This free vibration test checks your phone or tablet's vibration motor — quick buzzes, pattern presets, and a custom pattern builder, right in your browser. No download, no app.
RUNS ENTIRELY IN YOUR BROWSER · NOTHING ABOUT YOUR DEVICE IS RECORDED OR SENT ANYWHERE
Last updated: · Reviewed for accuracy against current browser APIs
Share:
Checking vibration support…
Ready to test
300ms
Pattern presets
Sustained test
5s
Vibration isn't supported on iPhone. Apple doesn't let any iOS browser trigger vibration — this is a platform restriction, not a fault with your phone. To confirm your vibration motor itself still works:
Long-press any app icon on your home screen.
If it doesn't vibrate, go to Settings → Sounds & Haptics and make sure vibration is turned on.
Vibration alerts are usually turned off in silent or Do Not Disturb mode, which can look exactly like a broken motor.
Tap "Vibrate now" for a quick check.
This sends a single, short vibration using the duration you've set.
Try a pattern preset.
Pulse, SOS, Heartbeat, Notification, and Alarm each use a different rhythm, useful for hearing how distinct your motor makes them feel.
Run a longer continuous or start/stop test.
Useful for checking that vibration holds up over a longer, sustained period rather than just a single buzz.
Build a custom pattern if you need one.
Add your own sequence of vibrate and pause segments, then play it back.
Who tests vibration, and why
People run this right after dropping their phone or getting it wet, since a damaged vibration motor is a common, easy-to-overlook casualty that doesn't announce itself the way a cracked screen does. Anyone who's stopped noticing vibration alerts for calls or messages uses it to rule out a silent-mode setting before assuming the worst. Buyers checking a second-hand or refurbished phone run through a few patterns before handing over payment, since a dead motor is a real but often invisible defect in a quick store demo. App and game developers use the custom pattern builder specifically to prototype haptic feedback — testing how a notification or in-game event should actually feel on real hardware before writing the pattern into their own code. And after a software update that quietly reset vibration settings, this is usually the fastest way to confirm whether the hardware or the settings are actually the problem. If the phone's screen itself is also acting up, our Touch Screen Test maps out exactly which areas are responding.
Why vibration doesn't work on iPhone
If you're testing this on an iPhone and nothing happens, that's expected — Apple does not implement the Web Vibration API in Safari or in any other iOS browser, including Chrome and Firefox for iOS, which are required to use Apple's underlying engine. This is a deliberate platform decision by Apple, not a limitation of this tool, and no browser on iOS can currently work around it.
That doesn't mean your iPhone's vibration motor (the Haptic Engine) is broken — it just means a website can't trigger it directly. To check the hardware itself still works, long-press any app icon on your home screen until it jiggles; you should feel a distinct tap. If you don't, check Settings → Sounds & Haptics and confirm vibration is switched on there before assuming a hardware fault.
Understanding vibration patterns
Under the hood, the Vibration API that powers this tool represents every pattern as a simple list of numbers in milliseconds, alternating between "vibrate for this long" and "pause for this long." A single number just means one uninterrupted buzz for that duration.
Mode
How it's built
Best for
Continuous
One uninterrupted vibration for your chosen length
A simple, sustained check of motor strength and consistency
Start/Stop
Alternates evenly between a second of vibration and a second of pause
Checking the motor starts and stops cleanly, repeatedly, without lag
Custom pattern
Your own sequence of vibrate/pause segments, any length, any order
Prototyping a specific feel for an app, or replicating a pattern you've noticed elsewhere
The presets above are just pre-built examples of that same idea: Pulse is a short, simple double-buzz; SOS spells out the Morse code pattern (three short, three long, three short); Heartbeat mimics a two-beat rhythm with a pause between beats; Notification is a quick double-tap similar to a typical message alert; and Alarm uses faster, more insistent pulsing meant to grab attention.
