Vibration Test
Test the vibration motor — and see why the API returning true proves nothing.
How this test works
Several patterns are offered — a short buzz, a long one, a double tap and an SOS — and each is passed to navigator.vibrate. The API returns a boolean, and the important thing about that boolean is how little it means: it reports that the request was well-formed and accepted, not that a motor turned. It returns true on a desktop with no vibration hardware whatsoever. So both facts are reported separately, the API's answer and yours, and only the second one establishes that the motor works. On iOS the API does not exist at all in Safari, which is a platform decision rather than a gap any site can route around.
What the results mean
- Vibration API
- Whether navigator.vibrate exists. Absent in Safari on every platform.
- Call accepted
- The API's return value. True only means the request was valid — it is true on desktops too.
- Motor felt
- Your answer. The only thing that establishes the hardware actually responded.
- Pattern
- Alternating vibrate and pause durations in milliseconds.
Common problems and fixes
- Nothing happens on my iPhone
- Safari does not implement the Vibration API on any platform. No website can vibrate an iOS device; the haptics you feel in apps come from a native API browsers do not expose.
- It works sometimes but not always
- Check silent mode and do-not-disturb, both of which suppress vibration silently. Some phones also disable haptics at low battery.
- The API says true but I feel nothing
- Expected on a laptop or desktop, since there is no motor. On a phone, check the system haptics setting.
Frequently asked questions
Why can no website vibrate my iPhone?
Because Safari has never implemented the Vibration API, on iOS or macOS. The haptics you feel in native apps come from an interface browsers are not given access to.
What does navigator.vibrate returning true mean?
Only that the request was well-formed and accepted. It says nothing about hardware, and returns true on machines with no vibration motor at all.
Can a site vibrate my phone without me doing anything?
No. Browsers require the page to have been interacted with, and a background or unfocused tab cannot trigger vibration.