8 Fixes to Stop Your Phone from Randomly Vibrating

Learn how to stop your phone from randomly buzzing without a notification

Co-authored by Brehima Traore and Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: November 27, 2023 Fact Checked

Do you swear you feel your phone vibrating, but you don't see an alert? You've ruled out phantom vibration syndrome and are sure it's an issue with your phone? Aside from the psychological phantom vibration syndrome, there are a few glitches that can occur in your Android or iPhone's operating system or within apps that can cause your phone to randomly buzz. This wikiHow article lists reasons why your phone randomly vibrates without a notification and how to stop it.

Things You Should Know

Buggy and out-of-date apps can cause issues with your phone, so close and update them.
Background processes can be causing faulty notification vibrations, so restart your phone.
Make sure your phone isn't on vibration-only mode or on silent.

1

A buggy app can send notification signals to your phone.

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Close all your open apps. A glitching app makes your phone vibrate without a notification, so you can stop it by closing the app. Don't know which one is throwing the false notification signal? Close all of them!
- To close apps on iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of your screen and swipe up on an app. If you have a Home button, instead double-press the Home button and then swipe up on an app to close it.
- To close apps on Android, tap the Most Recent icon on your phone (it looks like three vertical lines) and swipe up.

2

Background processes could cause the vibrations.

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Restart your phone. Turning it off and on again can clear some glitches, especially those in background processes.
- To restart an iPhone, press and hold the Side and a Volume button, then drag the slider to Power Off your phone. Turn it back on by pressing the Side button.
- If you have an older iPhone with a Home button, press and hold the Side or Top button, drag the slider that appears, and press the button again to turn it back on.
- To restart your Android, press and hold the Side button then drag the slider to Power Off your phone. Turn it back on by pressing the Side button.

3

Your phone might be on vibration-only.

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Change the Sound Mode. Vibration Mode ensures that your phone doesn't make a sound but instead uses vibrations to indicate that there is a notification.
- On iPhone, make sure Silent Mode isn't on. Look at the side of your iPhone and make sure the switch isn't orange. If the switch is orange, Silent Mode is engaged and causing all your sounds to notify you silently as vibrations. You want this switch on the side of your iPhone to be grey.^{[1]
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- On Android, go to Settings > Sound & Vibration > Sound Mode > Ringing/Silent. Pick either "Ringing" or "Silent" to make sure your phone won't vibrate for all of your notifications.

4

It might be an issue with with your app notification settings.

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Turning off vibrations in your notification settings might help. If a notification fails to send properly, you won't get see a notification but will feel the phone vibrate.
- To turn off all vibrations in iPhone, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Touch > Vibration.^{[2]
  X
  Research source} If you want to turn off vibrations for each app individually, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics.
- To turn off all vibrations in Android (which is your only option), go to Settings > Sound & Vibrations > System vibration and turn the toggles off for everything under the "Vibration feedback" header.

5

An outdated app might be causing the problem.

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Update the apps on your phone. An out-of-date app can be sending incorrect notification signals, which are interpreted as vibrations instead of notifications.
- Update your apps in the App Store for iPhone or iPad or using the Google Play Store for Android.

6

Your phone's software may be glitchy.

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Update your phone's system software. If your phone's operating system is out-of-date, you could be feeling glitches causing vibrations instead of notifications.
- Update your Android or iPhone in Settings > General > Update.

7

Your phone may need a factory reset.

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Use this option as a last resort if nothing else works. You'll lose all the current information on your phone, so make sure you have a backup before you continue.
- For iPhones, go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
- For Android, go to Settings > General management > Reset > Factory data reset.
EXPERT TIP

Brehima Traore
Electronic Repair Expert
Brehima Traore is an Electronic Repair Expert specializing in sharing information about smartphones. Online, Brehima is known as Electronic Repair Solution (ERS Bit), and has a follower base of over 61,000 YouTube subscribers and over 150,000 followers on Instagram. As Ersbit, Brehima creates electronics repair content, offering repair tutorials, product reviews, and stress testing of devices. His most popular videos highlight phone camera and screen replacement tips. His channels offer recommendations and tips on how to save money by doing DIY repairs and other device upgrades. Brehima’s aim is to educate his audience by covering all aspects of repairing phones, so that they can save money and fix their devices, themselves.

Brehima Traore
Electronic Repair Expert

Diagnose mystery buzzes systematically. When your phone starts vibrating for no reason, start with the easy stuff first — give it a restart. If it keeps buzzing, backup your files and reset it to factory settings. Still won't quit? Time to open it up. Check the vibrating motor, or try replacing it or the charging module board, especially if the motor is built into the speaker, like some Samsung models.

8

It could be Phantom Vibration Syndrome.

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Take a break from your phone or turn off vibrations for a bit. You could be feeling vibrations that aren't really happening, especially if you've been consistently getting vibrating notifications. To fix this, simply take a break from your phone for a while or turn off vibrations on your Android or iPhone.
- Alternatively, try putting your phone in a different pocket than it'd normally be in. Now you shouldn't feel phantom vibrations, but real notifications instead.^{[3]
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Expert Q&A

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Question

Are there any other methods to do this?

Brehima Traore
Electronic Repair Expert
Brehima Traore is an Electronic Repair Expert specializing in sharing information about smartphones. Online, Brehima is known as Electronic Repair Solution (ERS Bit), and has a follower base of over 61,000 YouTube subscribers and over 150,000 followers on Instagram. As Ersbit, Brehima creates electronics repair content, offering repair tutorials, product reviews, and stress testing of devices. His most popular videos highlight phone camera and screen replacement tips. His channels offer recommendations and tips on how to save money by doing DIY repairs and other device upgrades. Brehima’s aim is to educate his audience by covering all aspects of repairing phones, so that they can save money and fix their devices, themselves.

Brehima Traore

Electronic Repair Expert

Expert Answer

If it's hardware-related, you're going to have to open the phone, find where the vibrating motor is located, and start more troubleshooting on the hardware side. It could be fixed by replacing the vibrating motor, but most phones now, especially Samsung devices, have the vibrating motor integrated into the speakers. And you might want to replace the charging module board, which gives power to the vibrating motor and the speaker. In this case, you might need to send your phone to your manufacturer for repair.

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