Why is my iPhone 15 Pro Max not vibrating on silent mode?

just talked to Apple support via chat and this is how I fixed the problem. I hope they make it a bit more clear for the future as this has been annoying many people.

Step 1: Open Settings on your iPhone.

Step 2: Go to 'Sounds & Haptics'.

Step 3: Scroll down to the Ring/Silent Mode Switch section and enable the toggle for 'Play Haptics in Silent Mode'.

Now, your iPhone will vibrate on silent.

Hi! I had the same issue and just figured it out. I came across your post after Googling for a solution.

This is what I did:

1. Go to Settings
2. Go to Accessibility
3. Scroll down and go to Touch
4. Scroll down and look for Vibration and turn that on (to green)
5. Then go “back” until you’re under Settings
6. Then go to Sounds & Haptics
7. Then go to Haptics and choose, “Play in Silent Mode”

Hope this helps!

I've had almost exactly the same issue. I have an iPhone XS and had not updated the iOS for ages (I was using iOS 14.8 - I hate change ;-). When I finally gave in and updated to 17.2.1, the vibrate changed to an almost unnoticeable level, and for the longest time I couldn't increase it. If I had the phone IN MY HAND I could feel the very slightest vibration, but nothing even close to what it used to be :-((

I finally solved my problem by going to Settings/Sounds & Haptics/Ringtone/Haptics and changing from the default "Synchronized", to one of the other options (I went to "Symphony", but some of the others were fine too). Now the vibration is back to what I had before. You can change more than "Ringtone", and use different vibration patterns to help you identify what is coming in.

Not sure if that will solve your problem, but it did solve mine!

I figured it out. Go under sounds and haptics and then, go to ringtone and see if “Haptics” on top of the page is turned on. Mine said none, so then I chose default. It will work in silent mode after you do that.

wassim257 wrote:

I figured it out. Go under sounds and haptics and then, go to ringtone and see if “Haptics” on top of the page is turned on. Mine said none, so then I chose default. It will work in silent mode after you do that.

Just like I posted 3 months ago, at the top of this page.

Ahh, apple has better features in recent OS updates. (Just so you know, I have tested this on my 15 Pro Max)

1. Goto Sounds & haptics
2. Make Sure "Haptics" under Ringtones & Alerts is set to "Always Play"
3. then go to Ringtone type selection.. scroll at the top - you will see "Haptics" set to none. click on that and choose one of the other vibration haptics listed there.
4. best part is you can also create your own vibration haptics too
5. thats it.. now when you are on silent or on the ringtone mode, vibration haptics will play :)

skompalwar wrote:

1. Ahh, apple has better features in recent OS updates. (Just so you know, I have tested this on my 15 Pro Max)

Goto Sounds & haptics

2. Make Sure "Haptics" under Ringtones & Alerts is set to "Always Play"

3. then go to Ringtone type selection.. scroll at the top - you will see "Haptics" set to none. click on that and choose one of the other vibration haptics listed there.

4. best part is you can also create your own vibration haptics too

5. thats it.. now when you are on silent or on the ringtone mode, vibration haptics will play :)

This work for my iPhone 13, but if I changed to "Play in silent mode" on the haptic options well it's not vibrate at all, it's kinda weird logicaly it should vibrate when in silent mode, that's the purposes for that option rigth? Lol. But the weirdest thing is if we turned off sound on whatsapp notification it will not vibrate at all, so we have to turn on the sound option and the result is we have sound and vibrate for whatsapp notification ladies and gentlemen. It's kinda dumb, hope apple fix it!!

Thanks for the tips btw ;)

FIX FOUND! - the reason it won’t vibrate in silent mode is because the default haptic is set to “synchronized”. When it silent it won’t make sound therefor it has nothing to sync with. Change the haptic setting from synchronized to a different selection.

I just discovered that it was my new cover/case with a magnetic wallet to it. When I removed the wallet from the cover/case, vibration came back. When I put the wallet back on the cover/case, vibration disappeared again. Try this, if you have a similar cover/case.

I know this is an old thread, but just to help anyone else who had this same issue and went through all of the responses and did the items listed with no luck - just as I did - I found a fix that worked for me that I didn't see listed here yet, here is what worked for me!

1. Go to Settings
2. Go to General
3. Scroll down to Transfer or Reset iPhone
4. Click Reset
5. Click Reset All Settings

This will NOT reset your entire phone, just your settings. It will take a few minutes to complete and will require you to set up Apple Intelligence and Siri again. After doing this, I set my phone back to Silent and made sure the vibration was turned on both in Sounds and Haptics as well in Accessibility > Touch > Vibration. That fixed it right up for me - I hope this helps someone else who is having the same issue!

i just fixed this issue on my iPhone by following these steps:

1. Go to “Settings”

2. Go to “Sound & Haptics”

3. Make sure that while selecting your Ringtone, Text Tone, Reminder Alerts etc. the respective “Haptics” option is set to anything other than “None” and “Synchronised (Default)”

Voila! Your iPhone will now vibrate even on Silent mode 😃

I came to this thread for the same problem on my husband's new 15 pro max. I had all the settings adjusted properly with successful vibrations on silent with alerts from Instagram, Facebook messenger, etc. But when I would text or call him, it would NOT vibrate. I finally found out in his settings for me through his contacts app, there was a custom ringtone with vibration set to "None." After I adjusted that, my alerts to him came through with vibration on silent. Just wanted to add that slight possibility for someone else having issues too.

Recognized it on IPhone 15 IOS 18.1...never changed anything. Suddenly while phone call no vibration. And yes in the option u choose your ring tone the vibration was set to "none". Changed it and it works.

Go to Settings/Sounds & Haptics and turn on the switches for Haptics.

Phone wasn't vibrating when getting texts turns out certain contacts had “hide alerts” on. No idea why the iPhone 15 is new but I turn those off and it worked for me afterwards