Create FREE Custom iPhone Ringtones
Posted July 18th, 2008 | 100 Comments
When the original iPhone came out, Apple had the crazy idea of trying to charge people to make ringtones out of tracks that they already owned!
Not surprisingly this didn’t last very long and Apple dropped the charge. Unfortunately they have never really made it easy to create your own for free though. Or at least they have never made it public.
Quickest Way
They did update GarageBand to be able to ‘Save As iPhone Ringtone’ which works great, if you have a Mac and you use GarageBand.
There are also other programs that do the job well, AudialHub for Mac and iPhoneRingToneMaker for PC. These both cost money though, here’s how to do it for FREE.
iTunes
You already have everything that you need, because all you need is iTunes! The process works exactly the same for Mac AND PC!
- 1) Right click the song you want to make into a ringtone and select Get Info.
- 2) Select Options in the Get Info window.
- 3) Click the Start and Stop checkboxes and enter the start and finish times for the part of the track you want to use as your ringtone. It must be under 40 seconds or the iPhone will not recognise it as a ringtone. Select ‘OK’
- 4) Right click again and choose ‘Convert Selection to AAC’ This will create a new file with the same name but the track length will be under 40 seconds.
- 5) Right Click and choose ‘Show In Finder’ (Show In Windows Explorer for PC)
- 6) The file will have a .m4a file extension. Change this to .m4r
- 7) Remove the file from iTunes (but don’t delete from your computer)
- 8) Drag the file back into iTunes and it will then appear in the Ringtones section.
- 9) While your iPhone is connected, click on your iPhone under the iTunes device listing, choose the ‘Ringtones’ tab, then check the box for ‘Sync all Ringtones’. (You only need to do this part once, the first time)
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Brian
18.07.08
Almost works… right up to the part where it get’s sync’d to iphone. shows up in itunes as a ringtone, but not in phone… any suggestions?
Shaun
18.07.08
Hi Brian,
Have you made sure that the track is less than 40 seconds long?
They won’t show up on the phone as a ringtone if they are over 40 seconds even though they iTunes shows them as ringtones.
Troy Coughlin
19.07.08
this is not working on my PC. I rename the track and make it a .m4r and when I copy it to itunes it puts back the original name of the track. does not show in ringtones.
Shaun
19.07.08
Troy: Thanks for your comment, as I say in the post I don’t use a PC but I think I will make an effort to try this with a Windows machine today to make sure. If it doesn’t work I’ll make it Mac only.
Shaun
19.07.08
Following my previous comment, I installed iTunes on Windows and followed the same procedure. It worked perfectly as it does on my Macs.
Not sure what your problem is Troy, are you remembering to remove the track from iTunes before you copy it back? I hope you get it sorted soon anyway.
Here’s a screen grab from Windows iTunes to show it does work.
Jay
19.07.08
Here’s what I found for Windows - You need to first set Itunes to default to convert to AAC. I had mine set to use MP3 and it didn’t work. It’s under Preferences - Advanced
j
H
19.07.08
How do you change the ext in windows? Do you just rename the file or what?
Shaun
19.07.08
Jay: Thanks for that! My version of iTunes was showing AAC already but hopefully your comment will help some others if it is showing MP3!
H: You do just rename the file, but first you need to make sure that you have Windows set to show you the file extensions. When you rename a file you should see the file extension, for example .mp3, .doc and in this case .m4a. If you can’t see these, do the following:
In an Explorer window go to the ‘Tools’ menu at the top and select ‘Folder Options’.
Next select the ‘View’ tab.
About halfway down you will see ‘Hide Extensions For Known Filetypes’ which probably has a check next to it. Simply remove this check, hit ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’.
Then when you view files you should see the extension which means you can now change them too.
H
19.07.08
Thanks, I had forgot about that. Works just like you said.
victor
20.07.08
damn this is the best thanks ur badass i made some for my new iphone 3g thanks
victor
20.07.08
thans and i did it on windows vista if need help ask me
sly
21.07.08
Thanks to OP, works a treat.
Shaun
21.07.08
victor: Thanks for confirming it works in Vista.
sly: You’re welcome, glad it works for you too!
Casey
22.07.08
hi, I have been searching for links on making ringtones for the new Iphone, and found your link very helpful. One problem I am having - I follow your steps, but then hit a roadblock when I get a box that says the songs are “protected” and can’t be made into ringtones… even songs that have the bell next to them.
Any help on how to get past this? I am a novice when it comes to manipulating tyhings like this.
Thanks in advance!
yas
24.07.08
i have an iphone 3g.i have manged to do all the steps but cannot find it on my phone help pls!!
