We all like to work out how molecular machinery is turned on but we also need to know how such machinery is switched off. This publication describes how force transmission mediated by E-cadherin is shut down. E-cadherin is important in mechanosignaling in sheets of cells, thereby playing a role in collective cell migration. Upon mechanostimulation, vinculin is recruited to sites of cell-cell interaction rich in E-cadherin. Moreover, phosphorylation of vinculin is necessary for E-cadherin to transmit forces inducing cell contractility. Here, the authors demonstrate that the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-2 is also activated upon E-cadherin force transmission and dephosphorylates vinculin, with a resultant reversal in cell stiffening. This allows a cycling of forces to be transmitted through a sheet of cells.