Custom ringtone can't be used as an alert tone?

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Level 1

4 points

Custom ringtone can't be used as an alert tone?

I've created a custom ringtone for my iOS 6.0.1 iPhone 5. Encoded in AAC, renamed to .m4r, loaded via iTunes, and it works just fine as a ringtone. However, when I try to select it for use as a text alert tone it doesn't get used. When I click on the ringtone name in the sounds settings list the preview does not play (although the selection remains), and when a text comes in the default tone plays instead.

What restrictions apply to alert tones that don't apply to ringtones? Bandwidth, stereo vs. mono, other codec parameters? The problem doesn't appear to be length, I've tried this with 1, 2, and 3 second clips.

iPhone 5, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Nov 13, 2012 11:13 AM

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Answer 1

THarlin Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 20, 2012 8:55 AM in response to THarlin

So here's a partial answer - I used a free "ringtone creator" iPhone app which simply extracts a song segment for you (there are lots of these out there). The ringtones it created work just fine as either ring or alert tones, regardless of duration. They are encoded using the "Low Complexity" AAC profile, mono channel, and 64kbps sampling rate. The ones I'd been trying were also LC, but stereo and 177kbps.

Sure would be useful to know what the actual limits are...

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