Making Custom Ringtones from Music

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Making Custom Ringtones from Music

I used to be able to create a custom ringtone for my iPhone by creating a 30-second clip of any song, converting it to an .m4r file, and loading it onto the phone. I have gotten as far as making the .m4r and it is sitting on my desktop, but I cannot figure out how or even if I can put it on my phone. I just tried syncing the library and it wiped out all my old custom ringtones from music. Is this no longer possible, has Apple made it mandatory to purchase ringtones? Any help is appreciated.

iPhone X, iOS 15

Posted on Mar 30, 2022 11:10 PM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

274,252 points

Mar 31, 2022 11:58 AM in response to Ed Colman

One possibility is this note to step 7 in my Create a ringtone steps.

* If you omit this step on a Mac iTunes/Music will remain connected to the renamed file as if it was a regular music track, and it may then ignore any attempt to manually add it to your device.

Otherwise it is probably the universe being spiteful.

tt2

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Answer 2

Ed Colman Author

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Mar 31, 2022 10:40 AM in response to turingtest2

I am a little confused. That article says I can not use an Apple Music item to create the ringtone, but all my music is in Music. I have made the .m4r but cant seem to get it into the ringtones on the phone. It appeared in Sounds, but I cannot select it as a ring tone or as an alert tone either.

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

274,252 points

Mar 31, 2022 10:52 AM in response to Ed Colman

That's Apple's fault for calling the music management app in Catalina and later Apple Music, when they already had a subscription service called Apple Music. I've tweaked the article a little.

Once the file is added to your device you should see it within Settings > Sounds & Haptics when you click on Ringtone, Text Tone, etc.

tt2

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Answer 4

Ed Colman Author

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Mar 31, 2022 11:54 AM in response to turingtest2

Thank you, I was able to create two new ringtones, but sometimes, even though I follow the steps exactly and have the proper length m4r, it won't import to the phone. Sometimes it does. Very frustrating. Any ideas why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't?

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Answer 5

Ed Colman Author

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Mar 31, 2022 12:12 PM in response to turingtest2

I think it's the universe. I have a 50% success rate even though I delete the song and keep the file. It's weird. I made one and was able to move it to the phone, but wanted to adjust the start time. I deleted the old one and made a new one, following the same steps, and it wouldn't import into the phone. Must be the universe.

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

274,252 points

Mar 31, 2022 12:45 PM in response to Ed Colman

Make sure the new cut has a different filename/path, otherwise it won't necessarily be considered to be a new object to transfer.

If I recall correctly alert (formerly text) tones are allowed to be longer than ringtones, but you should be able to use either. When I click the options under Sounds & Haptics sometime Ringtones are shown first, sometimes Alert Tones, but the content looks to be the same in either case.

Oops, that wasn't what you asked. I guess you need to copy the voice memo to somewhere where you can save it as an AAC file, trim if needed, and change the file extension. You can probably share to Files, e.g. iCloud Drive, and work forwards from there.

tt2

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Answer 7

Ed Colman Author

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Mar 31, 2022 5:32 PM in response to turingtest2

It was pretty easy. Airdropped the tone, it was already an .m4a. Just changed the a to an r and dragged it onto the iPhone in Music. Bingo. thanks again for your help and patience. Have a great weekend.

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Answer 8

turingtest2

Level 10

274,252 points

Mar 31, 2022 4:26 AM in response to Ed Colman

See Create and manage ringtones - Apple Community.

tt2

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Answer 9

Ed Colman Author

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12 points

Mar 31, 2022 12:11 PM in response to turingtest2

One more question. I have a voice recording on the phone of a gong I used to have as a text tone. How do I move a recording from Voice over to Alert tones?

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