iTunes 12.7 will not import my .m4r ringtones!

Yes! I’ve been told the GarageBand app will work to create ringtones without having to use iTunes. When I went to install GarageBand (since I had removed it when first getting the phone) it took almost 3 hours to install. No joke. So I ended up installing the Ringtones app and trying the other way instead. I know it works, just the steps in how to get them... I can’t remember.

Oh! Also regarding GarageBand... because the songs are super old they cannot be used in the app. The app is saying “the songs are protected or need to be saved locally to this iPhone.” They are in my iTunes library and are on my iPhone. I’m guessing it’s because the song wasn’t purchased through the App Store it doesn’t work?

Nope, the key word there was protected. Tracks bought from the iTunes Store before 2009, or downloaded as part of the Apple Music service are likely be to subject to DRM and cannot be used as source files for ringtones.

tt2

Okay! For anyone still having difficulties within iTunes adding ringtones to your iPhone I think I have finally figured out the order to use.

1. Create a ringtone in .m4r format (read through the replies on how to do this, there are plenty of responses)

2. Go to phone summary in iTunes and uncheck manually manage music & videos, click done then apply.

3. Add ringtone by copying the file from Windows & pasting to your Tones, you can just right click copy and paste. Or drag the file over in split mode. (Again make sure format is correct, as well as restrictions removed. You can check this by right clicking the file in Windows and clicking properties then removing restrictions.)

4. Sync & Apply.

5. You can now go back and check manually manage music & videos. Click Apply & Done.

Your music, videos and ringtones should all be on your device now.

Hope that works for you all and you don't have as big a headache as I got from this.

I found myself with the same issue, pacrimguru.

When I checked the ringtone file went into the "Music" tab instead. I ended up deleting that selection and dragging the ringtone file back in and it found its spot in the "Tones" tab this time. Took some trial and error, but it went along following those steps.

If it helps, I also enable "Manually Manage Music" (or something like that) in my iPhone sync settings. 😀

Hi!

After having the same problem for hours, i found the solution! The is disabling you i cloud library (it enables you to see you library in all your devised, it sincronyses them). By doing this, the only disadvantage is that the music you download on Apple Music to your phone won't appear on your Itunes pc library BUT YOU ARE ABLE TO DRAG YOUR M4R SONGS INTO YOUR TONES FOLDER AS WE WERE USED TO. At the moment, i have Itunes 12.7.3 Version with 11.2.6 IOS on my iphone 6 and it has just worked perfectly for me.

Hope you find this helpful!

Yes, i had the same problem! You have to desynchronize your itunes Music library (look for a tutorías, but there are only a couple of clicks and it’s pretty easy). Once you’ve done that, you can drag you .m4r Files and it’ll appear on tones. Hope you find this helpful!

It does look as if there is a problem adding two ringtones made from the same song, but this may be because they have the same metadata even if the filenames are different. Change the metadata of one of the ringtones and it should be OK.

tt2

I hope the following will do fine... Helped with me though...

After creating the aac file and renaming it to .m4r file , try importing it into the iTunes library. In the front end, nothing will show up but actually I think its been copied up in the back end. Now go the tones section in the device menu, and upon clicking the selection menu ( 3 dots button ... ) a paste option will pop up. And done! The .m4r file will start appearing in your tones section.

When I went through the steps of going to iTunes, connecting my iPhone, finding the ringtone I created under 'File Sharing' in iTunes, then saving it to my computer desktop, I was able to add the ringtone to my iPhone by using the copy and paste method. I copied the ringtone [command-C] and then pasted it [command-v] into 'Tones' in iTunes. Worked like a charm and it showed up on my iPhone no problem.

Click on your device from the side bar in iTunes, and then click on tones so that your device and list of tones appear on the right (the main area where your songs would be if you were looking at your library). Drag the file from your desktop and drop it directly in the list on the right (not in the sidebar). Then allow your device to sync and eject it. The ringtone should now appear with the rest of your alert sounds in your phone.

Use iFunBox or a similar utility to poke around in the file system of the device. (Decline any special offers while installing.) In iFunBox use Toolbox > User File System > iPod_Control > Ringtones to locate the ringtone storage area. Any custom tones on your device will show up there with random 4 letter file names and a .m4r extension. Deleting these should clear all custom tones from the list on the device, and you can then try adding back what you want using iTunes.

tt2

Thanks jamzeze, sensible advice and it works just fine. Copy and Paste is the way to go! I am using an iMac running the latest version of High Sierra and iTunes V12.7.3.46 and a connected iPhone 8 running iOS V11.2.6. Copy the ringtone file on your desktop and then Paste it onto the highlighted portion of the sidebar -

Drop on the device in the sidebar, not the tone section (odd as that might seem).

tt2