Setting custom vibration alerts in iOS 5

I almost always have the mute switch on my iDevices engaged, so I’ve only had the one vibration signal to let me know about incoming emails, texts, phone calls, etc. With the one signal, I’ve always had to pull my iPhone or iPad out and see exactly what had come in. No more.

Thanks to iOS 5’s new Accessibility options for the hearing impaired, it’s possible to set custom vibrations for your muted phone. You can choose from Apple’s pre-set options, or you can record and set your own by using your iDevice’s touch screen as a drum pad for your fingers. See below the jump for how.

1. Go into Settings and select General.

2. Inside the General settings, select Accessibility.

3. In Accessibility, turn Custom Vibrations on.

Once Custom Vibrations has been enabled, here’s how to select the vibration you want.

1. Go back out to the main Settings window and select Sounds.

2. Inside the Sounds settings, go to the bottom and select Vibration.

From the Vibration settings, you can select one of Apple’s preset vibrations or tap Create New Vibration to make your own.

You can also associate custom vibrations with your contacts. To do this, enable Custom Vibrations and then edit your contacts individually. You’ll have a vibration option underneath the ringtone option.

Hat tip to Andrina. I never would have known about this cool feature otherwise.