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Can't play ringtone in iOS 11

I have an iPhone 6 Plus. After I upgraded today to iOS 11, the phone won't play my personalized ringtones. They are still there and will play when I look at them in Sounds/Ringtone and one of them still shows as the selected ringtone, but when a call comes in, it goes to the default Opening. Any ideas?

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 11

Posted on Sep 19, 2017 4:55 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 20, 2017 2:40 PM

Hi there psd31047,

After updating to iOS 11 it seems that your selected custom ringtone isn't sounding, rather the default one is instead. Let's start by selecting the default ringtone. Then quit the Phone and Settings apps:

Force an app to close on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Once that is complete, restart the phone and test it out again:

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities, have a great one!
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Sep 20, 2017 2:40 PM in response to psd31047

Hi there psd31047,

After updating to iOS 11 it seems that your selected custom ringtone isn't sounding, rather the default one is instead. Let's start by selecting the default ringtone. Then quit the Phone and Settings apps:

Force an app to close on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Once that is complete, restart the phone and test it out again:

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities, have a great one!
Reply

Sep 21, 2017 5:54 PM in response to i_rina

I tried this, but no success. I downloaded ios 11 directly to my phone and all of my custom ringtones are on the lphone 7. ( I think if I connected to MacBook Pro they would have been deleted). The custom default ringtone works fine, and any custom ringtone I set as default works, but the ringtones set for specific contacts do not work. Guess I'll wait for an iOS 11 update to fix this bug. 😕

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Sep 25, 2017 1:08 PM in response to JJB90

I have the opposite problem. I had a ringtone set to be my default and that one doesn't work -- anyone set to my default rings with the Opening (default) ringtone. For the people I have set with other ringtones, those ringtones work just fine.

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Sep 25, 2017 4:14 PM in response to SharonRB

Yes! I had a custom ringtone set as my default ringtone before the update, and I had a different custom ringtone set for my husband. When my husband calls me now, his custom ringtone still works. However, I am now stuck with Opening as my default ringtone and can't change it to anything else.

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Sep 29, 2017 8:03 AM in response to rose_10

I have the same issue, assigned ringtones are not playing. The default ringtone only plays. I'm quite taken back by the issues in iOS the past few major updates. I'm not backing up my phone and restoring. Get your act together Apple this rarely if ever happened when Steve was in charge. Oh, I'm not updating my Macs to High Sierra either. I have a friend who is locked out of his MacBook since upgrading. He's a seasoned Mac user for many years and after upgrade his password is not accepted. If I wanted windows problems I'd own a Windoze PC. Get your act together Apple. Sarah please do not take this as a personal attack on you. I'm sure you are doing your best to assist. I've been a huge apple fan for many years and owned many many expensive Apple products because "they just work." I'm sure this seems petty but I need my technology to work the way it was created to work. Time is money and if I don't have to stop working to check and see who is calling instead of knowing by the ringtone whether the call requires immediate attention I'm being much more productive. End of rant.

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Sep 21, 2017 8:40 AM in response to psd31047

Thanks for the update psd31047,

Next let's backup your phone:

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Then as a test, reinstall the iOS to see if that resolves the issue with the instructions from this article:

If you can‘t update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Take care!
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Sep 29, 2017 8:49 AM in response to devnu11

You can provide feedback to Apple directly via this link: Feedback - iPhone - Apple


And I'm not disagreeing that this should work. It will work again. And in your case, if it's a matter of safety not having a ringtone you recognize, you can purchase a new tone, which will work and prevent you from having to do something that could put you in harms way. And while many would argue they shouldn't have to purchase a new ringtone, which is true, it would cost less than a small coffee at Starbucks and it seems in your situation could save your life.

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Oct 15, 2017 2:39 PM in response to clarkstonterri

Apple doesn't participate on this forum. They never have and likely never will. This is a user to user forum only.


If you want Apple to see your problem, you can call and speak with Customer Support or use this link. They won't personally respond to the link response, but it is logged into their system and the more who use to let them know there is an issue, the more likely someone is working on a solution.


Feedback - iPhone - Apple

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Nov 16, 2017 7:41 AM in response to devnu11

The reason I know Apple is aware is very simple. Many through this thread have provided Apple Feedback the way that Apple wants to hear about issues and that is by providing feedback via this link: Feedback - iPhone - Apple


As to how long it will take Apple to release a fix, no one could guess. Issues go in line in terms of severity of issue. And while this is certainly annoying, it's not a severe issue.

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Jan 6, 2018 7:09 AM in response to terrifromsittingbourne

Channeling Steve Jobs, who had his fair share of fails as well, is considered poor taste. You don't have a clue whether this would have happened under his leadership or not.


That aside, this is a user to user only support forum. If you want to let Apple know as has been pointed out several times in this thread, send them feedback via this link: Feedback - iPhone - Apple Otherwise your post won't do anything.

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Sep 27, 2017 11:26 AM in response to kmaudk

Same exact thing with my iPhone 6s. The ringtone that I have set for my wife that is custom works. I set another custom ringtone for all other calls, but the only tone that ever rings is the opening (default) tone. That is what I still have for my calendar alerts so sometimes I ignore phone calls.

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Can't play ringtone in iOS 11

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