Custom tones dissapeared after iOS 17 update

EmulsionMike wrote:

Yes, me too. My painstakingly hand made ringtones are still available to assign as ringtones, but not as text tones.

With the contacts who had previously been assigned custom text tones I still have the option to select the custom ones (haven’t tried to change one yet because I don’t want to lose the option) but if a contact does not currently have a custom text tone assigned the only options are the Apple ones.

You need to update to iOS 17.1. The problem ha been resolved.

nnagle wrote:

I called support. This IS a bug. REPORT it. Call, text or email support. They can’t/wont fix it unless people complain and make them aware. More people who document the issue, the better.

There is an aspect of it, the inability to use a tone that was downloaded from the iTunes Store, that is definitely a bug. However, the loss of the ability to create and add your own tones, where the situation is less clear.

But, you are correct that people should report it to Apple. The simplest way to do that is through the feedback portal:

Product Feedback - Apple

Morris1938 wrote:

Took me a while to understand the changes. The tone I previously used (By The Seaside) for texts, can be used for my phone ringtone. Every time my Phone rings, I think it's an incoming text. If anyone knows the REASON for this aggravating change, please post it so everyone else will know.

Is the tone more than 30 seconds long? If so, it can't be used as a text tone. And, is your iPhone updated to the latest version of iOS (ios 17.2.1 at the time of this writing)? If you have not updated, you may not be able to use custom tones at all for text tones. That ability was removed in iOS 17 but added back in a later update.

Update - I got my custom text tones back - don’t know if everyone else’s is like mine but I found my contact list had been switched to iCloud which didn’t have all my contacts for some reason. I checked “all contacts” and my custom ring and text tones were back. Worked for me so far

Updated to 17.1, tones are back on the list. What doesn’t seem to be corrected is the truncation of the alert(s) when in use! They play their normal length when selected, but when texts come in they play about 1/2 of their normal length, if it’s an 8 second file it truncates at about 4 seconds when in use, if it’s a 20 second file it truncates about 10 seconds and so on!

Ringtones all appear to function normally, I’m only seeing this issue on text alerts. I don’t change any other alerts so I can’t speak to those! I’m happy they are back but it would be nice if they played their full lengths!

dennisdegriff wrote:

I've noticed the same thing on my iPhone 13. I'm not able to access any of my custom-made Text Ringtones I've previously made when I attempt to assign one to one of my contacts, they just don't appear in the Text Tone listings. Is this a bug with the new iOS 17? I'm hoping Apple will correct this at some point since I really want to have distinct ringtones that I've created for both phone Ringtone & a different Text Ringtone, this way I know just from the Ringtone who's contacting me. Keeping my fingers crossed Apple will fix this.

Yes, it was a bug with iOS 17. It has been corrected with iOS 17.1. Update your phone.

Disgruntled-apple-user wrote:

Horrible how Apple continues to remove our freedoms and our storage capacity! Why remove ringtones and other items we use? WHY NOT MAKE IMPROVEMENTS!!

There have been so many “upgrades” that have removed great features!!

SINFUL!!

Uh, they added custom text tones back in iOS 17.1. Maybe stop fussing and update your phone?

Threatening other users on a user to user only forum, you will change to Android, doesn't matter to any of us.

And since it appears you didn't go past the first post on this thread, you likely don't know that Apple released iOS 17.1 last week or so and all custom tones were restored.

Or, you can be critical of Apple and be angry. Or you can update to 17.1.1 (the most current iOS version) and not be angry and get your tones back.

Your choice, of course.

dennisdegriff wrote:

Update your iPhone software to 17.1.1 and you should see your custom made Rintones back. It worked for me when I updated to 17.1 Good luck.

Uh, yes, that's what I just said in the post right above yours. My issue has been resolved since the release of iOS 17.1.

Like others here, I had MADE custom tones ... many of them, and assigned them to contacts. Now, my iPhone 13 Pro Max where I had them STILL has them, but I cannot get them off of there onto my new iPhone 15 Pro Max. Even plugged into a PC or MAC and using iTunes (or, on the Mac, the new OS), those tones do NOT show up anywhere to be backed up/copied/etc. INCREDIBLY ANNOYING. [I can see my list of custom tones when I edit a contact that HAS a custom tone. I can't see them when in the settings for 'sounds and haptics' though.]

I wonder if I do a full backup and restore phone-to-phone, might that work? This is really aggravating. And is it even officially noted anywhere they screwed everybody with this change?

!!! WORKING SOLUTION !!!

!!! WORKING SOLUTION !!!

!!! WORKING SOLUTION !!!

I downloaded the PC program iMazing (trial version) and connected my older iPhone 13 Pro Max.

This let me see all RINGTONES on my older phone and copy them to my pc.

That said, I only had to connect my newer phone (15 PM) to the PC and it 'unlocked' all the custom tones -- ie they showed up again without me doing anything more.

To test the app further, I copied the custom tones from my PC to yet another phone of mine (one that never had the tones on it) and they copied easily AND showed up as contact available ringtones.

This was all done with ios 17.1.1

j1010cook wrote:

hey I’m old and a creature of habit still going over and finding others not happy

I'm old, too, though fortunately not so much a creature of habit. I was unhappy with the change but it has been fixed. Update your phone to iOS 17.1.1. You will get your tones back.

We understand completely and in iOS 17 this changed and you cannot use a Ringtone as a Text Tone. No one here can fix anything. This is a user to user only forum and we don't work for Apple.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this with Apple here --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

iOS 17.1 addresses this. If the update doesn’t show for you yet give it a little time and check again.

The issue has been resolved with iOS 17.1 update. After updating from 17.03 to 17.1, I was able to select my custom text tones.

Have you updated to iOS 17.1.2 (custom tones were restored in the iOS 17.1 update).