API in Capabilities

Vibration API

Published 2026-10-20Updated 2026-10-23By Carey Gill · Editorial process

The Vibration API provides simple tactile feedback through navigator.vibrate(). It accepts one vibration duration or an alternating sequence of vibration and pause durations.

The W3C specification records implementations in Chromium-based browsers, opposition from WebKit, and removal from Firefox 129. It describes the feature as limited availability and does not provide a way to determine whether vibration hardware is present or enabled.

Where it is supported

The W3C specification records support in Chromium-based browsers, opposition from WebKit, and removal from Firefox 129. Even where the method exists, the API cannot report whether vibration hardware is present or enabled.

Syntax

navigator.vibrate(duration);
navigator.vibrate([vibrate, pause, vibrate]);

The method returns a boolean. For an ordinary web document, the specification returns false when the document is not visible, when sticky user activation is absent, or when the implementation declines the request; a true return does not establish that the device has vibration hardware. The specification notes that a trusted or privileged application closely integrated with the operating system may ignore the visibility check.

Parameters

pattern is an unsigned duration in milliseconds or a sequence of unsigned durations. Sequence entries alternate between vibration and pause, starting with vibration. The specification truncates a sequence after 10 entries and caps each entry at 10,000 milliseconds.

Passing 0, an empty array, or an array whose entries are all zero cancels an active pattern.

Exceptions

vibrate() does not define DOM exceptions. For an ordinary web document, a hidden document returns false; the specification allows a trusted or privileged application closely integrated with the operating system to ignore that visibility check. An existing pattern is aborted before a new accepted pattern starts. When the top-level document becomes hidden, the user agent must abort the running vibration algorithm.

Examples

Both examples pair vibration with visible feedback because API presence does not guarantee a physical vibration.

Confirming an action with a short pulse

Call the method from a user action so the document has sticky activation. The fallback updates visible status instead of treating vibration as the only confirmation.

<label>Draft <textarea id="draft"></textarea></label>
<button id="save" type="button">Save draft</button>
<p id="status" role="status"></p>

<script>
const saveButton = document.querySelector("#save");
const status = document.querySelector("#status");

saveButton.addEventListener("click", () => {
  localStorage.setItem("draft", document.querySelector("#draft").value);
  status.textContent = "Draft saved";

  if ("vibrate" in navigator) {
    navigator.vibrate(80);
  } else {
    status.dataset.haptics = "unavailable";
  }
});
</script>

The text update is the fallback branch and remains present even when vibrate() exists but the device does not vibrate.

Starting and cancelling a pattern

Store no timer for cancellation; passing zero asks the API to stop the active pattern.

<button id="start-alert" type="button">Start alert</button>
<button id="stop-alert" type="button">Stop alert</button>
<p id="visual-alert" role="status" hidden>Alert active</p>

<script>
const start = document.querySelector("#start-alert");
const stop = document.querySelector("#stop-alert");
const visualAlert = document.querySelector("#visual-alert");

function showVisualAlert() {
  visualAlert.hidden = false;
}

function hideVisualAlert() {
  visualAlert.hidden = true;
}

start.addEventListener("click", () => {
  showVisualAlert();
  if (!("vibrate" in navigator)) {
    return;
  }

  navigator.vibrate([100, 50, 100]);
});

stop.addEventListener("click", () => {
  if ("vibrate" in navigator) navigator.vibrate(0);
  hideVisualAlert();
});
</script>

The visual alert supplies the unsupported path, and the stop action clears both forms of feedback.

Specifications

Specification	Status
Vibration API	W3C