iOS 5 iPhone update Ringtones won't sync

I have the same problems and have tried all of these fixes. Nothing works. My custom Ringtones are in the Library ok but show up under the devices in gray and won't transfer to the phone or play. I manually sync my IPhone 4S and if I check the "Sync Ringtones" box I get a warning that all of my songs on the IPhone will be erased. I spent four hours on this last night and it's driving me crazy. It should not be this difficult.

In an interesting turn of events, i now cannot use the custom ringtones which would not delete from my phone.

As mentioned before, i had tried deleting them from my ringtone library, and even moving my ringtone folder in finder in an attempt to delete and trace from itunes perspective, and although when i re-synced the phone i was warned that i would lose all of my ringtones, they didnt actually dissapear.

HOWEVER, now although the ringtones are still on the phone, and upon tapping them in the sounds menu, they will preview, if i actually select one of them for use as a text tone for example, when i receive a text, they dont actually play, which is even more infuriating than them not deleting in the first place!

anyone actually fixed this properly yet? ive tried every suggestion on here so far to no avail... maybe i need to do it again? ill try...

Not sure if this will solve any of your problems, but here's how I got my Ringtones to sync to my:

iPhone 4S,

MacBook Pro,

iTunes 10.5:

1. Your music files have a specific format that allows iTunes to read them (usually .MP3)
2. Your Ringtones also have to have a specific format in order for iTunes to know what to do with them (.M4R)
3. Some of your ringtones might be in .MP3 format (or you might have clipped out a certain part of a song you like from an .MP3 file). In order for iTunes to recognize your Ringtone as a Ringtone file, it HAS to be in .M4R format. I don't know if you can just change the file type manually (i.e.: type in .M4R where .MP3 is). If so, then you can use a batch renamer program like "A Better Finder Rename" for Mac, or some other utility)).
4. If just manually retyping the format doesn't work, then I would use a program such as WonderShare's "Video Converter Pro" which will let you convert Audio and Video files to other formats.
5. As soon as I started the Video Converter Pro batch conversion from .MP3 to .M4R, Video Converter Pro started importing the new .M4R files into iTunes (10.5) and magically the "Ringtones" tab appeared on the left side of the iTunes window, as well as along the top with the other iTunes tabs such as Summary, Info, etc.

After that, just go to the Ringtones tab at the top and click whichever Sync button you like ("All" or "Selected Ringtones").

Hope this helps,

J.

All of my ringtones are in .M4R format, created specifically and converted to M4R using the same piece of software, namely the Ringtone Designer Pro app on my iphone.

I have tried the steps suggested in the forum again, but to no avail. I am able to sync additional ringtones, by simply selecting them in the "selected ringtones" section of my iphone sync tabs, and they show up amongst the tones i am unable to delete, and when i do not select any tones i am left only with these 33 stubborn tones that will not dissapear

jman,

That is not the problem. It is a problem with the iPhone iOS5 firmware, which now excludes pre existing ringtones from playing even though they exist in iTunes, are on the iPhone and still assigned a number/text and can be played. They will not; however, play when the assigned number/text contacts the iPhone.

Thanks a lots for your advise. I have got back all my ringtones.

Yes, works. Uncheck all rintones, sync iphone then recheck them and sync again.

Surprised Apple haven't got a fix for this yet. Had the problem since I had my 4s.

Sorted no though, no thanks to apple support lol.

Thanks so much for that! i Havebeen syncing all morning lol - and nothing - now after your advice - bingo! Cheers x

Talk about some buggy software. Between the 10.5 version of iTunes and the iOS5, I've never had so much trouble with syncing my iPhone 4 and iPad 2.

I'm really not sure why we should have to tolerate this!

This is how I finally fixed the problem:

The ringtones were still on my iPhone, they just would not play when the assigned call or text was received. I went into iPhone Contacts for each person I had assigned a ringtone. I then selected Edit, which brought up the ringtone and text tone buttons. I then selected the default ringtone for each and selected Done at the top of the Unified Info screen. I then rebooted my iPhone and repeated the process reassigning the previously assigned custom ringtone to each contact. My ringtones have been operating normal since.

It was a bit time consuming, but none of the other suggestions worked for me and this seemed to solve the problem.

@noiseoptics: did you ever find a solution to this problem?

I also have this one ringtone that won't delete off of my phone, and it's been deleted from itunes! I've unsynced all of my ringtones, and that one won't delete. I've resynced them all back, still there. I've even dragged the file for the ringtone I deleted back into my itunes ringtone folder, synced everything, then unsynced, and that one ringtone is still there. I even tried to do a restore from a back-up, but itunes had backed-up my phone with the ringtone already on it, and this was all before I even knew it was a problem. If this is a bug, hopefully the new update will help fix it without me having to do a complete restore from new!

Brad, I can see the ringtones on my iphone as well. They play in preview mode but not when the assigned number calls. After doing what you said, it's still not working for me. By re-boot, do you mean just powering off the phone?

By the way, when I look at my contacts, the appropriate ringtone is checked (not actually listed under "default, but checked nonetheless). It just doesn't play when I get the call from the designated caller.

I changed all the ring tones on each contact to default. I then shut the phone off and turned it back on. I then relaoded the ringtones I wanted on each contact and then shut the phone off again and restarted. They worked after that.

Thanks Brad! It's working now!

Great!