Songs, custom tones, and more

Apple is still catching up with Android when it comes to smartphone customization, but there’s still a lot you can do on an iPhone, including of course setting custom ringtones. Learn how to change your ringtone on an iPhone and add custom songs and sounds.

Continue reading: The things iOS does better than Android

Over the years, Apple has built up quite a large library of default ringtones. You won’t find any famous songs or sound effects, but there is a mix of different loud and soft tones, which can be useful if you’re having trouble hearing incoming calls or if you find the default tone stuttering.

To change your generic ringtone to one already loaded on your iPhone:

• Open the Settings app.
• Tap on sounds & hapticsthen ringtone.
• Choose a ringtone. Whenever you tap one, you’ll hear a preview, so you might want to wear earbuds or headphones if it’s going to bother other people.

You can also set ringtones for individual phone numbers if, for example, you want to know that your partner is calling and not just a telemarketer. However, the steps are different:

• Open the Contacts app and select the person you are looking for.
• Beat To editthen ringtone.
• Choose a ringtone different from your general one.

There are actually a few ways to add custom sounds and music, but we’ll start with Apple’s preferred method — purchasing it from the iTunes Store.

• Open the iTunes Store app on your iPhone.
• Tap the More (…) Symbol.
• Choose tones. Find a song or effect you want to use as a ringtone, then tap the price to buy it. Make sure a payment method is associated with your Apple ID.
• When the download is complete you will be presented with three main options: Set as default ringtone, Set as default text toneor Assign to a contact. You can hit too Finished if you later want to assign things via the normal ringtone selection.

If you want to import a song or sound effect that you already have, there are a few things you need to do. First you need to trim it down to 30 seconds or less (using a copy of the file, not the original!) and convert it to the M4R file format. Most free audio editing tools can handle trimming, but for MP3 to M4R conversion, try a website like Convertio.

Once you’ve prepared your M4R file, all you have to do is sync it to your iPhone via iTunes (on Windows) or the Apple Music app (on macOS).

On Windows:

• Open iTunes and connect your iPhone to your PC’s USB port.
• Click on the icon for your iPhone which should be near the top menu bar.
• In the On my device section, select in the sidebar tones.
• Drag and drop your M4R file into the Tones panel.
• click Synchronize (at the bottom of iTunes) to ensure the file is copied.

On macOS:

• Connect your iPhone and then open the Music app.
• Click on your iPhone when it appears in the sidebar menu.
• Drag and drop your M4R file into Music.

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