The setting you want is Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Haptics. From there pick Always Play if you want the phone to buzz no matter what, or Play in Silent Mode if you only want the vibration when the ring switch is flipped off. That’s the whole fix for most people. If you’ve already got that set and it’s still not vibrating, keep reading — there are two other places this gets blocked.
Set the Haptics Option
- Open Settings.
- Tap Sounds & Haptics.
- Tap Haptics (on some older iOS versions this sits directly on the main Sounds & Haptics page instead of its own screen — same setting either way).
- Choose one:
- Always Play — vibrates for calls whether the phone is on Ring or Silent.
- Play in Silent Mode — only vibrates when the side switch is set to silent; when Ring is on, it just rings.
- Never Play — turns vibration off completely. Skip this one.
The switch on the left edge of the phone, just above the volume buttons, is what toggles Ring/Silent. Flip it down and call yourself from another phone to test — that’s when the difference between the three options above actually shows up.
Still Not Vibrating? Check the Master Switch
There’s a separate, phone-wide vibration toggle that overrides the Haptics setting entirely. If this one’s off, nothing on the phone will vibrate, regardless of what you picked above.
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch.
- Scroll to Vibration and make sure it’s toggled on.
People land here a lot after a restore from backup or a factory reset — this toggle can get set to off during setup and it’s easy to miss since it’s tucked away in Accessibility instead of Sounds & Haptics where you’d expect it.
Also worth a check: Focus modes. If Do Not Disturb or any custom Focus is active and the caller isn’t on your allowed list, the call gets silenced outright — no ring, no vibration, nothing — rather than just skipping the sound. You’ll find that under Settings > Focus.
Different Vibration Pattern for Specific Contacts
Useful if you want to feel who’s calling before you even glance at the screen:
- Open the Contacts app and pick the contact.
- Tap Edit.
- Tap Ringtone, then tap Vibration near the bottom.
- Pick one of the built-in patterns, or tap Create New Vibration and tap out your own on the screen.
Emergency alerts — earthquake, tsunami, government warnings — always vibrate and sound no matter what any of these settings are doing. The only way off is Settings > Notifications > Government Alerts, and turning those off generally isn’t a good idea.