Brennon
27.07.08
I, too, am having the problem where the ringtone shows up in all the right places (i.e. in the ring tone section of iTunes and in the ring tone folder on the Mac) … but it’s not syncing to the actual iPhone.
Matt
27.07.08
Thanks - very clear and simple instructions which worked perfectly. Good to have a custom ringtone finally :)
ir
27.07.08
Hey Thanks so much!! Ur the best!! i have been trying for such a long time to apply mp3 as ringtones !!! :):):) thanks again !!
Shaun
28.07.08
Casey: I don’t have any songs that I have purchased myself from the iTunes store but I imagine that they will not allow you to use them as ringtones. You could try purchasing the DRM free tracks or using tracks you have ripped yourself or ‘acquired’ elsewhere ;) Good luck!
Yas: If everything has worked you should find them at Settings / Sounds / Ringtones.
Brennon: The only experience i’ve had when this happens is if the ringtones are over 40seconds in length. Hopefully this is the case for you so it’s easily fixed!
Matt, ir: You’re both very welcome, thanks for the comments!
Jo
29.07.08
hi, i tried creating a ringtone for my iphone 3g on my pc, but im having trouble converting the .m4a to .m4r. can you help me ? thanks
nino
29.07.08
shaun i owe u so hard i was looking all night for a way to get free tones and u got it for me im using windows and if u dont no how to change the .m4a to .m4r all you do is rename the file and change .m4a to .m4r and click ok and then follow the rest of the instructions thanks again
m
30.07.08
i have successfully completed all the steps to making a ringtone, but i cant find it on my phone! please help
Adam
31.07.08
Having a similar problem to Brennon - it’s showing up everywhere, except in the custom ringtone menu on the iphone…And only 25 seconds long…
james
31.07.08
dude works perfectly
jmood88
31.07.08
I’m not having any problems converting songs but for whatever reason when I have multiple songs it will only show the last song that I sync’d as available for a ringtone and if I have one song set for a ringtone and then add another one the ringtone will change to the most recent song.
roberto
31.07.08
It works. Great. Thanks
Ali
01.08.08
Your awesome.
victor
01.08.08
M: hey go to settings and sounds and then ringtones it should be there.
Barry
01.08.08
Same thing for me as most…I don’t have a Mac. Although on my PC everything works perfectly to get the ringtone as far as the ringtone section in itunes, but it doesn’t sync into the settings/sounds/ringtones menu on my 3G! Less than 4 seconds long, definitely under 40….Please help!
Sherman
01.08.08
Thank very much. It worked well. It didnt work before but that was because i forgot to turn off hide extension.
adam C
03.08.08
thanks man it worked i think i havent tried to put on my ipod yet buy ur awsome. thanks so much
phil
03.08.08
hey is there a similar method for making sms text alerts?
Shaun
03.08.08
Thanks for the comments guys, especially the people calling me awesome ;)
Barry, Adam, Brennon Check out Part 9 of the steps in this post. Have you made sure to check the ‘Sync Ringtones’ box whilst your iPhone is syncing?
Rich
05.08.08
Shaun,
When I go to the last step, iTunes says if I sync ringtones, it will remove all existing songs, movies, and TV shows. I just downloaded the latest version of iTunes (7.7.1.11), and iPhone software (2.0.2). I’d rather not have to drag 10GB of music back. How can I get around this?
Rich
05.08.08
I forgot to mention, I’ve got a PC running Windows XP Home, SP3. Thanks.
Barry
05.08.08
Hi, Shaun
Yes, The Ringtones box is definitely checked.
It has been from the moment I read part 9.
I know it should sync as all the steps have been followed.
It syncs everything else, just not ringtones.
I’d be happy to call you awesome if you could figure this one out!
Tim
05.08.08
Thanks very much superb and easy to do!
Was a bit worried when phone arrived today and no decent ringtones!
Any way of getting decent sms tones?
Thanks again
Anna
06.08.08
I am the same as Barry, i have everything checked, everything working, AAC thingy on, appearing in my ringtone folder and on my iphone section of itunes, but it can’t be found on my iphone! i hope you can find a reason for this!
Mike
07.08.08
Finally, a solution! I had the same issues as many who’ve posted here: followed all the steps above and the ringtone appears everywhere appropriate in iTunes but NEVER in my iphone. My last ditch effort: I downloaded iRinger (google it), imported the song, and exported to itunes. I opened itunes, and the newly created ringtone automatically appeared under the Library ringtone folder. After a sync, the much anticipated Settings->Sounds->Ringtones->”Custom” folder shows up in my iphone. I’ve got my custom ringtone…good lord, finally. [I'm using a 16GB iphone 3g and itunes 7.7.0.43]
Anne
07.08.08
I keep getting “can’t convert protected file” when I try to convert to AAC.
