Why does my iPhone 4S vibrate, but doesn't ring?

jtrevill

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Anyone else seeing this? Phone vibrates, but doesn't ring or give text tones. I've been a long time Iphone user, so no, I'm not using the mute switch on accident :) . I've been missing calls because my phone isn't ringing. I immediately check and I'm not on vibrate with the switch. In order to fix the issue, I have to restart the phone. Happened last night and I missed calls and texts in the middle of the night.

In addition, I noticed that when it happens, it doesn't ring on an attached bluetooth device either (my home phone).

Not sure if it is related, but I dock it in an iHome alarm clock at night. I might start tracking to see if this is related... I'll update if I find anything with that.
 

leharris22

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This is probably completely elementary, but maybe check the Sound settings. Do you have the sound down low/off and the vibrate on?
 

jtrevill

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I've always wondered how these threads get so long with needless comments....

As I said in the first post:

"I'm not using the mute switch on accident"
and
"I immediately check and I'm not on vibrate with the switch."


So - no, the mute switch is not on...
 

StaticFX

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:rolleyes: sorry.. i skipped ahead in you post lol

im going to say it has to do with docking... if not.. try a restore to see what happens
 

Doug B

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I've noticed it a few times as well. It seems to be random although I've noticed it more when I'm driving.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk.
 

Sugrat

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Anyone else seeing this? Phone vibrates, but doesn't ring or give text tones. I've been a long time Iphone user, so no, I'm not using the mute switch on accident :) . I've been missing calls because my phone isn't ringing. I immediately check and I'm not on vibrate with the switch. In order to fix the issue, I have to restart the phone. Happened last night and I missed calls and texts in the middle of the night.

In addition, I noticed that when it happens, it doesn't ring on an attached bluetooth device either (my home phone).

Not sure if it is related, but I dock it in an iHome alarm clock at night. I might start tracking to see if this is related... I'll update if I find anything with that.

That is exactly the same problem i'm having but only when it's connected to bluetooth, when not connected everything is fine.

I'll drive home, get there, look down at my phone and it will say two missed calls etc, no ringing, nothing showing on my bluetooth headset, but if i try and call that person back, my bluetooth doesn't work on the phone for outgoing - and like others have said, if i turn off and turn on bluetooth (on the phone) it starts working again.

i've already done the reset and that didn't work, so i'll call apple tomorrow and if they are no help, then i'll have verzion replace the phone.

Just glad that I wasn't the only one!!
 

candy84

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When I'm connected to Bluetooth the ringer sound is sent through my car stereo. Is there a setting in your car that you need to look at?


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk
 

Sugrat

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i-candy, thanks for the reply, when mine is working normal, i also hear the ringer sound through my car speakers and i don't have any options to change that.

The one thing i noticed last night is that if i see the call (don't hear it) and hit answer on the handset, my bluetooth devices are listed but i can't select them, only the speaker or handset only.
 

CalifJewls

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I believe its a bug in the iOS! I was having the same issues intermittent sound issues, missing calls, text, etc...I actually exchanged my original 4S to only eventually have the same issues on the new 4S, which is why I believe its a bug. If I restart the phone all is back to normal...

I find I have the issue AFTER having used Siri recently, is that the case for you? Siri causes some strange issues after using it, I get extremely loud keyboard clicks, alerts or I get NO sound at all...

I have found that switching the sound on/off slider off and then on seems to be a short cut to getting my sound back without having to completely reboot the phone.

Like I said I replaced the phone, I have also restored countless times and I still have this random issue after using Siri, so I really don't use Siri, not until they come out with an update to address these issues..
 

Sugrat

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I've actually not had a problem with Siri, i don't use her that often except for checking the weather and setting a timer ;-)

So i spent about 2 hours today with a guy from apple support (very helpful and friendly person) and he thought that maybe because i did a restore of my existing data when i did the reset that what ever was bad came back with the restore.

So we did it again except we did not restore my data, only apps etc.

Went out to my car, deleted the existing profile, turned on the iphone bluetooth and synced again. Synced straight away without any issues, made a call which worked fine, told the person to call me back, and bingo, call did not show up on my car's bluetooth or ring and when i asked the call manually and tried selecting the bluetooth device, it won't work.

So, what i did was turn off the bluetooth on the phone, waited for the disconnect and turned if on again, called my friend, went through fine, had them call me back, worked fine, called them, worked fine, they called me, worked fine and so on...

So it means to be the first connection to the car that my phone is having an issue with, so i powered off the car, turned the car on, bluetooth connected, so i turned the bluetooth off, waited and then turned it on again.

Made the same calls, they call worked incoming and outgoing, also had multiple people call me from different phones and it seemed to work fine.

So i'm wondering if the bluetooth is connecting too fast and something is getting missed? i don't know but i'll be interested to hear from others, if the above works for them also, and i'll give up an update in a few days to see if i've had any failures.

Also from the apple point of view, the guy told me if that didn't work, that i could take it to a apple store have them check the unit and if they don't find anything wrong then they will replace the unit but i'm guessing the same as others that this is a IOS and not hardware issue.

Let me know if this works for others!! :D
 

crackercraig#IM

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I've noticed it a few times as well. It seems to be random although I've noticed it more when I'm driving.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk.

I've had the same thing happen. I figured out that the sounds all go off once my phone connects to my cars Bluetooth. If I disconnect my phone from my car the sounds come back. If I leave it connected and stream music thru my cars stereo, all sounds play but they can only be heard thru the car speakers. Still no sound from the phone.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk on iOS 5.0
 

NinoMalo1

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Re: Iphone 4s Vibrates, but doesn't ring

Thank you for solving that problem. I didn't even know there was a switch above the volume buttons...much less that it somehow got turned off (brand new to the iPhone world)
 

Yimao Pan

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Re: Iphone 4s Vibrates, but doesn't ring

SYSTEM / Library / LaunchDaemons / directory and then delete com.apple.iapd.plist file, then restart it