How to install Custom Ringtones in iOS 11

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robcart Author

Level 1

50 points

How to install Custom Ringtones in iOS 11

You will find when you sync you iPhone with iTunes that you will loose your Custom Ringtones with the New iOS 11.

How Do you then Get Back Your Custom Ringtones?

iPhone SE, iOS 11

Posted on Sep 19, 2017 5:31 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

robcart Author

Level 1

50 points

Oct 5, 2017 5:20 PM in response to tallandbuff

Well, First understand that “tones” does not exist anymore after the last iTunes upgrade. It used to be a category in the iTunes app to be synced with your music, movies, Etc. Now, you will only see tones after you plug in your iPhone. When you plug in your iPhone your scene icon of a phone that says you’re connected when you click on the small icon you will now see in the left-hand column “Settings” . . . For your iTunes content and below that you will see “on my device“. . . . . This is where you’ll see a category in your iPhone called tones. This is where you will drag your Ringtones to once you locate the proper folder on your PC under “ Music. This is found by opening “ File Folder “ / Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Tones . . . Leave that window open because the next step is to locate the ringtone that you want to have on your iPhone. Now you want to click and drag from the Tones Folder from your PC File Folder directly to your Tones in iTunes under “ On My Device “ as soon as you drop that file you will notice that it immediately copies without having to sync. You can now look in settings under sounds and ringtones and you’ll see your ringtone that you just placed in there . I hope this helps!

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Answer 2

robcart Author

Level 1

50 points

Sep 19, 2017 5:52 PM in response to robcart

Here is the solution at least with iTunes for Windows 10. You will see that iTunes is now missing TONES in your Library.

SoYou have your Custom Ringtones Stored in your Media-Music-Tones Folder. So what you need to do is drag and drop from the stored Tones folder into iTunes under Devices Tones App. When you plug your iPhone and click on the icon for your iPhone you will see a list on the left side of your Music Library " Settings " and under that " On My Device " Click once to highlight Tones and then Drag Your Custom Ringtone into the area to the right and Drop. You will Notice that iTunes automatically Syncs your Ringtone to your iPhone. So you can immediately check your Settings-Sounds-Ringtone and you will see your Ringtones. I don't have an Apple Computer so I don't know if you will have to use this same procedure. Maybe someone can help with that. This all started with the current upgrade to iTunes before i upgraded to iOS 11. When I did a sync with my music it also disappeared my Custom Ringtones.

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Answer 3

dhp422

Level 1

8 points

Oct 14, 2017 10:46 AM in response to robcart

In my situation I could not drag the ringtone file to the iTunes Tones folder on my device from the \Users\user\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Tones folder on my PC. I had to copy and then paste the file to the right pane (where the actual ringtone info is listed) to get the ringtone on my iPhone. Then I did a an Apply and Done and ejected my iPhone from iTunes and the ringtones where there and functioned correctly.

My setup is using an iPhone 8 with iOS 11.0.3 and Windows 10 with iTunes 12.7.0.166.

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Answer 4

Oct 21, 2017 5:28 PM in response to robcart

🙂I ended up downloading EaseUSMobiMover. You connect your phone with usb like itunes and basically you can open m4r files from there and add them. I had my phone open to the ringtones list and you can literally see them being added. The tones still don't show up in itunes under the tones link or whatever, but they ARE in my phone and they do work. That's all I needed.

I did this today, 10/21/17 on iPhone 8+ with ios 11.0.3 on my phone and laptop (windows, not Mac. Im thinking it will work on Mac as well😎)

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Answer 5

Nov 22, 2017 1:30 AM in response to robcart

Posting this to help others: I'm running Windows 7, with iTunes 12.7 and a new iPhone X. When I dragged and dropped my .m4r files, they were greyed out. The solution that worked for me was to copy the files in Windows Explorer then go to Tones in iTunes and use CTRL+ V.

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Answer 6

Jan 20, 2018 7:21 AM in response to quigonn

Tones is greyed out on my version too. Remember drag and drop do NOT work

It only worked for me after

1. copying (marking and clicking ctrl-c) the ringtones I wanted from my folder

2. then go to iTunes "Tones" to "On My Device"

3. click on the right side of the "Tones" window on the three little dots near the top, then it showed "Paste". I clicked paste and all was copied directly to the iPhone.

A very conveluted process that just annoys me.