Paul
07.08.08
They don’t show up on my iphone 3g either :(
Rich
08.08.08
I used iRinger, and it worked! Thanks Mike.
walter
09.08.08
when you rename it on vista, it doesnt work. So vista users beware. Find a mac or xp to change it on. but it does work.
James
12.08.08
Wow, I can’t thank you enough for this guide!
I’ve tried several programs that didn’t even work.
This method is simple, fast, and all you need is iTunes!
Alex
12.08.08
I’m having a slight problem…
Once I convert the file to AAC, I right click and select ’show in windows explorer’. When I view the file, however, there is no extension… if i view the files properties it shows the file is a MPEG-4 Audio File… I have tried adding ‘.m4r’ to the file and opening it in itunes but it still does not recognize the file as a ringtone. can you help me?
Barry
13.08.08
Shaun, Mike!
You guys both rock!
Mike, I downloaded the iRinger and it worked perfectly.
I even watched the iRinger instructional video. It helped.
Shaun, I’m still using the initial information you provided to cut down the timing on some of ringtones I’d created even though iRinger lets you edit them. Plus, the information helps me understand more of the file types being used.
So far, so good.
Anything changes, I’ll be posting right away.
Thanks again!
Shaun
13.08.08
Mike: You’re welcome. Thanks for recommending iRinger, glad it helped you and i’m sure it will help others. It’s a shame that you couldn’t get it working the proper way though!
Anne: Unfortunately it seems that you can’t make ringtones from tracks you’ve downloaded from the iTunes store. Try using some that you have ripped from your own CDs or acquired ‘elsewhere’
Walter: I have never used Vista so I can’t confirm or deny what you say, but a couple of other people have claimed that it does indeed work in Vista.
Alex: You need to make sure that you have Windows set to show you the file extensions. When you rename a file you should see the file extension, for example .mp3, .doc and in this case .m4a. If you can’t see these, do the following:
In an Explorer window go to the ‘Tools’ menu at the top and select ‘Folder Options’.
Next select the ‘View’ tab.
About halfway down you will see ‘Hide Extensions For Known Filetypes’ which probably has a check next to it. Simply remove this check, hit ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’.
Then when you view files you should see the extension which means you can now change them too.
Everybody: Thanks very much for your compliments, you’re all very welcome!
Alex
13.08.08
You are so damn good,
MANY thanks!
Billy
14.08.08
i can’t find the ringtones as ringtones on my iphone! arrgh! and i watched them go across in the sync. they show up in my itunes but i can’t get them to work as ringtones. i don’t want another program unless i have to. help!
i mean you are awesome, up until the last step.
kim
15.08.08
I can’t get my IPhone to sync my ringtones. I get error message {”song” not copied to the IPhone because it cannot be played on this IPhone}. The actual song plays just fine on the IPhone. I’ve done all of the steps and it shows up in my ringtones folder but it just refuses to sync and I’ve even taken the song down to 10 seconds just to make sure the file isn’t too big. Any help?
stevo
17.08.08
worked perferct on my laptop im using the new iphone 3g with the new itunes and a new vista and worked perfect well done mate anyone no about changing the text msg’s
Steve
17.08.08
Same problem as Rich: when I clicked the “Sync ringtones” checkbox, it warned me that this would delete all the songs, ringtones, and TV shows currently on the iPhone. I didn’t believe it could do anything that stupid, so I went ahead anyway. It was telling the truth, and I was that stupid :-) Now I have that ringtone, but have lost a few hundred audio tracks and will have to re-copy them from the Mac. WTF?
(Worse news: it’s not my iPhone, it’s my wife’s…)
Steve
17.08.08
Followup: I added a bunch of music back onto the iPhone, then tried adding another ringtone, and this time it DIDN’T give me the scary message that it would delete all the existing music. I tried it, and it in fact didn’t delete all the existing music.
I think it’s a first-time thing. Which means, as a preventive, the first time you plug a particular iPhone into a computer, you should click “sync ringtones” even if you don’t have any yet; it will dutifully delete all the nonexistent stuff you haven’t put on yet, so it doesn’t feel the need to do so later on when you DO have stuff on there. At least, that’s my theory :-)
Steve
17.08.08
I figured it out: it has to do with switching from “Manage manually” to “sync”. Step 9 in your instructions is correct if you don’t have “Manually manage” checked, but if you do, Step 9 should become
“While your iPhone is connected, and you’re in iTunes, drag the ringtone in question from the Ringtones folder on your computer and drop it on the iPhone.”
