Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Restoring ringtones purchased from iTunes

If any of you is planing to buy ringtones from the iTunes stor you need to know that:


1) They don't get backed up in iCloud or even in a local iTunes backup.

2) If you restore your phone for any reason or move to a new phone you will loose them.

3) The only way to obtain them again is to purchase them again.


I know, this sounds ridiculous, but this is exactly what the Apple Care person told me today, with no remorse at all. Either he is wrong or Apple is wrong.


There are varions good reason why you want to restore your phone. For example you are buying a new iPhone 5S from Apple and then you want to back up and restore. Another is to unlock your phone - to received the unlock phone you need to restore (and hence loose your ringtones). Or may be just an accident in your phone, but you ourchased AppleCare and you get a new one - but hey, your ringtones are lost.


Yes, you are giving Apple even more money to buy a new phone and pay for AppleCare and iTunes match, but they can not restore some cheap ringtines to you or credit your account for your loss. What a ripoff. So I suggest you not to buy ringtones from iTunes. There are few posts elseqhere to teach you how you can make your own ringtones. At least these ar ebacked up in iTunes macth as songs and you can convert them again to ringtones.


Let me know if I am wrong, otherwise be warned.

iPhone 5s, iOS 7, iTunes store

Posted on Sep 26, 2013 11:24 AM

Reply
80 replies

Dec 4, 2017 12:02 PM in response to delavefm

I'm so mad about this whole ringtone thing!!!! I had multiple ringtones I had created for people that just disappeared once I synced in November. I've tried since then to figure this out. Seems apple only wants the money of us buying from them. So I thought fine, I'll do that. Well, what they have to offer is crap!!! Search for Christmas and they only have crappy electronic stuff. NOT HAPPY with latest from Apple.

Dec 10, 2017 7:48 AM in response to turingtest2

I followed this step by step. It still took me over an hour BUT IT WORKED!!! I finally got the 'tones' to recognize my ringtone, then when syncing, it disappeared just like the originalones. But tried it again, this time signing in (I'd tried the logging out things) and it finally worked! I have no idea what I did wrong in the past, seemed like the same steps as here but for whatever reason it worked this time. Thanks for your help~

Jan 7, 2014 9:21 AM in response to roaminggnome

I backed up my iPhone with a full backup after it got water damaged, and the touchscreen stopped working. As I understood it a backup would effectively image the data on my phone and the replacement phone would be identical to my damaged phone in all but serial number. Of course, it doesn't back up everything (despite being called a "full backup") - my playlists, my folders (incredibly annoying having to reorganise 9 screens of apps) and now it seems my ringtone. Which I paid money for. Unlike the other two, this is no longer just an inconvenience. I feel like Apple is stealing my money for this.

Jan 9, 2014 6:42 AM in response to King_Penguin

I expect that a Full Backup would do that, otherwise why would it be called a FULL backup? As I said I expected it to effectively image my phone.


Plus, it's not something I made and stored on my phone that wasn't backed up anywhere. It was a digital purchase which I don't expect to lose when I trasfer devices, even if not backed up. I expect to be able to redownload it.

Jan 9, 2014 6:51 AM in response to jaredjeya

Where are getting the term 'full backup' from ? A backup doesn't contain any downloaded content from the store (nor your own synced music, photos, videos), they should already be in your computer's iTunes library (if not then you can copy them over downloads from your device via File > Devices > Transfer Purchases) - restoring an iTunes backup then picks up the relevant downloads from your iTunes library (it's a waste of space to duplicate them in the actual backup), what is contained in the iTunes backup is listed on this page : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946


Had you copied your purchases from your phone to your computer's iTunes library ?


Ringtones (and audiobooks) have, as far as I know, always been a one-time only download from the store - what else you can redownload depends upon what country that you are in, and whether they remain in your country's store (you are only guaranteed one download of each item from the store).

Jan 12, 2014 8:17 AM in response to King_Penguin

As I said - expect a full backup would include transferring my purchases to my iTunes Library, although I can't understand why my purchases aren't globally linked to my account.


I'm getting the term full backup from the selection between an iCloud backup, which only keeps the "most important stuff", and an iTunes backup, which is meant to back up everything. I chose iCloud but from time to time manually backup to my computer, which is what I did when my phone was damaged and I was going to replace it. It seems to me that iCloud backup is actually better than iTunes - when I previously got my phone replaced under warranty I restored through iTunes and once it was finished downloading you would be hard pressed to tell it from the original. And it kept my ringtone.

Jan 12, 2014 8:31 AM in response to jaredjeya

You need to copy your purchases from your phone to your computer's iTunes library (File > Devices > Transfer Purchases) if you want to be able to restore a backup from it - the backup does not include any of your iTunes downloads, it expects them to be in your iTunes library, they are not duplicated in the actual backup.


Backing up to icloud will bakup your apps content/settings - whether you will be able to fully restore to an icloud backup will depend upon what content you had on your phone (audiobooks and ringtones not being redownloadable), and whether the apps, music, films, TV programmes are still available in your country's store. An iCloud backup does not include your own own music or videos in the Music and Videos apps.

Restoring ringtones purchased from iTunes

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.