Troubleshooting Tips if Your iPhone Won't Vibrate

Troubleshooting Tips if Your iPhone Won't Vibrate

Read our troubleshooting tips if your iPhone won’t vibrate to try and resolve the issue without any help from us. By the end, your device should be working perfectly, or you may need to come in and bring it to a professional.

At imFixed, we offer our expert services for all kinds of repairs in Rochdale, Oldham, and the Manchester area, but we also like to give you the information you need to get your devices working on their own wherever possible. We have troubleshooting tips for when your iPhone won’t turn on, solutions for water damage, information on phone screen repairs, and much more.    

Whether you need help with water damaged phones or you just want to learn some amazing mobile phone facts, we can help. Here, we will go through troubleshooting tips if your iPhone won’t vibrate, and hopefully you can get it back in working order.

Why Vibration is Important for Phones

The vibrate feature on our phones allow us to be made aware of new notifications when they come through. While this isn’t always used by some, this feature is crucial for accessibility. Without this feature, those who are deaf or hard of hearing would have a much more difficult time using and enjoying devices of all kinds. 

Troubleshooting Tips if Your iPhone Won’t Vibrate

Troubleshooting Tips if Your iPhone Won't Vibrate

A phone that won’t vibrate can be frustrating to deal with, which is why we have put this guide together to help you resolve the problem. Read below for troubleshooting tips if your iPhone won’t Vibrate.

Check What Mode Your iPhone is in

First thing’s first – check to make sure that your iPhone is in the correct mode that you want. It’s easy to forget that there are different modes to choose from, so check your settings or check the Ring/Silent switch on the side of your device. 

Your phone is on Silent mode if you can see the orange strip, and Ring mode if you can’t. Simply push the little switch in whichever direction you want to get your iPhone in the correct mode. 

Enable Vibration Accessibility 

You should also check your device’s accessibility settings if your iPhone’s vibration is not working. This is simple, and all you need to do is follow these steps: Settings → Accessibility → Touch → toggle on Vibration.

Turn System Haptics on

To provide a physical response, your iPhone needs to have System Haptics enabled. This will allow your device to vibrate, and if it is toggled off, your device will never vibrate.

To check System Haptics on your iPhone, follow these steps: Settings → Sounds & Haptics → toggle on System Haptics.

Double-Check Your Silent Mode and Ring Vibration Settings

Since you can alter your settings to your own preferences, you should take some time to check what those preferences are set to in the Ring and Silent modes. You might have a vibrate set for Silent mode and not Ring mode, or the other way around.

You can check this by following these steps: Settings → Sounds & Haptics → and choose your preference. 

Look at Each Alert’s Vibration Pattern 

You can also customise your iPhone’s vibration alerts under Settings → Sounds & Haptics. One of these options is to have no vibration, so this could be what is causing your issue.

Depending on what you want, you may need to play around with the settings to customise them. Go through your Standard vibration settings and double-check that you do not have ‘none’ selected if they are custom settings. 

Make sure you do this for ‘New Mail’, “New Voicemail”, “Text Tone”, “Ringtone”, and anywhere else you need to. 

Restart Your Device

Depending on the iPhone model you have, you will need to take different steps to force restart your device. We will outline the steps for different models below. 

For iPhones that Support iOS 16 or Later

  1. Quickly press the volume up button and release
  2. Quickly press the volume down button and release
  3. Hold down the side button
  4. Release the side button when the Apple logo shows 

For iPhones that Don’t Support iOS 16 (iPhones 6, 7, 8 and SE (1st Gen)

  • iPhone 6 models and iPhone SE (1st Gen) – Hold down the home and sleep/wake button at the same time, then release the buttons when you see the Apple logo
  • iPhone 7 – Hold down the sleep/wake button and volume down button at the same time, then release the buttons when you see the Apple logo
  • iPhone 8 and iPhone SE (2nd Gen) – Quickly press the volume up button and release, then do the same with the volume down button. Hold down the side button, and release it when you see the Apple logo

Reset All Device Settings 

If nothing else is working, you might need to reset all your iPhone’s settings. This will make every single setting on your iPhone the default, so you will need to do all your customising again. 

Only do this if you have some time to spare, and follow these steps: Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset All Settings.

NOTE: Be careful which option you select in this area, as “Erase All Content and Settings” will delete the data on your phone and turn it into a clean slate. 

Make Sure Your iPhone is Up-to-Date

Go to your device’s settings and make sure that the iOS is up-to-date. If you have trouble updating your iOS, you may need to use Recovery Mode to get the update to happen, or DFU (Device Firmware Update) to get the job done. 

Here’s what you need to do to update your iPhone using Recovery Mode (you will need the latest version of iTunes on a Windows or Mac laptop/PC).

  1. Connect your Windows/Mac device to the phone
  2. Do a force restart (steps outlined in an above section) to get your phone in Recovery Mode
  3. Don’t let go of the buttons until the phone screen has the Recovery mode screen (a charging cable with an arrow pointed at a laptop)
  4. Select ‘update’ when the option to restore or update on your computer shows up
  5. Confirm, then follow the instructions given to you (it can take up to 15 minutes, so have some patience)
  6. Your phone will restart on its own once you’re done 

If this doesn’t work, the other iOS update option is DFU Mode. DFU Mode is more complex than Recovery Mode, and varies depending on the device model you have. Follow these steps to effectively go through the process. This process will restore iOS to a clean slate, so back up all your important data before proceeding.

If this doesn’t work, you will need to get in touch with a professional like us, or Apple.

imFixed Can Help Get Your Devices Working

Troubleshooting Tips if Your iPhone Won't Vibrate

As your trusted phone repair provider in the Manchester area, imFixed is dedicated to providing expert repair services. We provide emergency and call out phone repairs and can help you choose the best phone repair shop in Manchester.  

At imFixed, we can always ensure quality work at a reasonable price, and do MacBook battery repairs, call out screen repairs, and answer your burning questions – like if it’s worth fixing a MacBook screen and what new MacBook users should know.

We have collections of cases and holders, and Apple chargers, screen protectors, and cases, so you can always care for your devices. Here, we want to give you the best service and information around, including device repairs at home in Bury

Hopefully these troubleshooting tips if your iPhone won’t vibrate get it working, and you can keep doing your thing. If you are still experiencing issues, it might be time to bring your device to a professional repair service like us. 

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