Adding Ringtones to your iphone

Transcription

1 Adding Ringtones to your iphone By iphone Life Magazine Contributing Editor Todd Bernhard Table of Contents 1) The iphone Ringtone Format 2) Finding Ringtones on the Web 3) Creating Ringtones using your Mac or PC 4) Ringtone Apps 5) Installing Ringtones using itunes 6) Setting the Default Ringtone 7) Assigning Ringtones to Contacts 8) Troubleshooting Tip #1: The iphone Ringtone Format The iphone uses its own format for ringtones, called.m4r. Technically, the file format is the same as Apple s AAC format, which uses the.m4a extension. You can literally take a.m4a file and rename the extension as.m4r and you have created an iphone ringtone! Just make sure to keep the sound file under 30 seconds or it may not work. Realistically, your voic will kick in before then anyway. Short ringtones will loop automatically. Also, you cannot have the same filename in itunes with both a.m4r and a.m4a extension or itunes may have trouble differentiating the two files. Did you know that iphone ringtones also work as alarm clock alerts? Unfortunately, ringtones do not transfer to the ipod touch or ipad so those devices cannot use this feature, yet. The iphone also does not allow custom SMS tones or alerts, but it did not always allow custom ringtones either, so there is hope. Tip #2: Finding iphone Ringtones on the Web Google is your friend. Now that you know the iphone s not-so-secret format,.m4r, you can Google for a tune (e.g. Happy Birthday or Hail to the Chief) and include.m4r as a search term! You should have success finding your desired ringtone using that method, but I have listed a few sites that offer a variety of iphone ringtones, ready to be installed on your iphone using itunes more about that later. Just please respect musicians rights and avoid copyright infringement.

2 Tip #3: Creating iphone Ringtones using your Mac or PC Sure there are programs you can buy (GarageBand, Amadeus Pro, and itoner) that will convert your music to the iphone.m4r ringtone format, but there are plenty of free options. Audacity ( is a free program for PCs and Macs that can export a sound file in AAC/.m4a format. Simply change the file extension to.m4r and voila, you have an iphone ringtone! iringer ( is a free ad-supported option for Windows. There are also web-based services like where you can upload a song and have it turned into a ringtone, while-you-wait! Whatever solution you use, you can specify the start time and end time and even apply a fade in and/or fade out to avoid jarring ringtones. Tip #4: Ringtone Apps It s tempting to want to use your iphone to create ringtones from your music and not have to involve your computer. After all, your music is already on the iphone and the ringtones need to end up on the same device. However, the iphone requires that ringtones must be installed using itunes on your Mac or PC. Even though there are plenty of ringtone apps, you must transfer those ringtones to your computer and then sync them back to the iphone using itunes. Don t blame the developers, as this is the system they have to work with. Full disclosure: When the iphone first came out, I switched from a Nokia phone that had Talking Caller ID. I missed having my phone tell me who was calling, literally. With that in mind, I created AutoRingtone, a TEXT-TO-SPEECH ringtone creation app that lets you make custom talking ringtones. If musical ringtones are your thing, keep in mind that apps and programs may not be able to convert copyright protected music purchased through itunes. For that you will need to purchase a ringtone directly from itunes, understanding that you are essentially paying twice for the same song (a 30 second subset at that). Also, if you want to change the portion of the song that you use as a ringtone, you have to pay each time.

3 Tip #5: Installing Ringtones using itunes Normally, just double clicking on a.m4r ringtone file should open it in itunes and save it for syncing but if that doesn t work, right-click (or control-click on a one-button Mac) on the.m4r file and specify to open with itunes. You can also drag the file into the itunes Library. Sync your iphone. Ideally that should do it. However, just because a ringtone is in itunes doesn t mean it will sync to your iphone. There are a number of reasons why ringtones might not transfer, so we have included a complete Troubleshooting section. Tip #6: Setting the Default Ringtone Now that you have at least one custom ringtone on your iphone you can change the default ringtone for all incoming phone calls. On your iphone, run the Settings app and select Sounds -> Ringtone and look for a new section of Custom Ringtones. Select the new default ringtone.

4 Tip #7: Assigning Ringtones to Contacts On your iphone, run the Contacts app and select a contact. Look for ringtone and change it from the Default to a custom ringtone. You need to store the area code (or even country code) as in (800) and not just The most foolproof method is to delete that contact s phone number (but don t delete the contact) and then have that person call you. Next, look in Recent Calls and choose to assign that number to the existing contact. This will ensure that the number is stored exactly the way the carrier sends it. Hint: Try creating a Silent ringtone for anyone you might want to ignore!

5 Tip #8: Troubleshooting If your ringtone shows up in itunes but doesn t show up on your iphone after syncing, it could be one of the following: a) Your ringtone file wasn t permanently copied to your itunes library. Make sure Copy files to itunes Media folder when adding to library is checked in itunes - > Preferences -> Advanced NOTE: This is similar to what happens if someone s you a Word document. If you just open an attachment directly from without saving it permanently, it may be gone when you look for it later. To be safe, save your ringtone files somewhere permanent, like your Documents directory before you import/open them in itunes.

6 b) You do not have Sync Ringtones checked or you have Selected Ringtones checked and the desired ringtones are not selected.

7 c) You have your music and videos set to sync Manually. This setting applies to ringtones as well. On the itunes Summary page look for Manually manage music and videos under Options. If you want to manage your media manually, you need to drag the ringtone files over to the tiny picture of an iphone on the left-hand side under Devices.

8 d) The ringtone files may not be valid. Make sure to keep the sound file under 30 seconds or it may not work. Realistically, your voic will kick in before then anyway. You cannot have the same filename in itunes with both a.m4r and a.m4a extension or itunes may have trouble differentiating the two files. If your ringtones do indeed transfer to your iphone but the default ringtone still plays for a contact, you may have that contact s phone number stored differently than your cellular carrier transmits it. For example, you need to store the area code (or even country code) as in (800) and not just The most foolproof method is to delete that contact s phone number (but don t delete the contact) and then have that person call you. Next, look in Recent Calls and choose to assign that number to the existing contact. This will ensure that the number is stored exactly the way the carrier sends it. If you re not hearing any ringtones, make sure your Mute switch is not set. It s the toggle switch above the volume keys. You would be surprised at how many new iphone owners don t realize they have such a switch. Conclusion Ringtones can be used to customize your experience but also to alert you audibly as to who is calling. You can even use custom ringtones as alarm clock alerts. Unfortunately, there are some hassles to getting ringtones onto your iphone, and currently the ipad and ipod touch do not have access to custom ringtones. Also, users cannot customize SMS tones and alerts. However, the iphone didn t always allow custom ringtones either, but Apple responded to customer feedback. You can provide feedback directly to Apple at