motor is fully functional. Go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Touch and make sure the switch next to Vibration is turned on. You’ll know the switch is on when it’s green.

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. Open Settings and tap Sounds & Haptics -> Ringtone and tap Vibration at the top of the screen. Make sure there’s a check mark next to anything other than None!

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 fix this is to reset your iPhone’s settings. Doing this won’t erase any content from your device, but it will return all the iPhone’s settings (including vibration) to factory defaults. I strongly recommend backing up your iPhone with iTunes or to iCloud before starting this process.

How To Reset All Settings

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap General.
  3. Tap Transfer Or Reset iPhone.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the menu and tap Reset.
  5. Tap Reset All Settings and confirm that you’d like to proceed. You’ll need to enter your passcode if you have one. After you do and your iPhone restarts, test your iPhone to see if it vibrates. If it doesn’t, read on.

DFU Restore

If you’ve tried all of the previous steps and your iPhone doesn’t vibrate, it’s time to backup your iPhone and follow our tutorial on how to DFU restore your iPhone. A DFU restore erases all the content and settings from your device and is the end-all-be-all for fixing iPhone software issues. This is different from a standard iTunes restore as it wipes both the software and hardware settings from your device.

My iPhone Still Doesn’t Vibrate

If your iPhone still doesn’t vibrate after a DFU restore, 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 involved process, so we don’t recommend that you attempt this repair at home.

Make A Stop At The Apple Store

Make a Genius Bar appointment at your local Apple Store. Be sure to make a full backup of your device before heading to your appointment, because if your iPhone needs to be replaced, you’ll need a backup of your data to put on your new iPhone. Apple also has a great mail-in service if you don’t live near an Apple Store.

Buzz Buzz! Buzz Buzz! Let’s Wrap It Up.

And there you have it: Your iPhone is buzzing again and your know what to do when your iPhone stops vibrating. You’ll always know when Grandma (or your boss) are calling, and that can save everyone a headache. Leave a comment below about which fix worked for you, and if you enjoyed this article, send it to your friends when you hear them ask the age old question, “Why doesn’t my iPhone vibrate?”

View Comments (76)

  • Man I really appreciate this. My phone hasn’t been vibrating at all for months and I’ve been missing many calls and messages because of this. I guess Apple had a recent update because it no longer says “Vibrate on Ring” and “Vibrate on Silent” in my settings, it now says “Play Haptics in Ring Mode” and Play Haptics in Silent Mode” which is so misleading because I didn’t know vibration was considered a haptic. Both of those were turned off in my settings so now that they are on everything is fine. Thanks alot!

  • Thank you so much! For months I couldn’t get my iPhone to vibrate. Turns out it was off on the accessibility settings, which no other source mentioned 🫶🏽

  • I almost never comment but I've been dealing with my phone not vibrating on silent (when all seemingly relevant settings were turned on) for like 5 years now and could never figure it the hell out! It turns out I just had the vibration ringtone set to "none" this whole damn time! No other guide ever mentioned this. THANK YOU, GOD BLESS!!!!!!

  • It works, thanks! Apple keeps nagging about improving the customer experience and then you find out the "Touch" settings somehow control vibration on calls.
    On the bright side, at least now I get a tsunami warning vibration now... in central Europe, lol

  • Thanks Andrew, much appreciated. I discovered that the reason was the magnetic cover. Done

  • Thank you for giving a step by step solution as to why my husband’s iPhone SE was not vibrating!
    Your guidance is easy to follow, the screen shots are exactly what seniors need! You are a rare find, it takes a very intuitive person to be able to explain a technical problem to those of us who were around before computers were in everyone’s home! The problem was fixed and we are so grateful!

  • This article saved my sanity!! My phone refused to vibrate. I took it to the Apple Store on SIX different occasions and they could never figure it out. They kept telling me that it was a software issue and had me wipe the phone's contents numerous time and start all over (the worst possible process in the world!). Still, the phone refused to vibrate. When I read this article about the magnetic cover, I screamed with delight! I have a Rockform cover that has a magnet in the back. As soon as I took the cover off, the phone started vibrating. BRILLIANT! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Someone needs to send a memo over to Apple's Geniuses!

