If your Samsung Galaxy A26 5G has stopped vibrating for calls, messages, or notifications, there are several things you can try before assuming it's a hardware problem. Most of the time this gets fixed with a quick setting tweak or a system refresh.
Force Restart the Phone
Start with a forced restart to clear a temporary hang. Press and hold the Side button and Volume Down at the same time for more than 7 seconds, until the phone restarts. This does not erase your data; it just restarts the phone.
After the phone comes back up, test the vibration by receiving a call or sending yourself a message. If it works now, the issue was a minor software hiccup.
Check Sound and Vibration Settings
Open Settings > Sounds and vibration. Check the sound mode at the top. If it is set to Mute, change it to Sound or Vibrate.
If you use Sound mode and want calls to ring and vibrate, turn on Vibrate while ringing. For vibration-only alerts, use Vibrate mode instead of Mute.
Adjust Vibration Intensity
Open Settings > Sounds and vibration > Vibration intensity. Increase the sliders for Calls, Notifications, System, and Media, then test again.
Also check Call vibration and Notification vibration from Settings > Sounds and vibration. Make sure each intensity is high enough and that Silent is not selected.
Enable System Vibrations
Open Settings > Sounds and vibration > System vibration. Turn on the system vibration options you want, such as keyboard or touch feedback, and raise the system vibration intensity if available.
If system vibration works but calls or notifications still do not, continue with the call, notification, app, and mode checks below.
Check App Notification Settings
If vibration only fails for certain apps, open Settings > Apps, select the app not vibrating, then tap Notifications. Make sure notifications are allowed and that Vibrate is enabled for each category. This is a common one with messaging apps like Samsung Messages or WhatsApp.
For Samsung Messages specifically, go to Settings > Apps > Messages > Notifications. Enable Show notifications and turn on Vibrate for both General notifications and New messages.
Test in Safe Mode
Safe Mode runs the phone without third-party apps. If vibration works there, a recently installed or updated app may be involved.
- Open the power menu by pressing and holding the Side button and Volume Down together, or by swiping down to Quick settings and tapping the power icon.
- Touch and hold Power off, then tap Safe mode.
You can also start Safe Mode from power off: turn the phone off, turn it on, and when the Samsung logo appears, press and hold the Volume Down button until the phone finishes booting. You'll see "Safe mode" in the bottom-left corner if it worked.
To exit Safe Mode, restart the phone normally. If vibration works only in Safe Mode, remove apps that were installed or updated around the time the problem started.
Update the Software
Software bugs can disable vibration. Go to Settings > Software update > Download and install. If an update is available, install it. The Galaxy A26 5G runs Android 15 with One UI 7, and Samsung frequently pushes updates that fix small system quirks.
Clear the Cache Partition
Clearing the cache partition uses the recovery menu and does not erase your personal files. Use this only if the simpler setting and restart checks do not help.
- Power off the phone completely.
- Press and hold Volume Up and the Side button at the same time until the Samsung logo appears, then release the buttons.
- Use the Volume buttons to highlight Wipe cache partition and press the Power button to select.
- Confirm with Yes, then select Reboot system now after it finishes.
After the phone restarts, test vibration again.
Remove Custom Themes and Good Lock Modules
Custom themes or Samsung's Good Lock suite can sometimes override vibration settings. Long-press a blank area of the home screen, tap Themes, go to My stuff, and apply the default theme. If you use Good Lock, try disabling its modules one by one to see if any are affecting vibration.
Run the Hardware Diagnostic Test
Use Samsung's supported diagnostic path instead of relying on a hidden dialer code. Open Samsung Members, tap Diagnostics on the Discover tab, tap Phone diagnostics, and choose Vibration. Follow the on-screen instructions.
If the test fails, follow the suggestions Samsung Members offers or contact Samsung Support for repair help.