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How to assign a custom ringtone to a contact on my Apple iPhone?

I love my iPhone and have been having all sorts of fun playing with it. What I want to do, however, is assign custom ringtones for some of my friends. Ultimately, of course, I'd like to have specific songs for specific people, but even just having the ringtones that are included with the phone assigned would be cool.

Dave's Answer:

Glad to know that you want to learn how to take step #1, assigning per-address book contact ringtones to your friends, before you go further. Why? Because that's quite easy to accomplish, easier than it is with any other cellphone I have ever owned or used.

On your iPhone, go to "Phone", then "Contacts" and find the contact whom you want to assign a custom ringtone. Got it?

Here's one I'll use for this demo: the phone number of the local Apple Store:

What you want is to click on the "Edit" button on the top right:

Notice halfway down "Ringtone" and the value "Default". That's what we want to change. Touch that spot, and:

apple iphone cellphone mobile telephone custom ringtone 3

As you can see, it shows you the default ring, any Custom ringtone you might have bought or created, and all the Standard ring tones too. I'll assign "Alarm" to the Apple Store - just in case they call me - and click on "Info" on the top left. Now I see this:

One more step: click "Done" on the top right. Now you can see things are a bit different:

That's all there is to it. If you have custom ringtones (from music, etc) then they show up on the same screen as the Standard ringtones. Select your favorite, or, perhaps, the one most suited to a particular friend or colleague, click "Info" and "Done" and you're done.

Isn't that delightfully easy?

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Categorized: Cell Phones and Mobile Phones (Article 8477)
Tagged: apple iphone, custom iphone ringtone, custom ring, custom ringtone, itunes store
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Comments

What if I have the old iphone..What i mean it´s the I live in mexico so i bought the first iphone in the us and unlocked to work in mexico.. I notice the screens you show in these articule are different of the my iphone shows... Can I assing a custom ringtone or a song to my contacts??

Saludos Desde Monterrey!

Posted by: Carlos at September 30, 2008 12:09 PM

I just got my iphone and I am really excited about it. I want to download a ringtone, which I did from itunes on my phone, and the song is in my ipod, but the ringtone doesn't show up in my ringers menu. Any idea how to assign my general ring to the downloaded ringtone?

Posted by: april at February 10, 2009 6:01 PM

I have put custom ringtones in itunes and synced my phone. when I go to a contact to assign a custom ringtone only one ringtone is showing - and that is the default ring tone. What should I do?

Posted by: karatecop at July 8, 2009 9:32 AM

I'm still baffled that you can only assign ringtones to contacts *one at a time.* One of the most obvious uses for custom ringtones -- i.e., use a different ringtone when the caller is NOT in my contact list (and therefore likely to be a telemarketer) -- doesn't seem to be supported.

Posted by: Lauram at September 4, 2009 8:43 PM

Boy, that's a great idea Lauram. I'd have a silent ringtone for anyone not already in my (huge) contact list. Hey, Apple, what's up with this? Can't we set "not in directory" ringtones globally??

Posted by: Dave Taylor at September 4, 2009 9:00 PM

I'd also like the ability to assign one ringtone to multiple contacts quickly. Does the new iTunes 9 or Snow Leopard have this?

For instance, I'd love to assign "Help!" to all my clients, "We Are Family" for family (!), "Rasputin" for all my friends in Moscow, etc.

Any ideas? There must be a place that this info is stored. Which means it must be possible to applescript, automator, or something. No?

Posted by: David Nitzsche-Bell at September 27, 2009 9:39 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!