About the Vibration Simulator
The vibration motor is the part of a phone people notice only when it stops working. Before assuming it has failed, it is worth ruling out the software: silent mode, a system setting that disables haptics, and a battery saver profile can all mute the motor while leaving it perfectly healthy. This page drives the motor directly through the browser Vibration API, so a buzz here means the hardware is fine.
A pattern is a list of millisecond values where the first number is a buzz, the second a pause, the third a buzz again, and so on. A single value of 200 gives one short tap. The morse pattern in the list spells SOS as three short pulses, three long ones and three short ones, which is a good way to hear whether short and long bursts feel different on your device. Custom patterns take any comma separated numbers up to sixty values, and the repeat and gap controls stitch several copies together with a rest between them.
Support is uneven and worth knowing before you judge a phone. Chrome and Firefox on Android implement the API, desktop browsers accept the call and do nothing because there is no motor, and Safari on iPhone does not expose it at all, so an iPhone will always look silent here regardless of hardware. Browsers also require a real tap on the page before the first buzz, which is why the pattern only fires when you press the button rather than on load.
How to use
- Open this page on a phone; desktop machines have no motor to drive.
- Pick a pattern, or choose Custom pattern and type your own millisecond list.
- Take the phone off silent, then press Vibrate.
- Raise Repeat to send the pattern several times with a gap between.
Common questions
- Nothing buzzes on my iPhone, is it broken?
- Almost certainly not. Safari on iOS does not implement the Vibration API, so no web page can reach the taptic engine on an iPhone.
- How is a pattern written?
- As alternating milliseconds: the first number buzzes, the second waits, the third buzzes. So 200, 100, 200 is two short taps split by a tenth of a second.
- Why did it work once and then stop?
- Browsers cancel vibration when the tab loses focus, and some devices ignore a new pattern while an old one is still running. Press stop, then try again.
- Can I make it vibrate continuously?
- Not for long. Browsers cap individual bursts and cancel patterns in background tabs, so a rapid buzz repeated a few times is the closest you get.