Guide- Add custom ringtones and notifications to your Android device
12 September 2009
72 Comments
Fed up of the stock ringtones? Feel the need to have incoming calls announced with a few bars of Barbie Girl instead? I was asked how to add custom sounds for ringtones on the HTC Hero, but this should work for any Android device. It’s pretty straightforward in truth. Here’s how:-
- Connect the phone to your computer via the USB cable
- Open the Notifications screen on your phone (pull down a finger from the top of the screen to the bottom) and select the USB Storage notification
- Choose “Mount”
- Browse to the SD Card on your PC
- Look for a folder called media, if it’s not there, create it by right clicking and choosing New Folder, then rename the folder to be media
- Inside the media folder, you need a folder called audio, again, if it’s not there create it as above
- Inside the audio folder, you can create a subfolder for the sound category you want to change-
- ringtones – for sound files you want to use as ringtones
- alarms – for sound files you want to use for any alarms
- notifications – for incoming notifications such as SMS alerts, emails, etc
- Copy the sound or music file which you’d like to use as your ringtone in to the relevant folder
- You should now see your sound or music file listed in the menu for selection in the relevant sound settings menu (to access the ringtone/notification settings, press the hard Menu key from one of your home screens, then press Settings then Sounds and Display)
I can just see you having Barbie Girl as ringtone…
Bah! It's Rubber Ducky by Ernie from Sesame Street I use (…actually, that's not a bad idea, hmmm…)
In truth, I've never really liked having music as a ringtone. I want my phone to ring, like a phone.
I've followed all instructions and works great for ringtones, but the notification sound doesn't work. It acknowledges it's the mp3 and i can set it as the sound but it still plays the original sound whenever i get a 'notification', any ideas to fix this?
There are a couple of different places to set notifications- in the main "Sound & display" settings (accessed by pushing the hard menu key and going to settings) through "Notification sound" you can set the overall notification default. For each app that uses this notification, you should also be able to go in to the settings and change the notification there. For example, if you go in to the Messages app and tap the menu button and go to settings you can choose "Select sound" to change the notification from the default.
Let me know if that helps.
Helped a bundle, problem solved. Thank's a lot
Gah help me! i aint stupid on comps just this new phone lark is irritating me! it comes up with like 7 files! 3 are like pdf files! 3 are empty and 1 has my music in! how the hell do i get to use my own ringtone???
So I don't have to purchase ringtones off of sprint anymore? thank God!
foinou
At Anonymous – Hi there, U'm happy to help. Let's see if we can get you up and running. At which point in the instructions above are you seeing the pdf files?
Hey there, I have been trying to change my text ringtone and it is getting really annoying now that I can't. So I have tried to go into the Messages app, but I can't see any menu button there. Do I have to download this Message app? Or it is the default Message app that comes with the phone? Any idea on how to fix this?
The Menu button is the physical menu button on your phone, not a button on the touchscreen. This is the default message app, yes.
I followed your instructions, but my wav file did not show up in my ringtone list. I have the Hero model 6250. There are several folders on the SD card already. A DCIM folder holds pictures. An MP3 folder has some music. I created a new "media" folder w/ subfolders, but the phone does not display the ringtone. Are there other folder names that should be used?
No, the only folders you need are a media folder, an audio folder within it and the subfolders for each notification type within the audio folder.
If you're still not having any joy, check out an app called Ringdroid that does the work for you.
Used your instructions for the HTC Droid Eris and it worked quite well for the ringtones. Thanks for the help.
Hello. Thank you for the tips! I have the correct folder structure in place (\media\audio\ringtones\) and can set ringtones for individual contacts. The path was created by the Mabilo app, btw.
My problem is that the phone ALWAYS plays the default ringtone no matter what.
Can you please suggest a possible solution? Thanks.
I've no idea what could be wrong there. If you've got the correct folder structure, it should work. Try something for me, if you change the default ringtone to one of your custom ringtones, does it correctly play the custom ringtone for incoming calls?
Good idea. I was thinking about that myself.
I have now set my default ringtone to a custom ringtone and the phone correctly plays it with incoming calls.
