When you receive a phone call on your iPhone, what do you prefer, one of the standard ringtones or a snippet of your favorite song? For those who opt for the latter, today we will see how to use a song as a ringtone on your iPhone.
The truth is that, for now, iOS does not make your task too easy and the process needs to roll up its sleeves and follow a series of steps. They are simple, however, and you should have your brand-new ringtone in a couple of minutes. Of course, you will need to support yourself with a PC or Mac with iTunes installed, in which you have synchronized your iPhone.
First, cut
As we mentioned before, you will need a PC or Mac with iTunes, which is quite common among iPhone or iPad owners. In iTunes, go to your library, the Songs section, and find the song you want to use as your ringtone. Once you find it, right-click on the song and choose Song Info.
Next, head over to the Options tab and you’ll see a box where you can choose the start and end of the song. iPhone ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long, so make sure you choose a snippet that is that long and corresponds to the part of the song you want to use as your ringtone. If you want, the tone can be of a shorter duration, but then it will repeat more often when you are called.
This will create a copy of the song that is trimmed and only lasts 30 seconds, but you still need to change the file format for the iPhone to recognize it as a ringtone. To do so, select the trimmed song and use the menu File – Convert – Create AAC version.
Then convert
You have it almost ready, but a small detail is missing. The iTunes conversion generates m4a files, while the iPhone recognizes ringtones in files with the m4r extension. You’ll need to rename the file, so right-click the converted file and choose Show in Windows Explorer (or Finder, if you’re on a Mac).
Once in Explorer, all you need to do is change the file extension to m4r. That is, if the file was called Micarro.m4a, you must rename it to Micarro.m4r. To rename, press the F3 key on your keyboard or simply click on the file.
Then send it to your iPhone
Your ringtone is now ready, and you can see it if you go to the Ringtones section in iTunes. However, for now, it is only on your PC, so you will need to sync your iTunes with your iPhone for it to transfer.
To sync your iPhone with iTunes, tap the button at the top of the window. If you had synced it recently, it shouldn’t take too long to sync as the ringtone doesn’t take up much space. In a couple of seconds or at most a few minutes you will be done.
Finally, set it up on your iPhone
You already have your new ringtone clipped, converted, and on your iPhone, but it’s not yet set to ring every time someone calls you. To do this, you must go to the iPhone Settings and enter the Sounds and Vibrations section. There, tap on the Ringtone.
Scroll through the list until you find the ringtone you just created and synced, which will be named the same as the song unless you manually changed it. Tap on your tone and all you have to do is wait for someone to call you to test its effectiveness in capturing your attention.
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
