Many iPhone users have encountered an odd bug after upgrading to iOS 17, where the vibration function stops working when silent mode is enabled. This issue seems to be affecting iPhone owners across various models, even those with the latest iPhone 15 running iOS 17 out of the box. Here are some potential fixes to try if your iPhone is not vibrating on silent after updating to iOS 17.
Fix #1: Restart Your iPhone
The first thing to try is simply restarting your iPhone. A quick reboot can often resolve minor software glitches that are preventing features like vibration from working properly.
To restart your iPhone, press and hold the side or top button until the power off slider appears. Drag the slider to turn your iPhone completely off. After 30 seconds or so, press and hold the side or top button again to boot your iPhone back up.
Once your iPhone has restarted, check if the vibration now works as expected when in silent mode.
Fix #2: Turn Off Focus Mode
Focus mode is another setting that could be inhibiting your vibration feedback. When Focus is enabled, your iPhone will silence notifications for calls, messages, and more.
Open Settings => Focus to check if you have Focus turned on. If so, toggle it off for now. You can also customize Focus to allow vibrations if you still want to use this feature.
Fix #3: Enable Vibration in Accessibility Settings
Make sure vibration is actually enabled in your Accessibility settings. Go to Settings => Accessibility => Touch and toggle on the switch next to Vibration.
This will make sure vibration is enabled system-wide on your iPhone.
Fix #4: Enable “Haptics” in Sound Settings
Under Sound settings, check that you have haptics enabled for Ring and Silent modes.
Go to Settings => Sounds & Haptics and make sure “Play Haptics” is toggled ON for both Ring and Silent modes. If the vibration was mistakenly disabled here, turning it back on should resolve the issue.
Fix #5: Select a Vibration Pattern
While in Sounds & Haptics, tap Vibration and make sure you have a vibration pattern selected. The “Default” pattern is enabled by default.
If your iPhone is set to “None,” it won’t vibrate at all when in silent mode. Choose a pattern like Default or Heartbeat to enable vibration feedback.
Fix #6: Update to the Latest iOS Version
An iOS update could also resolve bugs related to vibration not working in iOS 17. Go to Settings => General => Software Update and install any available updates for your iPhone.
Updating to the latest iOS version may correct this and other vibration bugs you’re encountering.
Fix #7: Reset All Settings
If none of the above fixes work, a more drastic option is resetting all settings on your iPhone. Go to Settings => General => Reset => Reset All Settings.
This will restore your iPhone settings to their defaults without erasing any data. Make sure to reconfigure your settings afterward, but the reset may correct any system-level vibration issues.
Fix #8: Contact Apple Support
If you’re still not getting vibration alerts in silent mode after trying the above steps, you’ll want to contact Apple Support for further troubleshooting. Apple hasn’t acknowledged this specific bug yet, but Support can help investigate the issue and escalate it if needed.
You can contact Apple Support through the Apple Support app, online chat, phone, or by scheduling an appointment at an Apple Store. Mention you’ve already tried basic troubleshooting like restarting your iPhone and updating iOS.
Hopefully, one of these tips will get vibration working again on silent for your iPhone running iOS 17. Let us know in the comments if any solutions were helpful. We will keep updating this article as needed when Apple addresses the vibration bug.