To take this one step further I have changed the default ringtone to another custom ringtone. Now when 'Contact A' calls me ('Contact A' has a set custom ringtone) the default ringtone still plays.
I was thinking that either some app has taken control and defaulted my ringtone (problem is I uninstalled all apps that deal with ringtones) OR this is a bug in the phone firmware.
My next thought was to perform a hard reset and go from there. What do you think?
mrussell77, I have found a solution / work around to the 'always playing the default ringtone' issue.
I found that the app 'Locale' for some reason had much better rights for setting custom ringtones.
With Locale I can set custom ringtones and they actually work. Locale by the way is a great program!
I did try a few more things however.
1) Uninstalled Locale and then tried setting the custom ringtones the regular way. This did not work.
2) Hard reset to factory default then setting the custom ringtones the regular way. This did not work.
3) Re-installing Locale after the hard reset and using it to set the custom ringtones. This worked!
My conclusion is that there is definitely a bug that needs to be addressed. I would like to submit this to HTC. Do you know how I could do that?
Thank you again for trying to help me out.
Glad to hear you got it working. To contact HTC, the best bet would probably be to get in touch with their support team, who will be able to escalate it as a bug. If you're in the UK, the page for getting info the the support team is here- http://www.htc.com/uk/CS_Mail.aspx
And if you're in the US, it's here-
http://www.htc.com/us/CS_Mail.aspx
Used the advice posted and it worked perfectly. Thanks alot for the tip!
I had been searching all over on how to add my own sounds for notifications. Thanks a lot, it worked perfect.
Hello!
if i want to add a custom ringtone then every time i need to add in window folder. can i avoid using that folder and can select ringtone from my storage card. also need to add a custom message tone……
Hey there. You could try using Ringdroid, that'd save you fiddling around with folders in Windows.
wat is Ringdroid and i have htc t2223 model…
hey,
thanks for ur input. finally i got the solution.
i can set the custom ringtone for my phone from htc audio manager tool which is provided my default.
Hello Anonymous,
I followed your instructions to add a new ringtone from a personal MP3 file.
I had to create the media > audio > ringtones folders. Then I copied my 30 second MP3 clip into the ringtones folder.
Here's where I'm getting stuck.
I still can't find the file on my device. When I access the ringtone / notification settings (Menu > Settings > Sounds and Display > Phone ringtone) my new song does not appear.
Any advice or ideas?
Thank you,
John
Thanks for the help.
I will ad though if anyone is having issues not seeing the ringtones when to menu/settings/sounds and display. On the home screen press the ^ to the left of the phone buton, go to youre music icon. Open the music and select the song you want to use, hit the menu button and then select set as ringtone. The next option will then be to select to set as phone/ contact/ or trim ringtone.
I just tested it on the nexus one and it worked perfectly, thank you
This is all great info.
One question, is there way to assign specific alert noises to each contact? For example if I want a different alert to play for individuals text msgs can I do that?
You should be able to change ringtones for individual contacts from within the People app. Click on a contact and then press the Menu button. From there, you can change the ringtone for each contact to be something other than the default.
Hi
I am trying to set a specific ringtone to asay my wife, can this be done on the HTC Hero? I tried the above advice “You should be able to change ringtones for individual contacts from within the People app. Click on a contact and then press the Menu button. From there, you can change the ringtone for each contact to be something other than the default” and there is nowhere to do this
Thanks
Hi there,
sorry, that should have read “press the Menu button and then choose Edit. From there, you can choose a specific Ringtone for the contact”
“No, the only folders you need are a media folder, an audio folder within it and the subfolders for each notification type within the audio folder.
If you’re still not having any joy, check out an app called Ringdroid that does the work for you.”
