Vibration on iPhone is enabled by default, whether the device is in Silent mode or Ring mode. This means your iPhone vibrates every time you get an incoming call or notification.
Although vibration is a useful feature, I prefer to keep it off in Ring mode unless I’m commuting or hanging out in noisy environments. This also helps preserve battery life to some extent.
There are times when it’s necessary to turn off vibration even when the iPhone is in Silent mode, such as during important meetings, appointments, job interviews, or work hours. In such situations, you wouldn’t want your iPhone to disturb or distract you with vibration sounds or haptics.
Fortunately, the iPhone has a setting to individually turn vibration on or off for both Ring and Silent modes.
How do I put my iPhone on vibrate in iOS 16/17?
Many iPhone users are concerned since the ‘Vibrate on Ring’ and ‘Vibrate on Silent’ options seem to be missing in iOS 16 and iOS 17. As a result, they are unable to enable or disable vibration on their iPhones.
Don’t worry, you can still make your iPhone vibrate in Silent mode or turn off vibration when on silent. The fact is that the placement of the vibration setting has changed slightly in iOS 16 and iOS 17. The term “Vibrate” has also been replaced with “Play Haptics”, hence the confusion.
Similarly, other features like hiding photos and saving a Live Photo as a video have also changed in iOS 16 and later.
Nonetheless, here’s how you can turn on or off Vibrate on Silent, disable vibration completely, or change the vibration intensity. This way, you can adjust vibration settings on iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 15, and other models running iOS 16 or later.
How to Turn On/Off Vibrate on Silent on iPhone
On iOS 17
To make your iPhone vibrate on silent in iOS 17, navigate to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Under ‘Ringtone and Alerts’, go to “Haptics” and select “Play in Silent Mode.”
To turn off vibrate on silent mode in iOS 17, head to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Haptics. Select the “Don’t Play in Silent Mode” option.
On iOS 16
To make your iPhone vibrate in Silent mode on iOS 16, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Scroll to the bottom and turn on the toggle next to “Play Haptics in Silent Mode.”
To turn off vibration in Silent mode on iOS 16, navigate to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Swipe up and turn off the toggle for “Play Haptics in Silent Mode.”
Note that turning off vibration in Silent mode will completely mute your iPhone, so any calls or notifications may go unnoticed.
How to Turn Vibration On/Off in iOS 16 and iOS 17
Here’s how you can toggle vibration on or off for different situations on your iPhone.
Turn Vibration On in Ring Mode
On iOS 17
To turn on vibration when the iPhone rings or receives an alert, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Haptics and select “Always Play.”
On iOS 16
To enable vibration for phone calls and alerts, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Scroll down and turn on the toggle for “Play Haptics in Ring Mode.”
Your iPhone will now vibrate and play the ringtone when you receive a call or alert.
To disable this setting, turn off the toggle for “Play Haptics in Ring Mode.”
Turn Keyboard Vibration On or Off
iOS 16 introduces haptic feedback for the stock keyboard, but it is disabled by default. This feature uses Apple’s Taptic Engine to make your keyboard vibrate while typing. Haptic keyboard feedback also works when the device is on silent.
To enable keyboard vibration, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Tap on ‘Keyboard Feedback’ and turn on the toggle for “Haptic.”
Turn Off System Haptics
System Haptics is enabled by default on the iPhone.
Unlike vibration, haptics produces subtle tactile feedback that feels very natural. You may notice the haptics when performing certain actions such as when you tap and hold an app icon, open recent apps, switch to silent mode, and more.
You can disable them if you don’t want your iPhone to trigger haptic feedback for system controls and interactions.
To disable System Haptics, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Scroll to the bottom and turn off the toggle next to “System Haptics.”
NOTE: Turning off System Haptics also disables vibration for incoming calls and alerts.
How to Turn Off All Vibrations on iPhone
Even after disabling the above vibrations, you may still feel the vibration and other haptics. Such as when there is an earthquake, tsunami, or other emergency alert.
To completely turn off vibration, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch. Scroll down and turn off the toggle for “Vibration.”
This will fully disable vibration feedback and haptics on your iPhone.
How to Change Vibration Intensity on iPhone
Unfortunately, iOS does not offer an option to change or increase vibration intensity. However, you can choose a different vibration pattern that you feel can make the vibration louder.
To change the default vibration for Ringtone, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics. Tap ‘Ringtone’ and then tap ‘Vibration.’ Select a vibration pattern from the list that suits you best.
If the vibration still isn’t strong enough, try creating a custom vibration. This way you can increase its intensity up to some extent.
To create your own vibration, tap ‘Create New Vibration‘ under the Custom section. Then tap the screen to record a pattern that you find intense and more noticeable.
When done, tap ‘Save’ at the top-right corner, give your vibration a name, and select it as your vibration type.
You can similarly change the vibration pattern for Text Tone, New Voicemail, Calendar Alerts, and more.
We hope you found this information helpful.
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