The latest version of iTunes — 12.7 — removes the App Store. That’s bad news for folks who like to keep backups of old iOS apps around, but good news for people who have bloat and clutter. But the update also removes all your custom ringtones, so you can’t manage them from your Mac.
Don’t despair. You can still download purchased ringtones, and copy your own tones across from the Mac. It’s just not obvious how to do it any more.
Custom ringtones using iTunes
The Tones section may have disappeared from iTunes, but you can still drag a ringtone onto any connected device and copy it across that way. You just grab any ringtone on your Mac (they have the file type .m4r), drag it to the iTunes sidebar, and drop it onto the section corresponding to your iPhone for iPad — just make sure it’s connected first, either over wifi or via a USB cable, otherwise it won’t show up in the iTunes sidebar. The next time you sync, the files should be copied across.
Photo: Cult of Mac
As you can see from the screenshot, the ringtones already on your phone still show up in their own section in iTunes.
Find those lost ringtones
But what of all those ringtones that you used to keep in iTunes? Where did they go in the iTunes 12.7 update? Again, don’t panic. They’re still in the exact same place on your Mac — they just don’t show up in iTunes. You’ll find the folder containing your custom ringtones inside the iTunes Media folder. By default, you’ll find it in your own Music folder under ~/Music/iTunes/Tones. Inside there you’ll find that everything is still intact.
For convenience, you can just leave the folder here, but in theory you should now be able to keep your Tones folder anywhere on your Mac.
Download purchased ringtones in iOS 11
Photo: Cult of Mac
That’s your personal custom ringtones taken care of, but how do you re-download the tones purchased from the Tone Store? Easy — under iOS 11 at least, available from September 19 2017.
To check for purchased ringtones, head to the Settings app on your iOS 11 devices. Under Settings>Sound & Haptics, tap on any sound, and you’ll find the screen above. At the top of the right column, you can tap a link to the Tone Store, or tap on Download All Purchased Tones. The latter will do exactly what it says it does, and your purchased tones should now be restored.
Tapping Tone Store will take you to the familiar section inside the iTunes Store, where you can buy short snippets of songs for the same price as the full song itself.
That’s it. All the old ringtone functionality in iOS is still there—it’s just harder to use now. If you’re looking to bring back a classic sound, like an old iPhone ringtone, there’s a simple way to do it. While Apple’s decision to simplify iTunes by hiding certain features may be frustrating, it does make the platform cleaner and more focused on music playback.
Charlie Sorrel writes reviews and how-tos. Follow Charlie on Twitter at @mistercharlie, and at micro.blog on @mistercharlie
11 responses to “How to find your custom ringtones after iTunes dumped them”
So I updated iTunes and considered the implications to ring tines etc. After reading this post it seemed simple and the instructions are clear. Thanks for that!
meanwhile, dragging the items onto the phone in a “sideload” style like this does seem to have put them there but the tones are not visible in the sounds/haptics area. They can be seen to be on the device when viewing the device via iTunes though.
Before doing it, I took an existing “known good” ring tone from the library, edited the filename to m4a so I could access the file meta data, changed the data such as name etc so itunes would see it as a new tone. renamed the file back to m4r and added it as you mentioned to the phone via iTunes. but the result is as I mentioned above.
Other than adding them, did you try to set a ring tone from a personalised tone you had or have? I wonder if there’s something more going on?
All the best and thanks for the article!
Meanwhile, I contacted Apple support and almost immediately passed through first level support to a second level senior product support specialist. he admitted it is all new to him and them there too and saw the process taken was valid and has further escalated it to a higher level. he has assured me that he will be the single personal contact point for the matter and will continue on the case until it is successfully resolved.
he indicated that there was support notes for personalised ring tones of iOS11 and that the problem may not exist in the new iOS but it is important to fix it, if it is a bug for the still current 10.3.3 iOS.
If anyone comments and has interest I will continue to post a summary of findings.
All the best.
