How to make ringtones for iPhone (Update 2022)

If you can't stand listening to "Opening" or "Reflection" anymore, you need to learn how to make ringtones for iPhone yourself. Fortunately, it's pretty easy.

There are of course plenty of ones provided by Apple within the settings menu of your iPhone, but what if you want something more personal, like the chorus of your favorite song? We can help you make this a reality with the guide below.

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Of course, there are several free ringtone apps in the wild that give you the opportunity to quickly create new ringtones. But in many cases, the apps don't come with all the features you'd expect to make creating a ringtone quick and easy. And in some cases, you even need to spend a few bucks just to have the option of choosing the section of a song you want.

So, if you're serious about making a ringtone, there's a better way. It just requires some time, iTunes, and a few other steps to make it happen.

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Read on to learn how to make ringtones for your iPhone.

How to make ringtones for iPhone

1. Open iTunes on the desktop to get started. Download it from Apple's site if you don't already have it, such as if you're working on a Windows device.

2. Choose the song you want to use to create a ringtone and click on it.

3. Right-click on the song and choose the Song Info option.

4. Click the Options tab.

5. Choose up to a 30-second period in the song that you'll want to make your ringtone. Apple limits your ringtone to 30 seconds, so you won't be able to have anything longer than that.

When making your time selection, be sure you put the time in minutes and seconds. So, if you want to start the ringtone at 1 minute and 34 seconds, input 1:34 into the start field. Then set it to end 30 seconds later at 2:04. After you select your times, be sure to play it back to make sure it's the chunk of the song you really want.

6. Click OK to confirm your song selection.

7. With the song highlighted, click on File, then Convert and choose the option that says "Create AAC Version." Apple iTunes will immediately convert the 30-second audio clip you just chose to create.

8. Right-click on the ringtone you just created and on a Mac, choose the option to "Show in Finder." On a Windows PC, search for the song in your Windows Explorer pane to find its location on your hard drive.

9. Change the song's file extension from .m4a to .m4r. That's because Apple uses a .m4r extension for ringtones instead of the familiar .m4a.

When prompted to either keep .m4a or go with .m4r, choose the latter.

10. Keep your iTunes window open and plug your iPhone into your computer. You'll see the iPhone pop up in the left sidebar of the screen.

11. Drag and drop the .m4r ringtone you just created onto the option in the left sidebar, under your iPhone, that says "Tones." It should then be seen under the ringtones section in your iPhone.

12. Head over to your iPhone and click Settings.

13. Under Settings, choose Sounds & Haptics.

14. Scroll down to Ringtone and tap that option.

15. Here, you should see your new ringtone. Select it. The ringtone should also play, so you can be sure it works properly and everything is good to go.

Why Is My iPhone Alarm Not Working?

Before we tell you the potential solutions to the problem, you should understand why your iPhone alarm is not working. As always, we can’t show you a single reason why the issue occurs. Instead, below, we’ve listed some of the common reasons why the iPhone alarm may not work.

The Alarm app on your iPhone is facing some kind of issue. This situation may cause the alarm not to work correctly.
You may have set a lower ringer level for your iPhone, you may not hear the alarm sound.
You may not notice the alarm if you have chosen a weak alarm tone, with lower elements. You might also have chosen no alarm tone at all.
You may have chosen the wrong date/time for the alarm to ring. If you have selected weekends in a place for weekdays, you know how things turn out.
You may have installed multiple alarm applications on your iPhone. These alarm apps may interact with each other and cause some issues with how alarms go off.
The Bedtime feature on your iPhone may be intervening with the alarms that you have set through the Alarm app.
Issues with audio routing can cause the alarms to ring through external audio devices that you have connected or paired to. This practically prevents you from listening to the alarm sound.

So, any of these issues can cause the iPhone alarm to stop working correctly. As it stands, our only solution is to check out multiple methods and see if one of them works.

Do iPhone Alarms Go Off When Phone Is On Silent?

This is a question that a lot of people have. Let’s listen to what Apple says on their official support page:

“Do Not Disturb and the Ring/Silent switch don’t affect the alarm sound. If you set your Ring/Silent switch to Silent or turn on Do Not Disturb, the alarm still sounds.”

So, even if you had enabled the Silent Mode on your iPhone, you will be able to listen to the alarm. That is, forgetting to change your phone from Silent to Ring won’t make you miss the alarm.

What To Do if Your iPhone Alarm is Not Going Off?

Here are the multiple fixes to follow if you find that your alarm isn’t going off or you can’t listen to the sound.

1. Check Your iPhone’s Sound and Volume Levels

This may be a no-brainer solution, but you should check this option before we proceed. In case you didn’t know before, you can use the volume control buttons on your iPhone to change two types of volumes.

Ringer/Alert Volume
Media Volume

By default, you cannot change the Ringer/Alert volume using the control buttons. However, you can find an option in the Settings >> Sound & Haptics that enables you to make that change. If you have enabled this option, you can press the volume up button to increase the ringer volume and vice versa.

So, first, make sure that you have not enabled this option. If you have, you may accidentally reduce the alarm volume, which will cause the alarm to stop working correctly. In that case, disable the option and bring the ringer/alert levels to the highest. This will ensure that you listen to the alarm sound is loud enough.

2. Pick A Louder Alarm Sound

You can choose from a variety of alarm sounds while setting one. You may have selected an alarm sound that isn’t loud enough. Your first option here is to check how this goes. Go to the Clock app and choose the Alarms section to see the list of alarms that you have set.

Try to play each ringtone and choose the one that suits you the best. Make sure you test a loud alarm tone before you decide to go with any of them. This way, you can know if the sound is loud enough to wake you up in the morning.

