To turn on vibration on an iPhone, open Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Haptics and choose Always Play. Your iPhone will then vibrate for calls and alerts whether the ringer is on or in Silent mode. To turn vibration off, choose Never Play on the same screen.
If your iPhone won’t vibrate at all, even with that set, check Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Vibration. That switch overrides everything else. These steps match iOS 18, iOS 26 and iOS 27. Older versions use slightly different switches, which are covered below.
How to turn on vibration for calls and alerts
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Sounds & Haptics.
- Tap Haptics.
- Pick when you want the iPhone to vibrate. To make it vibrate in every mode, tap Always Play. A checkmark appears next to your choice.
To test it, flip your iPhone to Silent mode and ask someone to call or text you. You should feel the vibration even though no ringtone plays.
What each Haptics option does
| Option | Ring mode | Silent mode |
|---|---|---|
| Always Play | Rings and vibrates | Vibrates only |
| Play in Silent Mode | Rings, no vibration | Vibrates only |
| Don’t Play in Silent Mode | Rings and vibrates | Completely silent |
| Never Play | Rings, no vibration | Completely silent |
If you want a phone that buzzes but never rings, choose Always Play or Play in Silent Mode, then leave the iPhone in Silent mode.
On iOS 17 or earlier
Older versions don’t have the Haptics menu. Instead, Sounds & Haptics shows two switches: Play Haptics in Ring Mode and Play Haptics in Silent Mode (called Vibrate on Ring and Vibrate on Silent on much older versions). Turn on both to get the same result as Always Play.
How to put your iPhone on vibrate only
“Vibrate mode” on an iPhone is Silent mode with haptics allowed. Set Haptics to Always Play or Play in Silent Mode first, then turn on Silent mode:
- iPhone with a Ring/Silent switch (iPhone 14 and earlier, iPhone 15 and 15 Plus): push the switch toward the back of the phone so orange shows.
- iPhone with an Action button (iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and every iPhone 16 or later): press and hold the Action button if it’s set to Silent mode, or open Control Center and tap the bell to turn on Silent mode.
To go back to ringing, reverse the switch or tap the bell again. Our guide on turning the ringer back on covers each model in more detail.
How to turn off vibration on iPhone
There are two levels. Pick the one that matches what you want.
Turn off vibration for calls and alerts
- Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Haptics.
- Tap Never Play.
Your iPhone still rings normally, and you still feel light taps when you use some controls, but calls and notifications no longer buzz.
Turn off all vibration, everywhere
Warning: This switch also stops vibration for emergency alerts, such as earthquake and tsunami warnings. If you rely on feeling alerts rather than hearing them, use Never Play above instead.
- Open Settings > Accessibility.
- Tap Touch.
- Turn off Vibration. The switch turns gray.
This is also the first place to look if your iPhone has stopped vibrating for no obvious reason. When this switch is off, no Haptics setting will bring vibration back.
Change the vibration pattern for calls, texts and other alerts
Each alert type can have its own vibration, so you can tell a call from a text without looking.
- Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics.
- Tap an alert type, such as Ringtone or Text Tone.
- Tap Haptics at the top of the screen.
- Choose a pattern, such as Synchronized (matches the rhythm of the tone), Rapid or Heartbeat. Your iPhone buzzes a preview when you tap one.
To make your own pattern, scroll down and tap Create New Vibration, tap the screen in the rhythm you want, then tap Stop and Save. If a pattern is set to None, that alert won’t vibrate even when Haptics is set to Always Play.
You can also give one person a unique vibration. In Contacts, open their card, tap Edit, tap Ringtone or Text Tone, then choose a pattern under Haptics. If you’re changing sounds at the same time, see how to set a ringtone on iPhone.
Stop the keyboard and system vibrations
Typing buzz and the small taps you feel when you use switches and menus have their own settings, separate from call vibration:
- Keyboard: Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Keyboard Feedback, then turn Haptic off or on.
- Interface taps: scroll to the bottom of Sounds & Haptics and turn off System Haptics.
iPhone not vibrating? Check these in order
- Accessibility Vibration switch. Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Vibration must be on.
- Haptics option vs. mode. If you picked Don’t Play in Silent Mode or Never Play, a silenced iPhone won’t buzz.
- Pattern set to None. Check the Haptics pattern for that alert type, and for the contact if they have a custom tone.
- A Focus is on. Do Not Disturb and other Focus modes silence calls and notifications, including vibration, unless the person or app is allowed. See how to change Do Not Disturb settings.
- Notifications for that app. An app with sounds turned off in Settings > Notifications won’t vibrate either.
- Restart the iPhone. If none of the settings is the problem, restart and test again. If it still never vibrates, the vibration motor may need service from Apple.
Questions about iPhone vibration
Will my alarm vibrate if haptics are off?
Alarms have their own sound and vibration choice in the Clock app. Open the alarm, tap Sound, then Haptics to set or remove its vibration.
Does vibration drain the battery?
Slightly, because the motor uses power each time it runs. For most people the difference is small, but turning off Keyboard Feedback haptics helps if you type a lot.
Can I make texts vibrate but not calls?
Yes. Leave Haptics on, set the Ringtone pattern to None, and keep a pattern for Text Tone. If you only want quieter texts, see how to silence text notifications.
Apple’s sound troubleshooting page covers Silent mode and speaker checks if the problem is sound rather than vibration.
Matthew Roberts is the founder and editor of ARS Digitech. He started the site to answer the iPhone questions his friends and family kept asking him, and it has grown into a library of iPhone and iOS how-to guides. Matthew writes and maintains every tutorial on the site, checking steps and menu names against Apple’s official support documentation and updating guides when an iOS release moves a setting.