Ringroid worked for the HTC Hero. Thank you
Followed all the above advise and comments and found the easiest way to add different custom ringtone and sms notification once they were on your card was to use widget “Ringo Lite” (free).
so i’ve tried all the various apps, and my htc eris droid STILL makes the standard ‘bling’ sound when i get a text. i can change the ringtone no problem. but the text sound REGARDLESS OF ANY CHANGES refues to work properly…any advice??
he is kinda correct…i JUST done this five min ago….first u make three new folders….name one notifications alarms ringtones all three top level folders…..now just copy the mp3 u want then paste it in one or all the folders…..now unmount ur sd card go to messages, settings then notifications then find it….i have not found out how to add one to each contact but i will post when i do…fuck all those droid things..figure it out urself…..taskiller….AWSOME u click it and it closes the programs u dont running…..u will get use to it…there is like five u have to keep on but the rest….close and save battery
@chris- Confusingly, there are two places you can specify a notification ringtone – the main notifications menu sets the overall default, but each app may have it’s own notification settings. For example, if you open the messages app and tap the menu button, then go to Settings there is an option called Select sound. If you change that setting, it should change the ringtone for incoming SMS messages.
@ray- If you open the People app, then find a contact you want to give a specific ringtone to, then long press on the contact and you should be given the option to edit the contact. From the edit screen, there is a Ringtone dropdown. Set the ringtone you want and save.
Interesting post. Maybe someone can sort out what I found on my Hero. I tried checking the file structure on my SD card and have ‘Media’ with subs for Ringtones, etc… but when I go to contacts and try to select ringtones I do not see my downloaded ones. What I do see are the ringtones located in the phone System folder. How come I can’t see the SD card files and is there a way to copy them into the System folder which seems to be the default location. (I have the same problem trying to set my ‘Lock’ wallpaper with a custom .jpg) Thanks!
hey i was messing with ringtones and my sd card this morning…i posted yesterday to make three folders… notifications, alarms, and ringtones as top level folders….there is another better way that dont make multi copies n your tones on ur phone. here is how… mount ur phone or sd card to ur computer..open…click on media,there will be a audio file in the media folder, open it. i dont remember but i think there was a ringtone folder in there…a just made two new ones and so now i have three alarms notifications and ringtones…..place the files u want in each one..ringtones for calls notifications for sms and stuff alarms..alarms…..just delete the other three u made if u did from my last post..the reason i started messing with it again bc in my and my gfs phone after i dont that last night we had multi copies of each song..
also….ringtones downloaded online or your phone suck, they are never what i wat…..here is how i make mine….i use itunes…listen to a song…pic a thirty second part…right click the song click get info, then go to the options tab…go to the times and put them in the start and stop, same format as them….now click ok…..now right click the orig song again and click create aac version…this will put a thirty second copy of the song under the orig…i change the name of the new one by putting ringtone in front of song….now go back and right click on the orig song and right click and select get info go back to options tab and un check the boxes where the start and stop tines are, this will put the song back to normal.. as long as ur phone will play mp3 just click the ringtone in itunes and drag it to one of the three media/aduio/alarms,ringtones,notifications…they will then be in the correct spot when u look in ur phone for them…if u have other phones that wont play mp3 u have to drag the song to your desk top the rightclick and select rename and change the last letter to something..but i dont remember now…just reply here and ill look
@brian russell..i just looked in my girl friends hero and did what you said with the long hold……and she didnt have the options the change ringtone…??? the then mounted her phone and did what i did to mine this morning and now its there..why?
Worked like a charm on Motorola Milestone (the “euro droid”) with Android 2.0.1 running.
ringtones…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUfC4SVa_pQ
print..less time if you dont need visuals
http://www.ehow.com/how_2160460_custom-iphone-ringtones-free.html
wow i just read the top of this page for the first time…has it always said how to make the folders for your ringtones???? if so…i dont see how we all talking about it….
Thank you, thank you, thank you. u r my new best friends. just got the hero and couldnt believe i couldnt customize text ringtones when it does everything else but cook me breakfast. the stock tones r terrible and i can barely hear them. ur instructions were great. did i say thank you?
Thank you for making this very easy to follow tutorial! Excellent.
Ok, I want to assign individual text tones for contacts. I know how to do ringtones but there is
No dropdown for notification tone. How can I set them?
[...] obvious way to personalize your phone would be to set up custom ringtones for your contacts. You can either use the default ringtones that come standard with the phone, or load your own music [...]