3. Delete and Re-add The Alarm

Although very unlikely, something wrong might have happened while setting up the alarm in the first place. For instance, you may have set the same go-off time for Bedtime and Alarm. This may create specific issues with how you listen to the sound. But, on the bright side, the solution is straightforward.

You can go to the Alarm section on the Clock app and tap on the Edit button. From the upcoming list of alarm entries that you have made, you can choose the alarm that isn’t working. Simply remove the alarm and set it up again. You should be good to go.

Make sure that you select a louder, distinctive alarm sound while setting the new one.

4. Reboot Your iPhone

Rebooting your iPhone is an effective way to solve several issues. Non-working iPhone alarms are not an exception, per se. In case you had made some temporary changes on your device that caused the alarm app to malfunction, a restart should do the job.

You can either use the hardware keys to launch the reboot menu or use the Settings menu. Either way, wait for a few seconds before you turn the device back on. In most cases, this should solve the alarm issue, even if something was wrong with the Alarm app in the first place.

5. Check the Bedtime Feature

We mentioned earlier that the Clock app doubles as a bedtime manager for your iPhone. You can use this to schedule your sleep timings and get timely notifications. For instance, your iPhone will time you the precise time to go to bed so that you get the desired amount of sleep at night.

However, you should not set the alarm at the same time you have set as the Wake-up time. In this case, you may not listen to either alarm sounds. So, the first step you can follow is checking whether there is a conflict between the Bedtime time and the Alarm.

If you see such a conflict, you can rearrange any of them to make things smooth. This alarm issue won’t be happening if there is at least a minute’s difference between the Bedtime Wake time and the alarm, though. So, even if you don’t want to change the bedtime feature, you can simply move the alarm to a minute later.

6. Disable Bluetooth and Unplug Headphones

As we mentioned, issues with audio routing can cause some malfunction with the alarm sound. If you have kept a Bluetooth/wired headset connected to your iPhone, you may not listen to the alarm sound at all. In a few cases, the same might happen when Bluetooth devices are paired to your device.

So, if you encounter the problem often, we recommend that you disable Bluetooth connection before going to sleep. Similarly, you have to unplug any wired audio device so that the audio gets out through the iPhone’s built-in speakers.

Long ago, the only way to get custom ringtones on your phone was by purchasing them from your service provider. At about $1-2, this method is still an option today, but luckily, you can now create your own ringtones for free and load them onto your device.

With this do-it-yourself method, you'll be able to turn any piece of audio into a ringtone--any part of your favorite song (not just the chorus), or even audio from a YouTube video. If you'd like to do the latter, you can extract audio from any YouTube video using this tutorial.

In any case, make sure you have the audio files for the music you want to turn into ringtones. When you do, follow the instructions for the appropriate phone and desktop operating system.

iPhone

Mac
Mac users can easily create ringtones for their iPhone using GarageBand. The process is straightforward and results in sending your ringtone directly to iTunes. Once your ringtone is in iTunes, simply sync your iPhone, then go to Settings > Sounds on your device to set your new tone.

Windows
Windows users should use Fried Cookie's Ringtone Maker, as it allows you to turn full-length song into a 30-second M4A file, which is Apple's proprietary file extension for iPhone ringtones.

Once you've created a ringtone, simply drag and drop it into your iTunes music library. iTunes will automatically add it to the Tones section, which you can find in the left sidebar.

Finally, sync your iPhone. Then, on your iPhone, go to Settings > Sounds to set your new ringtone.

Alternatively, you can use the method shown in the video below to create ringtones directly from iTunes.

Watch this: Free custom ringtones and text tones for iOS 5

3:20

Android

Mac
To create an Android ringtone on your Mac, you'll use an MP3 you already own and cut it to a 30-second clip of your choice. Follow these instructions, but when you're ready to export the song, do not send it to iTunes. Instead, select Share > Export song to disk, and choose the MP3 format.

Then, plug in your Android phone and mount it. Explore the drive and, if you don't have one already, create a folder and name it Ringtones. Finally, drag and drop your custom MP3 in to the new folder. Eject your Android phone and unplug it.

To set your new ringtone, head to Settings > Sound and select it from the list.

Windows
To create your ringtone in Windows, use Fried Cookie's Ringtone Maker. When you've created and saved your custom ringtone, connect your Android phone to your computer and mount it. Drag and drop your custom MP3 in to the new folder. Finally, eject your Android phone and unplug it.

To set your new ringtone, head to Settings > Sound and select it from the list.

Watch this: Make custom ringtones on Windows

1:45

Alternatively, you can create ringtones directly from your Android phone using an app like RingDroid.

Windows Phone

Mac
Naturally, the process will be a little complicated since Windows inherently doesn't play nicely with Mac. So, be a little patient with this one.

To make your ringtone, you'll use an MP3 you already own and cut it to a 30-second clip of your choice. Follow these instructions, but when you're ready to export the song, do not send it to iTunes. Instead, select Share > Send song to iTunes.

Open iTunes. Find the ringtone you created, right-click it, and select "Get info." Then, in the Info tab, under Genre, type ringtone. Click OK.

If you don't have it already, install Windows Phone Connector for Mac. Launch it, then connect your phone to your Mac. Sync your phone (or just the song) and unplug it.

On your phone, go to Settings > Ringtones + sounds. Tap the ringtone list, and you'll see your new ringtone among the others.

Windows
To create your 30-second ringtone, use Fried Cookie's Ringtone Maker. Then, drag and drop the file in to the Zune software. In the Genre list, make sure ringtone is selected. If it doesn't appear, type it. Click OK.

Connect your Windows Phone to your computer and sync it. Unplug it, and (on your phone) go to Settings > Ringtones + sounds and select your new ringtone.