Vibration problems at a glance
Symptom
Likely cause
Quick fix
Nothing happens on iPhone
iOS doesn't allow websites to trigger vibration
Test the hardware directly via a long-press on a home screen icon instead
Nothing happens on Android
Silent mode, Do Not Disturb, or vibration disabled in settings
Check silent/DND mode and system vibration settings
A long vibration cuts off early
Most phones cap continuous vibration length automatically
Normal behavior — try Start/Stop mode for a longer sustained test instead
Vibration feels weak or inconsistent
Battery saver mode, or early motor wear
Disable battery saver and retest; persistent weakness suggests hardware wear
Works in some apps but not others
Per-app notification or haptics settings
Check that specific app's own vibration/haptics setting
How the vibration motor actually works
Most phones use one of two types of vibration hardware. Older and budget devices typically use an eccentric rotating mass (ERM) motor — a small motor spinning an off-centre weight, which wobbles the whole device as it spins. It's simple and cheap, but it has a noticeable spin-up and spin-down time, which is why very short vibration requests on some devices feel softer or get slightly clipped.
Higher-end phones increasingly use a linear resonant actuator (LRA) instead — a small mass moving back and forth along a single axis rather than spinning. LRAs respond almost instantly, produce a crisper, more precise "tap" feeling, and can be tuned to different frequencies for genuinely distinct haptic sensations, which is part of why premium phones often feel noticeably snappier and more deliberate than budget ones when they vibrate, even at the same nominal duration.
Either way, the browser's Vibration API doesn't know or care which type your phone has — it just sends timing instructions, and your device's own hardware and firmware decide how that actually feels. That's also why the exact same pattern can feel meaningfully different across two different phones.
Fixing common vibration problems
Check silent and Do Not Disturb modes first. This is by far the most common cause of "broken" vibration, and it's a 10-second check before assuming anything is actually wrong.
Check your system's vibration settings. On Android, this is usually under Settings → Sound & vibration, and sometimes there are separate toggles for calls, notifications, and touch feedback that can end up in different states.
Turn off battery saver mode temporarily. Aggressive power-saving modes sometimes weaken or disable haptic feedback as part of reducing background power use.
Restart the device. A surprising number of vibration glitches clear up after a simple restart, since they're occasionally a software hiccup rather than a hardware fault.
If nothing above helps, and the phone isn't an iPhone, the vibration motor itself has likely failed — this is a hardware repair, not something fixable through settings.
Frequently asked questions
How do I test my phone's vibration motor?
Tap "Vibrate now" on this page for a quick single buzz, or try one of the pattern presets. If you feel nothing and your phone isn't silenced, the motor may have a genuine hardware problem.
Why doesn't this work on my iPhone?
Apple doesn't allow web browsers on iOS — including Safari, Chrome, and every other iOS browser — to trigger vibration at all. This is a deliberate platform restriction from Apple, not a bug in this tool or a sign your phone is broken.
My Android phone still doesn't vibrate. What should I check first?
Make sure it isn't in silent, vibrate-off, or Do Not Disturb mode, and check that vibration feedback is enabled in your system sound settings. Some battery-saving modes also quietly disable vibration.
Why does a long vibration cut off early?
Most phones limit how long a single continuous vibration is allowed to run, often to just a few seconds, regardless of what duration a website requests. Start/Stop or custom patterns aren't fully immune either — some devices cap the total pattern length too.
Can I control how strong the vibration is?
No. The Vibration API that powers this tool only controls timing, not intensity. Vibration strength is fixed by your device's own hardware and settings.
What's the difference between Continuous, Start/Stop, and Custom modes?
Continuous runs one uninterrupted vibration for your chosen length. Start/Stop alternates evenly between a second of vibration and a second of pause for the whole test. Custom lets you define your own sequence of vibrate and pause segments in any order and length.
Can I use this to design a pattern for an app I'm building?
Yes, the custom pattern builder is genuinely useful for this — build a sequence, play it back on a real device, and adjust the timings until it feels right before writing it into your own app.
Does this work on a tablet?
Yes, on any Android tablet with a vibration motor and a browser that supports the Vibration API. Many tablets, especially larger ones, don't include a vibration motor at all, in which case there's nothing to test.
Is this test free and does it record anything?
Yes, it's completely free and runs entirely in your browser. Nothing about your device or your test is recorded, uploaded, or stored.
More tools on ProDeviceTest
Troubleshooting a whole device rather than just vibration? These run the same way — instant, no download, right in your browser.
ProDeviceTest