Cannot get Tasker to Vibrate (at all) on Pixel 4

[Tim G]

Can't seem to get Tasker to generate any vibrations on my (not rooted) Pixel 4. (The vibrate mechanism itself works, and does its job on incoming SMS, calls, etc., and the phone is set to normal operation volume-wise).

Long story short... I've tried "Notify", "Notify Vibrate" (deprecated, fyi), and straight up "Vibrate" and "Vibrate Pattern" repeatedly, but none of them are making the phone vibrate even a little bit. 

I'm an old pro with Tasker, so I'm kinda sure it's not a "Me" problem, and very unlikely to be a "Tasker" problem, but I wanna make sure it's not a "Pixel 4" problem. 

Just got the phone, so am setting up all my Tasker routines fresh. Just want it to vibrate along with the Notify tasks!

Any suggestions on what to try/check??

THANKS!

 - Tim

[João Dias]

Hmm, is the phone maybe on Do Not Disturb?

Thank you for your contact.

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João Dias

[Tim G]

No, I can confirm that the phone is definitely not on Do Not Disturb.

(P.S. How are you, my old friend? We miss you on the Vera Forum.)

[Tim G]

Furthermore, for the record, I visited Settings > Tasker > Notifications, and made sure "User Notifications" (the default category for "Notify" messages) has its "Vibrate" setting in the "Enabled" position. Still, nada.

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[João Dias]

The vibrate function works normally for other people so it must be a setting on your phone that's blocking it... :) Now it's just a matter of finding what it is...

[Tim G]

Eesh, I think I'm at the end of that road. Have checked ev-er-y-th-ing!

Funny, the "Vibrate Test" app works just fine. Also my phone vibrates when receiving texts, etc.

Unless Tasker has something internal or a specific Android Permission that I failed to unearth...

BUT THANKS FOR CHECKING AROUND, I will henceforth assume the Pixel 4 normally responds.

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[João Dias]

Hhmm, did you maybe block Tasker's notifications?

[Tim G]

Nope, never blocked; those get set fine (by Tasker). 

e.g. "Tasker • Now"

"Mode - Normal" (my text from a Task > Notify action)

Just never a single vibrate (pattern is 100,400,100,400).

Weird. I'll have to keep exploring, and sorry to have troubled you!

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[Tim G]

More data points to report, plus a (small) improvement to note:

Tasker has "All Permissions" so I'm satisfied there. Its notifications are of the "Alerting" (not "Silent") type.

I went into Settings > Search > "vibr..." and inspected every single Vibrate-related setting. All were nominal/on/active/enabled, except HAPTIC FEEDBACK and CHARGING SOUNDS, so I turned those on. I also bumped VIBRATION STRENGTH(S) from "Medium" to "High".

Interestingly, now Tasker > Vibrate (1000) WORKS! Also, Notify Vibrate WORKED a few times (then stopped again)!

Most curiously, if I add a "Vibrate Pattern" (100, 400, 100, 400) after the "Vibrate", only the "Vibrate Pattern" fires. Again, odd. And if I temporarily disable (not delete, just toggle to disable) the "Vibrate Pattern", then the "Vibrate" (1000) fires.

Poltergeist??

On Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 8:32:54 AM UTC-5, Tim G wrote:

Nope, never blocked; those get set fine (by Tasker). 

e.g. "Tasker • Now"

"Mode - Normal" (my text from a Task > Notify action)

Just never a single vibrate (pattern is 100,400,100,400).

Weird. I'll have to keep exploring, and sorry to have troubled you!

[Tim G]

Think I got it figured out. Determined that I could get "Notify" to fire (with vibration) after a "Clear ALL" under Notifications.

Further testing revealed that checking "Repeat Alert" in "Notify" causes a new copy of the same message to be created, allowing the vibration.

Because I had engaged the "Permanent" checkbox during prior testing, each run of the routine was (I presume) NOT generating a new notification at all.

Sorry if all this issue was RTFM material, but believe me, I RTFM every time but came up empty-handed this time around.

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND, SIRS and thanks again for the moral support.

 - TG

[Tim G]

Aw, geesh, I spoke too soon. The "buzz-buzz" I was hearing came from the Pixel 4's own Notification > Vibration settings. Once I turned it to OFF, "Notify" created no vibration, and turning Notification > Vibration back to LOW, MEDIUM or HIGH just yields the default "buzz-buzz" instead of whatever Pattern I define in Tasker. Doesn't matter: 100,200,40,350,100,100, etc. all equals "buzz-buzz".

I'm thinking the Pixel 4 doesn't like queueing up multiple vibration requests, so plays only the first event (namely, it's own!) with Notifications. And in the case of Tasker routines with multiple Vibration events in a row, only "plays" the initial one.

NOTE: As to that latter assertion, I should mention that inserting a WAIT of 1-2 seconds was sufficient to allow subsequent "Vibrate" events fire. Intriguing!

So, (a) I blame the Pixel 4, not Tasker, and (b) it strikes me as an Android queueing issue. I'm just rather astonished that turning off Settings > Notification > Vibration Strength (i.e. to "OFF") effectively bars Tasker from generating any Notification-related vibrations!!!

Something you can overcome in the future?

[João Dias]

About the notifications, can you try setting a different category? A new one?

That wouldn't explain why the Vibrate action doesn't work though..

[Robert Ryan]

I don't know if this helps, but my Samsung S9 also does not like multiple "sound and vibration" type events in close (chronological) proximity. 

I almost always have to put some sort of "wait" between them. 

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[Tim G]

I actually had done some of the testing using a new Category for the Notify. No change.

I can live with using Vibrate actions in conjunction with Notify to suit my immediate needs, however.

It's all good. Just wanted you to have maximal feedback on this. If there's anything else you would care for me to try, just shout.

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[João Dias]

Wait,didn't you say that the Vibrate action didn't work either?

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João Dias

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[Tim G]

That WAS initially the case, but a few posts back I revealed that deeper testing showed "Vibrate" action to be working, so long as it doesn't follow a previous vibratory event of any kind without a WAIT between them.

So I can now confirm that pushing a "Notify" (w/o a Vibrate pattern) followed immediately by a "Vibrate" or "Vibrate Pattern" will do the trick. This setup mimics what I believe Notify (w/ Pattern) is intended to do.

The Pixel 4 (or Android 10,x) just doesn't seem to wanna play a vibrate pattern in "Notify" for me, regardless of whether its internal Settings > Nofication > Vibration Strength is set to OFF, Low, Medium or High. Sorry it's all a bit amorphous, but I think I've backed the issue into that tight corner for now.

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[João Dias]

Aahh I see! :) Did you try using a totally new category and at the same time setting a vibration pattern? In Android when the category is created it is created with a given vibration pattern and can never be changed again :P

[Tim G]

SOLVED!!

Funny you should ask, because that's precisely what I just did... declared an entirely new Category in "Notify" along with a vibration Pattern and guess what... bingo! Worked like a charm.

I think you have put your finger on the answer to this mystery. THAT WOULD EXPLAIN why the initial vibration pattern kept resurfacing regardless of any future changes. Darn you, Android 10!!

But bless you, João Dias. I hope this thread can now serve as a cautionary tale for others who follow.

 - TG

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[João Dias]

Yeah, it's a real mess to explain this to users :P They didn't really consider automation apps when the did this change. Glad we figured it out.