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Answer 7

Nov 22, 2017 12:18 PM in response to robcart

iMac with iTunes 12.7;

It only worked for me after copying (marking and clicking ctrl-c) the ringtones I wanted from my "Music/iTunes/itunes Media/Tones" folder, then going to iTunes and clicking "My Device" and clicking "Tones", it was showing nothing, then I had to click on the right side of the "Tones" window on the three little dots near the top, there it showed "Paste". I clicked paste and all was copied to the iPhone.

This is so ridiculous.

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Answer 8

robcart Author

Level 1

50 points

Oct 6, 2017 1:39 PM in response to tallandbuff

Their could be a time limit for your Ringtone. . . I don’t know. . . The .m4r should work. In any case I use the App Titled : Ringtones Free - Music Ringtone Maker . . . It has a Red Icon. Download to your iPhone make sure the song you want to pull your ringtone from is on your iPhone. The app is easy to use. I limit the Ringtone to 30 seconds. You will not see your new Ringtone on your iPhone. . . But it’s there. This is where it gets convoluted to get the newly created Ringtone so you can see it as an option in Settings/sounds/Ringtone.

1. After you make your Ringtone in the App on your iPhone you need to plug into iTunes and Click the Icon for your iPhone.

2. In the menu under Settings click on “ File Sharing “ then click on Ringtones . . . You will see your newly created Ringtone on the right . . Click once on the Ringtone and you will see “ Add File “ and “ Save To ( bottom right )“. Click “Save To “and this will open your Hard Drive so you can place the file into your Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Tones Folder.

3. Follow the Previous instructions that you now know for getting your New Ringtone back on your iPhone/Settings/sounds/ Ringtone. That will complete the deal.

4. Enjoy.

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Answer 9

glanz

Level 1

9 points

Nov 29, 2017 8:50 AM in response to OldDave58

Hi, just found the simple, old fashioned way: choose the desired file (desktop or folder, file type .m4r), right klick or menu choice "copy", plug iPhone in, open iTunes, choose menu "paste". And there it appears in your iPhone …

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Answer 10

robcart Author

Level 1

50 points

Oct 6, 2017 4:39 PM in response to tallandbuff

It should work like the rest. Maybe close iTunes and try again. And make sure that the hard drive window is on top of the iTunes window in order to copy to the “ On My Device “ Tones Folder. Also make sure your releasing your drop with the mouse arrow on top of “ Tones “ . It should work so just be aware of how your doing it. Good Luck.

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Answer 11

quigonn

Level 1

12 points

Jan 19, 2018 11:54 PM in response to robcart

This doesn't work with iTunes 12.7.2.60. The "Tones" section under "On My Device" is greyed out and won't allow any drag & drop. It seems like Apple has intentionally blocked the addition of custom ring tones.

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Answer 12

Sep 21, 2017 8:01 AM in response to robcart

The new iTunes design really failed to take custom tones into consideration.

And while we can drag and drop Tones onto our phones via the method robcart kindly described, there is currently no way that I can see to select/deselect/delete any of those dragged and dropped custom ring/text tones via the iPhone *or* iTunes.

When will this be addressed and remedied? 😠

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Answer 13

Oct 28, 2017 8:40 AM in response to robcart

And just why should we “just understand “ that they took something away that is useful?

i have been a long time Apple fan but it seems that more times than not these upgrades just move the same things around and change how we interact to do the things we do on a daily basis.

Makes the Google world look better everyday.

For your information you can not drag and drop from a Windows machine to the Tones folder or select it for import from the Tones page. You must find the file in Windows Exploer (finder for you Mac users) then “Paste” it into the Device with the Tone highlghted.

Whenever it becomes more difficult to do a simple task that is not an Upgrade.

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Answer 14

robcart Author

Level 1

50 points

Sep 28, 2017 10:57 AM in response to eobet

Just click on your Hard Drive icon in the left Column click “ music/iTunes/Media/Tones . .

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Answer 15

ccgreen

Level 1

19 points

Sep 28, 2017 5:03 PM in response to robcart

The new custom ringtone i created today (more explained) is showing up in the Finder: Music/iTunes/Media/Tones, along with the other custom rigntones I have.the - It worked on my husband's iphone (he has less than ten custom rigtones, and my ipad- has none. But on my iphone that has 21 custom ringtones that did show up in ios 11 update; ithe drag & drop doesn't work. I drag it - but it doesn't copy - it gives me the "+" sign but never shows up in the "TONES" folder under ""On My Device". It is a new ringtone that I did today in garageband - where the old" share to itunes ringtones" - no longer goes anywhere. I also tried airdrop from garageband & ipad to iphone; it just goes to icloud drive, and doesn't show up in ringtones on iphone.

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