The iPhone comes with several ringtones that you can use, but this is yours iPhone, why not use your own ringtone for specific contacts? Thus, when a certain person calls you, you can immediately find out who it is. For example, you can set a song that is special to you and your spouse, so when your spouse calls, you’ll hear that song and instantly know who it is.
You can create your own ringtone right on your iPhone with GarageBand, or use your Mac if you know the steps. Here’s how it works.
How to Make and Install Song Ringtones on Your Mac
If your music library is on your Mac, you can create ringtones with Apple Music. However, you must have a physical file of the song – streaming songs cannot be turned into ringtones. Also, the files must not be copy-protected.
How to make a ringtone from a song in Apple Music
1. Launch the Music app.
2. Go to your music library and find the song you want to set as ringtone. Play a song and keep track of the elapsed time at the top of the app. Pay attention to the timestamp where you want the tune to start, and then note where you want it to end. (Note: Ringtones cannot be longer than 30 seconds.)
2. Right-click on the song and select from the pop-up menu To get data.
3. A window will appear with information about the song file. Click Options.
4. In the options there are timecodes for starting and stopping. Check Start off check the box and enter start time from step 2. Then check Stop field and enter the end time. Click FINE.
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5. Select the file and then click the File menu and select Convert > Create AAC Version. (If the only option you see is Create MP3 versionselect it.)
6. A new copy of your song file will appear below the original. Right click on it and select Show in search engine.
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7. A Finder window should appear on your desktop with the song file. Look at the file extension (the extension appears after the file name after the “.”) If you don’t see the extension, right-click the file, select To get data, and then find the “Name and extension” section. Then do one of the following:
- If the extension .m4a change it to .m4r.
- If the extension .mp3, the file needs to be converted to .m4a. Open the file in QuickTime Player located in the Applications folder. Then in QuickTime Player click the button File menu and select Export As > Audio only. Name the file, choose a location to save it, then click Keep. Then change the extension of the newly exported file to .m4r.
Now your ringtone file is ready for your iPhone. Below are the steps to install it.
How to Download Ringtone from Mac to iPhone
1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac via USB.
2. Open a Finder window (press Command-N).
3. In the sidebar under “Places” you should find your iPhone. Select it.
4. Locate the ringtone file (.m4r extension) and drag it to the Finder window where your iPhone is selected.
5. A green + sign should appear on the cursor and the file you are dragging. This means that you will be adding it to your iPhone. Drag and drop the file to install it.
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That’s all! To see the ringtone, open the Settings app on your iPhone, then tap Sound and tactile sensations > Ringtoneand it will appear at the top of the list with other custom ringtones (if you have them).
How to make a ringtone with GarageBand for iPhone
If you want to create your own unique ringtone, you can use GarageBand on iPhone. You can start from scratch (we’re not going to show you how to create a song in this tutorial) or you can edit an existing sound file, which we’ll demonstrate here. The ringtone must be no longer than 30 seconds.
Before editing in GarageBand, here’s how to prepare the file you want to edit.
- If you have an existing sound file, copy it to iCloud Drive.
- If you want to edit a song, you must have a song file purchased online or ripped from a CD. If you already have an actual song file on your iPhone, you should be able to access it through GarageBand.
- Copy-protected song files cannot be edited.
- Streaming Apple Music songs or songs from another streaming service cannot be used as a ringtone.
Here’s how to edit an audio file in GarageBand for iPhone and then save it as a ringtone.
1. Launch GarageBand. If you don’t have it, you can find it for free in the App Store. This is a big app, so give it time to load.
2. Click Tracks at the top of the screen.
3. Swipe left or right across the screen until you find Dictaphone chapter. Touch it.
4. In the upper left corner of the screen, touch the icon Tracks button. It’s the third button from the left.
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5. Touch Loop browser top right. It’s a button with a loop icon.
6. A file browser window will open and you can navigate to the file you want to edit.
- If your file is in iCloud Drive, tap Files and then tap View items from the Files app link below.
- If you want to edit the song file, tap Musicthen navigate to the song file.
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7. Press and hold the file, then drag it from the browser window to the GarageBand workspace.
8. Now it’s time to edit the track to 30 seconds.
- If you want a visual cue to help you determine the time, tap Settings button and turn on Ruler of time. This will display the time in seconds at the top of the workspace.
- Click Play button at the top to listen to the song. Touch it again or touch Stop button next to it to stop playback.
- To trim a song, tap the track and trim bars appear at the ends. Touch and drag the bar to where you want to trim the song.
- While we won’t go into details, you can make other changes if you’d like. You can cut sections, add effects, and more.
8. After you have edited the song, you can save it as a ringtone. Click Navigation button top left. It’s an arrow pointing down.
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9. From the pop-up menu, select My songs. The Recent GarageBand window will open and your saved GarageBand project will appear as My Song.
- If you want to rename it, press and hold on the project and from the pop-up menu select Rename. Give it a new name.
- To export a song as a ringtone, press and hold on the project, then choose from the pop-up menu Share. The Share Song window will appear; choose Ringtone. You will need to give the ringtone a name (default is the project name). Tap Export to save the ringtone.
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10. After the export is completed, a window will appear asking you how you want to use the ringtone. You can install it now or do it later from the iPhone menu. Settings > Sounds and tactile sensations > Ringtone. To set a ringtone for a specific contact, you need to do so in the contact’s entry in the Contacts app ([your contact] > Edit > Ringtone).
How to buy ringtones from Apple
Apple sells ringtones that you can buy directly on your iPhone. Here’s how to buy ringtones.
1. Launch the iTunes Store app, not the Apple Music or App Store app. If you can’t find the iTunes Store, search on your iPhone or tell Siri, “Launch the iTunes Store.” You can also access the iTunes Store through the Settings app by tapping Sound and tactile sensations > Ringtone > Tone Store.
2. Touch More button at the bottom of the screen. It’s a button with three dots.
3. On the next screen, tap tones.
4. Now you are in the section with ringtones. Most ringtones cost $1.29 while others cost $0.99. Touch the icon to hear the beep and touch the price button to buy it.
When you buy a ringtone, you will be prompted to install it. The ringtone will be available in iPhone settings and you can always customize it to your liking.
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