How do I turn on vibrate notifications?

What are vibrate notifications?

Vibrate notifications are a feature on smartphones and other mobile devices that causes the device to vibrate when a notification is received. This provides a physical cue to the user that a notification has arrived, without making any audible sound. When enabled, vibrate notifications will cause the phone to buzz or vibrate briefly when emails, text messages, app notifications, calendar events, and other alerts come in (Wikipedia).

Vibrate notifications allow users to be notified of incoming communications and messages even when their phone is set to “silent” or “do not disturb” mode. This prevents notifications from making sounds or ringing out loud when the user may not want to be disturbed by noise. The vibration provides a more subtle and discreet physical alert.

On smartphones, users can typically configure vibrate notifications settings to control which apps can activate the vibrate function and how long/strong the vibration buzz will be. This gives users flexibility to customize when and how vibration alerts occur on their device.

Why use vibrate notifications?

Vibrate notifications allow you to receive alerts silently, without sound. This can be useful in situations where you don’t want to disturb others with ringing or alerts, like in a meeting, at the movies, or late at night when others are sleeping (according to this Quora post). Vibrate notifications tap into your sense of touch rather than hearing to notify you, providing a more discreet option.

Research has shown that spacing out vibrations, rather than delivering them all at once, can help maximize information intake as well (see this study). Vibration patterns allow users to assign distinct alerts to contacts or apps so they can identify notifications just by feel.

Finding the Settings App

The Settings app contains all of the customization options for notifications, sounds, display, apps, and more. To locate the Settings app on your device:

On Android devices, including Samsung, swipe up on the home screen or tap the Apps button to reveal all apps. Scroll and look for the Settings icon, which resembles a gear. Tap to open the Settings menu (1).

On iPhones, swipe right from the first home screen to reveal the App Library. Scroll down and tap the Settings app icon to launch the menu. Or, swipe down from the top of the screen and search for “Settings” (2).

Once in the Settings menu, you’ll have access to the various options for customizing your device, ringtones, notifications, display, apps, and more.

Navigating to Sounds & Haptics

To change the vibration settings on your iPhone, you’ll need to open the Sounds & Haptics menu in Settings. Here are the steps to get there:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Scroll down and tap on Sounds & Haptics.

This is where you can manage all vibration and haptic feedback options on your device. The Sounds & Haptics menu allows you to set custom vibration patterns, toggle system haptics, and more.

For reference, see Apple’s guide on changing iPhone sounds and vibrations: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/change-sounds-and-vibrations-iph07c867f28/ios

Toggling vibrate on ring and alerts

The most direct way to enable vibrate notifications on your iPhone is to toggle on the “Vibrate on Ring” and “Vibrate on Silent” options. Here’s how to do it:

Open the Settings app and tap on Sounds & Haptics. Under the Ringtones and Sounds section, you’ll see the Vibrate on Ring and Vibrate on Silent options. Tap on Vibrate on Ring to enable vibration when your phone rings for incoming calls and notifications while not on silent mode. Tap on Vibrate on Silent to enable vibration even when your phone is set to silent mode.

With vibrate enabled for both, your iPhone will vibrate for calls, messages, app notifications, alarms and timers. This ensures you never miss an alert while avoiding disruptive ringtones and sounds. The vibration provides a discreet but noticeable notification. This is especially useful in situations like meetings, classes, or libraries where you don’t want to disturb others with loud sounds.

To customize further, you can set different vibration patterns for calls versus messages in Sounds & Haptics settings. Toggling on vibrate gives you the basic notification vibration while maintaining silence when needed. Adjust additional options like vibration strengths and patterns for your ideal notification experience.

Setting vibrate patterns

One of the most useful features of vibrate notifications on iPhone is the ability to set custom vibration patterns. This allows you to assign unique vibration patterns to specific contacts so you can identify callers without looking at your phone.

To set a custom vibration for a contact:

Open the Contacts app and select the contact you want to customize.
Tap Edit in the upper-right corner.

Tap Ringtone or Text Tone depending on what type of alert you want to customize.
Tap Vibration.
Select Create New Vibration.

Tap the dots to create your desired vibration pattern.
Tap Save when finished.

Now when that contact calls or texts you, your iPhone will vibrate with the unique pattern you created. This makes it easy to identify callers without having to look at the screen.

You can create custom vibrations for any or all of your contacts. Just repeat the steps above. It’s a great way to add individual personality to each person in your contacts list.

For more details, refer to this guide.

Using Do Not Disturb

One way to enable vibrate notifications while silencing audible alerts is to use Do Not Disturb mode on your iPhone. This feature allows you to mute incoming calls and notification sounds, while still allowing vibration feedback. According to an Apple Discussions thread, even if Do Not Disturb is enabled, your iPhone will still vibrate for System Haptics if you have that setting turned on.

To enable Do Not Disturb:

Open the Settings app and tap “Do Not Disturb”
Toggle on “Do Not Disturb” to enable it

Under “Options”, choose “Allow Calls From” and select “No One” to mute calls
Disable any schedules if you want DnD on all the time

With these settings, your iPhone will no longer ring for calls or notifications, but you’ll still feel vibration feedback. Keep in mind DnD settings carry over to sleep/wake, so your phone will remain muted until you manually disable it. Customize as needed for your preferences.

Scheduling quiet hours

The iPhone allows you to easily schedule Do Not Disturb during certain times of day when you don’t want to be interrupted. This is a useful way to automate Do Not Disturb during your sleeping hours or during events where you don’t want notifications.

To schedule quiet hours on your iPhone:

Open the Settings app and tap Focus.

Tap Do Not Disturb.
Tap Scheduled.
Tap the + icon to add a scheduled time.

Set the start and end time when you want Do Not Disturb enabled.
You can choose days of the week to repeat this schedule.
Tap Done to save the scheduled quiet hours.

Now Do Not Disturb will automatically turn on and mute notifications during the scheduled times. You can add multiple scheduled quiet hours this way. The iPhone makes it quick and easy to set up automated downtime when you don’t want interruptions.

Source: How to schedule Do Not Disturb on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Troubleshooting Tips

If you are having issues with vibrate notifications not working properly on your iPhone, here are some troubleshooting tips:

First, check that vibration is enabled by going to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Vibration. Make sure the toggle is turned on. If vibration was mistakenly disabled, turning it on should resolve the issue (Source).

Next, verify that Do Not Disturb mode is disabled, as this will mute vibrations. You can toggle Do Not Disturb off in Control Center or in Settings (Source).

Restarting your iPhone can also help if vibrations are still not working. Press and hold the side or volume button and slide to power off. Then turn your iPhone back on after a few seconds.

Check for software updates in Settings > General > Software Update. Installing the latest iOS update can fix vibration bugs and issues.

As a last resort, you may need to reset your iPhone settings. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. This will restore default settings without erasing data.

If none of these steps resolve your vibration problems, you may need to contact Apple support for further troubleshooting or device repair.

Additional customization

There are a few more ways you can customize your iPhone’s vibrate settings to suit your preferences:

Adjust vibration intensity – Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and turn on “Vibration”. You can choose between light, medium, and heavy vibration.
Create custom vibration patterns – Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone and select a custom vibration pattern for calls. You can also set custom vibration patterns for messages, emails, and other alerts.

Turn on vibration on tap – Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and toggle on “Vibration” under “Tap Assistance” to enable haptic feedback when tapping the screen.
Enable prominent haptic for notifications – Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual and toggle this on to use strong vibrations for notifications.

Customizing vibrate to your liking helps make sure important alerts stand out. Keep tweaking these settings until incoming calls, texts, app notifications, and system feedback feel right for you.