    • lol, I'm here looking for some reason as to why mine won't vibrate, found this article about the magnet, and i'm like holly shit I have a Rokform case on, hahah they should tell you about this in the description.

  • Thank you! I didn’t even know about the Accessibility setting and how it would affect the vibration! I’ve been trying for so long to figure this out. Thank you!

  • I haven’t been able to restore my vibration setting for quite some time. I knew there would be someone there on social media to come to the aid of those in need. For this, I thank you. My iPhone 12 Pro Max is back and complete.

  • I don’t know anything about resetting iPhones, but this is the first one I tried that actually works after two entire months. I don't even know how I turned it off, but it works!

  • Oh my God, the Accessibility Settings worked! I must have mistakenly turned off vibration. ???? Thank you so much.

  • For me, iPhone 13 Pro Max - the issue was the case with a magnetic wallet cover. Magnets will interfere with the haptic engine causing it not to work. My phone worked normal out of the case but stopped vibrating when I put the case on.

  • Accessibility settings was were my issue was! I’m beyond thankful to have my vibration option back!! THANK YOU!

  • Thank you. A very thorough, step by step approach.
    I found my problem as I went through your steps.
    Thanks again.

  • Another thank you coming your way. With all the tricks I learned here and retained, a reset restored my vibration function. Thank you.

  • My vibrator some time it will work and some time it will not work but please help me what I have to do right now or to fix the problem

  • Honestly could not figure this out for the life of me, this article helped so much!!! A lot of the options I had tried out previously but all very helpful tips!!!

  • After spending hours on the phone with Apple and then not having a clue I basically said forget it. Then I see this article. I’m ten second the issue was fixed. Thanks so much!

  • For me I found that it usually always seems to happen when there is a new IOS that comes out. Also it probably depends on a few things like for example the case I'm using or when my phone is in my pockets while I'm walking I usually don't feel it vibrate. After shutting down my phone and turning it back on it works instantly.

  • Thank you!!!!! Such an easy fix but I couldn't figure it out on my own or with the help of the few articles I stumbled upon before yours!

  • I even did a DFU reset and still nothing. When I put in my fingerprint, the phone vibrates. But other than that. Nothing. Followed all the other steps!

  • I just wanted to Thank You for your AMAZING directions and “fixes” for all iPhones! I can’t tell you how many times I‘ve looked for the answer as to why my iPhone XS Max will not vibrate. You are the ONLY ONE out of exhaustive searches on and off with random Google searches, AT&T Store (where I purchased phone brand new for $1200), Apple Customer Service (via chat, discussion board, AND voice), blogs, etc. I had decided to look one more time before having to drive 3 hours (round trip) to an Apple store. And boy oh boy am I glad I did! - Not only did I FINALLY find the answer that LITERALLY nobody else could or would answer, but I’ve found someone who cares and is knowledgeable enough to even be allowed to write (in my opinion) a how-to concerning Apple products (in my case Apple iPhone)! Again, Thank you so very much! You are FOREVER bookmarked!

  • Life saver! Thanks! It was the Vibration Pattern. It was too short for me to recognize so I set it to Alert.

  • Replaced my vibrate motor. Old one tested okay (hmm). Still no vibrate.
    Searched a bit more and found your note.
    Accessibility > Touch > Vibrate
    That did it. Thank you.

  • Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Vibration and make sure the switch next to Vibration is turned on.

    Thanks. This helped a lot!

  • holy s***! thank you so much, I thought my iPhone vibration motor was damaged or something , I touched all settings for days! except "Turn On Vibration In Accessibility Settings",100000 thanks!!

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Tags: iPhonevibration
Andrew Kunesh: I'm Andrew Kunesh, a technology writer and IT professional from Chicago. My goal is to help you fix the many errors and problems your Apple devices may face. Thanks for checking out our work!