Thank you so much that worked for my HTC HERO… THANK YOU THANK YOU.
I’ve been reading through the thread and I have a Motorola Cliq. I used to have a G1 and there was a way to assign contacts a custom SMS tone, much in the same way you’d assign a contact a customized ring tone for their phone calls.
Is there still a way to do it? There is definitely an option for me to give each contact a specific ring tone for their phone calls. But i don’t see an option to assign a contact a personalized SMS tone.
Thank you!
So I followed your instructions but my ringtones aren’t showing up in the my phone. Any ideas?
What sort of phone are you using?
htc hero
That’s strange, those notes have worked for thousands of other folks. Ok, let’s see if we can work out what’s happening. First off, what sort of audio files are you trying to add in? Have you created all of the folders as per the steps above (on your SD card, you should have a media folder, in there, an audio folder, etc)? Are you running a custom ROM? Do you have any ringtone apps installed (such as Ringdroid)?
i’m trying add MP3s. i have created all the folders. i am not running a custom ROM. i have Aru ringtones, junk my ringtones, and RingTone.
nevermind i got to work. thanks
in root of sd card create folder media
inside that folder create folders called
ringtones
alarms
notifcations
now the easy part add mp3 into notification folder if you want to use for sms incoming
add into ringtones for ringtones
and alarms for alarms
if you made these folders while connected and transfered music at same time all should work
if downloaded songs via phone and put into these folders you must unmount your sd card switch of phone and then restart and then you should see the mp3 listed in the settings for changing ringtone/alarms/notifications
this helped could not figure out how to personalize notification sound for the life of me
I found I had to set the stored phone number to EXACTLY what appears when the contact calls me for my selected custom ringtones to work. Even though my Hero knew who was calling – the correct photo showed up – the chosen ringtone did not play until I changed the stored phone number from (sample) (123)-555-1212 to 11235551212.
Just a tip for anyone who’s mp3s are not showing up in the list – try rebooting the handset.
worked for me.
SUCCESS! I followed the excellent instructions about creating the audio folders etc., and had the same problems of the files not showing up. I then switched the phone off and did a soft reset
(took the battery out and then replaced it). When i switched back on all the files are in the ringtone section as required for selection.
How can you customize a ring tone for text MSG & notification?? the only ring tones i can use are the ones that come with the phone& I want to put a song I like.
[...] the Media folder and copy/pasting the file into the appropriate folder(or creating the folder). This Android Life Blog Archive Guide- Add custom ringtones and notifications to your Android device __________________ AT&T Employee since 2006. Ask me [...]
Will this work on a Samsung Captivate (AT&T). I can’t seem to make it work.
OK got the custom ring tone and custom SMS tone and even custom ring tone for an each contact. What I would like to do is have a custom ring tone for each contact that is different for voice call and SMS message. I could do this in my Blackberry 9700 Bold but don’t seem to find a way to do it with my new Samsung Vibrant aka Galaxy S.
OK got the custom ring tone and custom SMS tone and even custom ring tone for an each contact. What I would like to do is have a custom ring tone for each contact that is different for voice call and SMS message. I could do this in my Blackberry 9700 Bold but don’t seem to find a way to do it with my new Samsung Vibrant aka Galaxy S. Anyone able to do this?
Problem solved. Got free app called ringgo and wala can now separate ring tones for each contact and separate the voice and SMS, wooohooo!
I have the samsung captivate and i set a custom ringtone for my text messaging but how do i set a diffrent one for each contact.
I just got the motorola milestone and I have put my own personal ringtones and notifications on it. I have set the notification alert in both the sounds and display settings and in the menu of the messaging screen. But when I receive a text I get the “beat box” default notification and the notification I set. Why is this happening and how can I turn off the default once and for good?
Thank for the guide.
I immediately put “Arcana” by Immediate Music as ringtone.
Followed the author’s instructions, made my own ringtones and notifications using Sony Soundforge to edit MP3s into 30 sec WAVS and worked first time.
Many, many thanks to the author.
Also, the WAVs don’t have to be 30 seconds. They can be any length and will loop when played for longer.
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