iTunes Not Syncing Custom Ringtones

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Level 1

9 points

iTunes Not Syncing Custom Ringtones

I'm having a problem where iTunes is not syncing my custom ringtones to my iPhone 6S (running 11.3.1). With iTunes 12.7.4.76 on macOS 10.13.4 and iTunes 12.7.4.83 on Windows 10 10.0.17134 Build 17134 I can drag and drop my m4r files onto the phone but it's stuck greyed out with a dashed circle next to it as shown in the screenshot.

Has anyone else been unable to sync their custom ringtones to their phone? The ringtones work on another iPhone I have for work and my iPad.

iPhone 6s, iOS 11.3.1

Posted on May 26, 2018 5:45 PM

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Answer 1

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TPR Author

Level 1

9 points

May 27, 2018 6:13 AM in response to TPR

I figured it out! There was a corrupted/borked plist. Here's how to fix it if someone else has this:

You need file system access so download iFunBox or something similar (I used iFunBox) on macOS High Sierra.
Go through the file system to iTunes_Control->iTunes folder
Copy the Ringtones.plist file to your desktop
Edit the file (I used Xcode just because it was already installed)
In Xcode, delete everything in the Ringtones section
1. In TextWrangler, this showed as <key>Ringtones</key>. Here's the side by side of the TextWranger's and Xcode's view:
Copy this file back on to your phone (overwrite the old one).
Try to sync a ringtone in iTunes again (drag and drop the m4r to the Tones section of your device)

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,707 points

May 26, 2018 6:25 PM in response to TPR

See Create and manage ringtones in iTunes, in particular the section on removing hidden tones which you may need to do before you can successfully add new ones.

tt2

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