T
18.08.08
SHAUN u r tha man! I have XP and followed yo instructions. Everything worked perfectly wit tha 3G. word of advice to those still havin troubles.. I accidently made a tone 40.009 secs long & couldn’t fig out y it wuznt showin on tha phone after sync. When he said 40 SECS HE MEANT 40 SECS!!!
And also, Tim had a valid ? Any1 know how 2 custom-tone SMS or alerts on iPhone? (if possible)
Shaun
18.08.08
Billy, Kim: Not sure what is causing your particular problems as i’ve never encountered anything like that. I will do some research and see if I can find any solutions. Maybe somebody else can help?
Steve: Thanks very much for your input, i’m going to add some of your points to the article later as I’m sure they will help others!
T: Thanks man! It’s not possible to customise the SMS tones at the moment without jailbreaking the phone :(
Andrew
19.08.08
I figured out how to sync the ringtones in iTunes 7.7.1 to my iPhone. Steve gave me the idea. The “automatically sync” is what was preventing the songs from transferring. I switched to “manually manage”, navigated in iTunes to the ringtones folder under the iPhone, deleted all the ringtones from the folder, then re-added the ringtones back to the folder individually by dragging and dropping them from my iTunes ringtones folder to my iPhone. The ringtones were able to sync to the iPhone 1 at a time and I was FINALLY able to actually see them on my iPhone. Thanks for the inspiration Steve.
tito
21.08.08
You are the man. thanks.
Geordie Dave
24.08.08
it work spot on mate, still dunno how u found this out first, but well dun lol ur a legend :) i didnt have to sync my iphone i just dragged the file back to itunes and straight into the iphone and it popped up in custom ringtones on the iphone :)
i was just wonderin should i still sync my iphone whilst i only risk losin a few songs now instead of later when something else comes out where i must sync my iphone a risk losing 100s of songs??? when i say ’something else comes out’ i mean maybes custom message tones.
cheers mate !!
Nicki
24.08.08
Thanks a bunch this worked really well. I’ve been trying another video and this was definitely the best.
Steve
25.08.08
i was just wonderin should i still sync my iphone whilst i only risk losin a few songs now instead of later when something else comes out where i must sync my iphone a risk losing 100s of songs??? when i say ’something else comes out’ i mean maybes custom message tones.
Even if you do sync now, “something else” will come out later anyway, so if you’re in “manage manually” mode, you’ll need to install the “something else” manually. AFAIK, anything you can do via sync should also be possible manually. But Apple really really wants you to use “sync”, so they may not have taken any great pains to ensure that. :-)
Ringtones can be installed either manually or via “sync”, and I don’t (yet) know of anything that requires one or the other approach.
Devanjan
25.08.08
Hey
Bingo. This is working great with my iphone 3G :)
mark
25.08.08
will this work with the new 3g ipod?
Les
26.08.08
tried it, it works fantastic, thanks! One question, how can i convert music or sounds in itunes into sounds that I can use for SMS or new message tone? The ones in the ringtones can’t seem to be used for new SMS received…etc
Casarchie
28.08.08
Wow… It’s so easy !!
It works really well !:)
Thanks a lot
James
28.08.08
Works like a charm! You have to make sure to change the start and stop time to less than 40 seconds before doing the Convert to AAC. I did this on a Windows Vista, with the new iPhone 3G and the 2.0.2 iPhone software. Thanks for the help!
Gavin Lord
28.08.08
Work pperfectly on my iPhone 3G using windows! Thanks!!
Michel from Bavaria
29.08.08
GREAT YOU ARE THE MAAAAAN!
I deleted Garage band cause i don’t really need it, you saved me a lot of time!!!!
Cheers mate, really, good work!!!
peace michel
Daniel
29.08.08
GREAT HELP!!!!!
It works perfect!
Thanks
Michael
01.09.08
Really great heplp.
I have got the same step from the youtube, but it didn’t work, cos’ it miss out one of the key point..i.e. limit the play time to 40 sec.
Thanks!
Mark
02.09.08
Thanks very much for this info… works perfectly with widows xp and 3g iphone…. no more crap ringtones hehe
Guillaume
03.09.08
Hello, i actualy got a problem, i can see the RINGTONE section in my iTunes… why is that?
gimme a solution plz! thanks!
Shaun
03.09.08
Thanks for all the compliments people and thanks to Steve for your suggestions, I’m sure it’s helped a lot of people out!
