Droid Not Vibrating On Incoming SMS **Official Thread**

[pattont]

Issue:
The Motorola Droid is not vibrating on incoming SMS. When you enable silent mode on the phone there is only a green light that indicates that you have received an SMS. Even if vibration is enabled.


Discussion:
I know this issue has been posted before on this forum among other android forums because I did a bunch of searching before posting this problem. No one out there seems to be coming up with anything short of going into the messaging options and enabling vibration.

On the Motorola Droid you can goto Messaging -> Settings -> Ensure Nofications is checked and Vibrate is checked. This setting should mean that when you receive an SMS you should receive an audible as well as haptic feedback when the phone is set to vibrate. The problem is at least on my phone is that I only get vibration on incoming calls and I receive a blinking green light when I get an SMS/gchat/MMS. I don't even get vibration on SMS/gchat/MMS when the phone is not on vibrate only and is set to ring even though that is what the vibration option says that it should do (vibrate as well as ring).

When I originally discovered this problem I figured that it was just a software problem and nothing that I could do about it until one day at work. I work with several Motorola Droid owners and when I approached them about this issue I got replies like, "what problem?" Specifically, I approached 2 other people who have the Droid. One who got theirs at launch with me and the other who just got theirs a week ago. The latter is having the same problem that I have. No vibration on SMS. The one who got theirs at launch vibrates like a champ when he receives texts. It rings + vibrates when the ringer is on and when its on vibrate it vibrates on txts. I went through his entire phone to verify all settings were the same and they were. He had nothing configured differnt from my phone. How can this be?

I know it's not a hardware problem because the vibration works on phone calls, but how can one person's work and another not if they are running all of the same applications and have their options set the same. I started to switch out my phone for a replacement, but I wanted to get some feedback. I looked through the notes for the Dec. 11th update and this isn't listed as a problem being fixed. Whether it does or not we will just have to see.


TEMP Fix:

I came across a temporary fix that I have been running for several hours now called Missed Call. It allows me to customize the SMS nofications and get the vibrate + ring when the ringer is on and the vibration only when the phone is on vibrate. The only problem is WHY DO I NEED TO RUN A 3RD PARTY APPLICATION TO DO WHAT THE PHONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING ALREADY!!! This application runs at about 4mb of RAM which I know isn't a lot, but still. This functionality is built into the phone.


What do you guys think? Anyone seen any other ways to fix this issue? Also, don't forget to vote in the poll at the top!

[Martin030908]

I'm having the same problem. I've set notifications to vibrate (along with ringtone) when the phone ringer is set to vibrate and ring... and it never does. Only way I can get the phone to vibrate with SMS is if I set the notification to ALWAYS vibrate... which is a pain because when I turn the phone on silent it'll be sitting on a desk and start vibrating. I agree very annoying.

[New2u]

This isn't just an SMS problem, this is a phone problem. I have stated already many times that this appears to be a bug within the phone programming. The reason i say that is because you can get it to work ONLY one way, the other 2-3 ways will not work. If you go into menu > settings > sound ... and then hit the silent button from there, it will recognize that the vibrate option for the phone is checked. However if you put silent mode on through the lock screen, the lock button on top of the unit, or by the silent on/off widget app, they do NOT recognize that the vibrate function on the phone has been checked and will keep your phone completely silent.

[Martin030908]

This isn't just an SMS problem, this is a phone problem. I have stated already many times that this appears to be a bug within the phone programming. The reason i say that is because you can get it to work ONLY one way, the other 2-3 ways will not work. If you go into menu > settings > sound ... and then hit the silent button from there, it will recognize that the vibrate option for the phone is checked. However if you put silent mode on through the lock screen, the lock button on top of the unit, or by the silent on/off widget app, they do NOT recognize that the vibrate function on the phone has been checked and will keep your phone completely silent.

Thanks. Wasn't aware of this.

[pattont]

bump.. I want to keep this issue current if any Droid devs are looking at this site. This is a problem that should be a non-issue with any phone.

[battlecanary]

Yeah this has driven me nuts. I put the phone on vibrate and only notice that I've gotten 5 texts an hour later when I take it out and see the blinking green light. I tried a program today called Smart Vibrator but the problem with it is then even when on your normal ringers it will still vibrate, even when vibrate is supposed to be turned off. Also, searching for a fix is a pain since you have to sort through a million apps that are for using your phone as a personal massager.

I'll try the Missed Call thing and see how it works. Thanks for taking the time to get some proper responses on this.

[cheifkeiff]

I just went to messaging then pressed the menu button to bring up setting in there in the bottom is say vibrate on incoming txts and i have not had an issue since

[DoTheDrew]

just realized my phone is doing this as well. i wonder if verizon would take it back for this.

[Silverwing]

They better, or I am going to yell very angrily.

Also, I second that "smart vibrator" is a good work around, for now.

[ezeddiekun]

Mine only vibrates sometimes...