In IOS 11 (Beta tester, but this is GM Final version released to developers a few days ago), my old custom-designed (not purchased) ring tones remain on the phone, and I can play them from the list of ringtones, but with incoming calls, the custom ringtones I have assigned to my contacts do not play. While editing contacts,, selecting ringtone, the ringtones can be selected and play normally there. Just not when the person calls me. Hope someone figures this out!
Hey Joseph, Sounds like the problem is a little broader than my initial post.
I will include your information when I speak with Apple again over the phone in the next few days.
Being an iOS developer, I suggested to apple the following cause of the problem:
1. existing ring tones work, but adding new ones only shows up via iTunes but is not displayed in the list of available ring tones. (for my circumstance)
2. When a ring tone is added, several things happen inside the phone:
A. The software checks for available space and security credentials (iTunes logged in and connected phone)
B. The media is checked for format and length. If its not meeting specs it will not load and will stop there.
C. Given the above 2 are success, dragging the file onto the connected device in iTunes will recognise the m4r extension and put it in the appropriate place on the phone.
D. to finalise the ringtone install, the software will write the filename and location to a plist file (parameter list) The Plist file will give the list of sounds to the scroll view controller for the sound to be associated to the phone event (call or sms etc)
I said to Apple that I believe the plist file is not being written properly, so the list is not displayed. this would be the same same but different for your situation Joseph. The file name is written to plist but maybe not allocated file location for the tone to be found when needed.
We will see what apple comes up with. It’s definitely a bug so there have to be some kind of fix i guess. With it being iOS11 right there, who knows if they will fix it or just refer everyone who has the problem to upgrade to solve it from 10.3.3. Of course you mentioned you are using iOS11GM seed but while thats a gold master, it isnt the final release, just really really close to it so they have a few options to fix it.
Meanwhile, as part of the support call I asked that if my synopsis was correct, that I am happy to accept a 245Gb iPhone X as a form of gratitude. They were clear that they cant promise anything but its written in the support notes.. imagine our mutual surprise if such a thing ever happened.
cheers.
Ya well, good luck with that! :)
Yes, I see that your post was about something somewhat different, but likely related. I can not only see my ringtones in the list, but I can play them successfully from within “edit Contact” while assigning them to the contact – but they don’t play when a call comes in. I have my DEFAULT ringer also set to be one of my custom ringtones (when call is from someone to whom I have not made a specific assignment), and that doesn’t play either when a call comes in. I am hoping there isn’t something different about ringtone I have made, as opposed to ones I paid Apple for (of which I have none)…
Hi Joseph,
I think the two problems, while they are presenting differently are from the same seed. We know the tones have integrity because they play. What isnt happening is that the tones aren’t being attached to an event, which I believe is the plist file being poorly formatted. The plist file is basically a text file which describes the meta data related to the tone. Filename, file url ont he system etc. the plist will have multiple entries which may look similar. for different things to use the url, eg, a play demo placeholder would tell the player to preview it, (which you can do) but the file url used to attach the sound to the event may come from a different plist line.
I suspect that in the new plist file format some economies have been made for the file url and thus it’s not being passed on to the most important one user – the incoming call or text event.
Haven’t heard back from Apple yet, but I called Saturday in Australia which is Friday in the call centre I think so maybe tomorrow I might hear something. we will see.
cheers.
Makes sense. Thanks for being there to address it! Keep me posted :)
Joe
So, they didn’t change the build on the final release of iOS11 – assigned ringtones still don’t work. Did you find out anything??
Not yet, the issue would be related to iTunes though, not the iOS. It is the way the ring tones are written to the device which is likely the problem.
the solution will either be a work around (which is unlikely) or an update or patch for iTunes. Usually iTunes is updated prior to iOS release, then within 2 weeks after the release of the iOS there is a further update to iTunes.
It’s frustrating because this issue covers both iOS 10.3.3 and 11. Apple may fix it and not respond but just put it in an update. They don’t seem to like to give oxygen to there being a problem usually.
I stopped using iTunes 3 months ago by switching to Spotify. I now love my iPhone again.
That’s irrelevant