Guillaume: Go to iTunes Preferences from the menu bar (iTunes/Preferences for Mac or Edit/Preferences for PC) and in the General tab you will see a number of checkboxes for Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts etc… Just tick the Ringtones box and it will appear in your sidebar :)
Guillaume
03.09.08
Ok thanks! but now it doesnt allowed me to add it to the ringtone section… lol
Guillaume
03.09.08
Forget it!! I LOVE YOU!! im a really happy man!!
thanls again! good work!
Devanjan
08.09.08
any break through with how to customize ringtones for text messages?
Matt
08.09.08
u are a god this works perfectly
Dean
11.09.08
For me I had to rename the m4r file and make sure it was completely gone from iTunes before importing it into ringtones. Works great!
Thank you for the post.
akshay
13.09.08
i have an iphone 2g jailbroken and unlocked with 2.0.2 software i tried all the above steps but it an error saying iphone cannot plat this track comes when i copy it to the iphone.what should i do?
akshay
13.09.08
i am using itunes 8.0 is that the main problem?
rafa
15.09.08
wow thank you so much. this works great!
Terry
15.09.08
I have 8.0 on Vista and the manual copy (select manual manage and drag from Windows Explorer to the ringtones folder. Worked great, but now my problem is that when I add another ringtone, the new ringtone appears twice on iPhone, while both appear in the Ringtones folder in iTunes. Anyone?
Patrick
15.09.08
Man, you are the best!!!! And to think I was about to download a program to customize my ringtones. Easy steps and worked like a charm!
Kimmi H
16.09.08
Question (I use a MacBook Pro)….when I GET INFO, I do not see the “options” section! Where is it at??? I know how to do all the rest, no problem. But have 5 prior ringtones I made for my Motorola & they are 40-52 secs. Merely need to trim them down & go on. HELP! Kimmi
Amit
18.09.08
Even I can’t get my IPhone to sync my ringtones. I get error message {”song” not copied to the IPhone because it cannot be played on this IPhone}. The actual song plays just fine on the IPhone. I’ve done all of the steps and it shows up in my ringtones folder but it just refuses to sync.
Any help?
hahah
19.09.08
wow it works!!!!!
hope
20.09.08
that was awesome..everything worked perfect..but i have one problem after i get the the whole process of ringtone..the original song doesnt play completely ..after it reaches the 40sec stop limit ( i mean the length of ringtonE) it automatically shifts to some other song..why is that and any way to fix it?
hope
22.09.08
sorry..i got it.. u have to just change the start time and stop time back to original at get info ..thanx
StuartGW
23.09.08
Thanks Mike in particular for the iRinger tip. I too had got the ringtone onto the phone (according to iTunes on the PC), but it didn’t show up in Custom. Iringer did the trick. It must do something smart on the formatting. I notice the ringtone it generates from the same source file looses the tags (album artist etc) so I wonder if this is what prevents the iPhone from recognising the file.
Cheers, Stuart
D
24.09.08
DUDE - You are obviously too awesome for words
jeff
28.09.08
TERRRY
i am having the same problem when it comes to adding more then 1 rington it shows up twice as the same song can anyone help?
Charlie Clarke
30.09.08
Ringtone works like a dream, thank you so much!!!!!
Tracy
05.10.08
I am stuck, got to the point of renaming the file, trying to find out where I can make the file extensions visible - on vista so can find the tools or folder options - please help!
Rafa
07.10.08
a have done everything and every step, the ring tone is 10 seconds long, delete from the libery, converted, it show on itunes in the ringtone tab but won`t sync to the phone help please!!
Blair
10.10.08
Thank you for making this! I got stuck on Step 7 at first…for some reason I can’t drag songs out of the itunes library, so I just left the folder open where I changed the extension, right-click deleted the song, and then drug it back in from the same folder. Seems simple but it really had me stuck lol. This method works extremely well for me, I have a PC with XP, and its simple and fast. Thanks again!
Suresh
12.10.08
Thanks a lot!! This is perfect! This is much better as I can select the part of the song which I want!
John
13.10.08
Works great I used IRINGER
martyn halsall
19.10.08
just use iringer… import the song (less than 40 seconds) or whatever then export, gets added to itunes automatically the sync all ringtones and there you go :)
George
22.10.08
Hey,
I feel really retarded right about now. I need to change the settings so I can see the extensions to be able to change it to .m4a, but I really don’t know what you mean by opening an explorer window. I can’t find the tools sections. Thats pretty much what is keeping me back. I appreciate the help Shaun.
George
22.10.08
okay, never mind.. I found it. And it totally worked. Thanks so much.
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