A Mother's Dumping Ground

It's not what you're thinking.

At one time or another, we have had to put our iPhones on vibrate. At said time, coincidentally, the phone vibrates, but we can't look to see who's calling. Who was that?!

Luckily, Apple has given us the ability to create custom vibration patterns and to assign these patterns to our contacts. (There are also vibration patterns pre-loaded on our phones, if you would rather use those.) It's not a bad idea to assign vibration patterns to important people, that way you know who is trying to get in touch with you, even if you can't look at your phone.

If you are running iOS 5 or iOS 6 on your iPhone, you can create a custom vibration. Here's how:

1. Go to your Contacts and open.

2. Click on edit, top right.

3. Vibration is set to default; let's change that. Click on Vibration.

4. It is showing you that Example Contact is set to the default vibration "Shave & A Haircut." Under the Default is a list of the Standard, pre-loaded vibration patterns. You can choose one if these, or create your own. Lets make our own pattern.

5. Scroll down and select Create New Vibration.

6. Tap out a funky rhythm on the screen.

7. The longer you hold your finger on the screen, the longer the vibration. Quick taps will create short vibrations. When done, you can play it back to review.

8. Name your new vibration pattern and select.

When everything is satisfactory, click Done on the top right to save the changes you made to your contact. And there you have it.

(Click on the pictures for greater clarity and enlargement.)