How to get custom ringtone onto iOS 11 device?

To all: I'm running IOS 11 on my iPhone 6 plus with iTunes 12.7 on my Mac. I have tried EVERY suggestion very day since this started with the update - most more than once - and none work. I have custom ringtones showing on the phone that do NOT appear in the tones folder, I have some in the tones folder that will not play on the phone, and prior to the update, everything worked flawlessly for years. I also now have the annoying default ringtone playing OVER several custom ringtones (they play simultaneously). I give up, and am waiting for some good soul to post that Apple has finally responded to this annoying debacle.

I just updated my iOS to 11.0.2, and it still won't let me use my custom ringtone.

My suggestion to everyone here is to contact Apple Support, and/or your local Genius Bar, so they can at least document that this is a common problem. When I had my Genius Bar appointment, I made sure the rep who helped me documented the issue.

I'm just installing IOS 11.02 with the hope it would fix the ringtone debacle. You've shattered my hopes.

All the tones show and play on my phone's contacts list but all I get when a call comes in is that horrid marimba.

Here is the deal everyone:

It appears that custom ringtones need to be purchased and downloaded as ringtones (ringtones only - not entire songs).

This can be accomplished by opening the “iTunes Store” app on your iPhone running iOS 11. Next, tap on “More” (...) at the bottom right of the app. You will see a short list of custom ringtones - tap on “See All>”.

Pay $1.29 and and select “Set As Default Ringtone”.

Repeat this process to your hearts content, until you run out of $$, or don’t want to pay $1.29 for 30 seconds of a song (same price as the entire song, but you don’t get the entire song).

You can search (i.e. van halen ringtones, or the godfather theme ringtone, or sweet home alabama ringtone”, etc.) to locate your choices.

While the list of available ringtones is vast - you are stuck with whatever 30 sec segment of the song is cut out as the ringtone (older versions of iTunes let you pick your own 30 sec segment).

Greedy artists and publishing companies - gouging the fans - making us pay twice (once for the whole song and the same price again for the ringtone only). GFY

Your existing ringtones created with older versions of iTunes no longer work.

Anyway - hope that helps.

-Rob

I think the key here is that you're using 10.3.3.

When performing the above steps with a device updated to iOS 11, step 3 "Drag files from (1) into the blank area..." shows the Apple green + symbol, but the expected follow-up action of "... in (2) to copy them onto the phone" does not do anything, and the resulting sync in step 4, as a result, does nothing.

Do these tones actually play when someone calls you? Mine are all there in sounds and assigned to contacts, but they do not play when someone calls. Only the new paid-for ringtone plays (besides the built-in obnoxious sounds).

I did all that, too, but it didn't work. So frustrating.

I finally broke down and bought one just so I wouldn't have to listen to those annoying built-in tones.

As we know, some people are more sensitive than others to noise.

Yes, my custom ringtones actually play when I receive a call.

I should mention that all of my custom ringtones (currently at 60+) were created using earlier versions of iTunes, most of them created 5 years ago. I used steps similar to turingtest2 in "Create a ringtone in iTunes", but preferred importing purchased CDs (remember those) as .mp3s, so converted to .m4a prior modifying to .m4r.

Thanks again to alisevan0221 and turingtest2 for documenting the way.

I once again can hear my custom ringtones and decide to answer or leave my phone in my pocket.

Cheers!

I already have my custom ringtone on my phone; it's been there ever since I had an iPhone 3G. It's on my 7 plus, and it plays when I tap on it in Sounds & Haptics in Settings. I have it selected as my ringtone, and it doesn't work; what sounds instead on an incoming call is the default "Opening" ringtone.

And, what was said above, regarding iTunes 12.7; there is no "Tones" library any more, and my custom ringtone itself is not in my music library. The song itself is, and I have the full song in my music library on my phone, too.

Followed all of your steps but my ringtones still do not work. My tones all appear both on my phone (6S) and are listed under Tones in Itunes under my device. They are assigned but still don't work. Oddly enough, 2 contact custom ringtone work. Thanks Apple for making my device sound generic. When it rings now in that annoying Marimba tone, everyone around me looks at their own phone since they all sound the same.

This worked perfectly for me! Thank you so much for your advice. I did have to use another program (don’t recall name) to make they greeted out songs show up on my iPhone 6 Plus. Then I was able to copy them and put them on my iPhone 8 plus. Thank you again for your help!!

I copied the .m4r ringtones to my desktop, opened iTunes 12.7 with my iPhone 6S phone plugged in, and then copied and pasted them into the Tones folder. It worked, as I can see them in iTunes under Tones on my phone, BUT they don't show up in Ringtone Sounds on my phone. Actually, 2 of them do, but none of the rest. SO frustrating!

I was able to solve this for my particular configuration for one ringtone. iPhone SE/iOS 11/iTunes 12.7+.

Summary: I had to re-create the ringtone in iTunes 12.7+ and add it to the phone. You cannot use an existing ringtone file that was made in an earlier iTunes (and maybe earlier iOS)

Longer explanation: What I had to do is recreate the ringtone in iTunes. Select a piece of music in your iTunes listings and crop it to under 30 seconds. Then, while that track is highlighted, select File menu > Convert to AAC in the iTunes menu bar. If your music is already in AAC format, it will create a duplicate file and place it right next to your original file in the tracklist. They will have the same track title, so you want to inspect the song info and pick the one that was just created. If it has any metadata, remove the year. Find the file on your computer and move it somewhere else, so it doesn't continue to show up in your iTunes tracklist.

Connect the iPhone to the Mac. Go to the devices "tones" section. In your Finder, copy the ringtone file. In iTunes, there is a "..." button next to the Shuffle All link in the upper right. Choose Paste. This puts the file on the device, but you have to sync to put the file on the device.

With regards to your summary, my personal experience is different : I am currently using over 60 custom ringtones originally created with iTunes 9.0.3 with an iPhone 6 with iOS 11.0.2

When I created these ringtones over 5 years ago, the documented process did state to crop it under 30 seconds, so all of mine are 29 seconds, and they work in the current environment.

Your statement of "You cannot use an existing ringtone file that was made in an earlier iTunes" is limited to your personal experience. There are a lot of variables here, perhaps your statement is true for Windows iTunes 12.7 users.

The ringtone is already on my phone. It just doesn't work.

Also, since I have iTunes 12.7, there is no Tones folder in it any more, so the file isn't on my computer. I've tried dragging it out of my phone onto my computer, and it doesn't work.