If it doesn’t what does it do?
So I interpreted this question differently to most other people here, interestingly enough.
So when you call someone, on your headset, you hear a ringing dial tone thingie as the phone “rings” on their end. The question is: If their phone is on silent, do you still hear that noise on your headset?
I imagine so - it’s probably used for many automated systems to detect when you pick up or similar.
Nowadays the ringing you hear isn’t necessarily correlated with a phone ringing on the other end.
Was it ever?
I believe so, back in the day of more analog phone infrastructure
Depends what everyone means here.
It IS a similar sound intentionally to let the caller know that the call has connected, but not yet picked up.
But it was never the actual sound of the other person’s phone transferred through the line.
That’s what I thought!
Depends how literal you want to be.
In the loose sense of, “Someone is trying to make a phone call to me and my device has registered that fact and is now alerting me in some way, whether through sound, light or movement” yes I’d still just say it’s “ringing”.
It vibrates
You mean what’s the vernacular?
“Ring” is a hold over word from when phones had bells that rang upon receiving a signal from an operator. Now it means anytime a phone makes a sound to indicate an incoming call.
If a sound isn’t made, you can just say “notify”, because chances are it creates a dialog, or flashes a light, or does something to notify you that someone is calling your phone.
After processing the question while writing my replies in this thread, I’d say it doesn’t ring. If it vibrates then it vibrates, simple as that. If it neither rings nor vibrates but the screen turns on, then… it flashes? Not super sure about that one.
Yeah. Put your phone in a vacuum.
It’s still making sound, you just can’t hear it over the roar of the air pump
Is it making sound when you can’t technically hear it?
caves, walls, shadows
I refer to a phone notifying you of a call - with a ring or otherwise - as “going off.” However, after looking this up, that apparently means “to explode” (possibly metaphorically, depending on which source you trust).
So far, even on vibrate or silent, my phone has not done that.
I also say “your phone is going off” as it can refer to either the alarm, incoming call, or other notifications. It’s definitely an accepted alternative meaning for the phrase.
“Going off” can also mean “be in the process of spoiling / going bad” when referring to foodstuffs, which I only mention to point out that the phrase has at least one alternative use beyond exploding, even if alarms and such aren’t considered. More usually in the past tense of “gone off”, but it gets some use in the present tense.
If you’re willing to stretch the metaphor, I have had some phones go bad from no apparent cause beyond age.
the screen turns on
