Any way to get the Iphone to recognise an m4r file in my files as a ringtone?

By Ali Colak, 7 February, 2025

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi all,
The question is what it says. I've clipped the audio, I've converted it to m4r and saved it in the files app. Is there anyway to get the iPhone to recognize it without iTunes or garage band, neither of which I have? I have a windows PC so can't airdrop.
Thanks

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Comments

By jim pickens on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

Open the original M4A or MP3 in GarageBand, then export that as a ringtone. It should be in the share options when you open the My Songs list.

By Enes Deniz on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

He wishes to be able to do that without having to install GarageBand,, and so do I.

By Gar on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

I tried this on my iPhone and I can't seem to open the file, no matter what format it's in.
I can't figure out how to import it, either.

By jim pickens on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

Apologies, I had just woken up at that point. Anyway, I don't think there's a way to do that without GarageBand or iTunes. If you want to do it in GarageBand, all you need to do is open GarageBand, click on New Audio Recording, then go to the Loops browser, click on Files, then there should be a button at the bottom to add files. Click on that, and it should show up in the browser when you add it. Drag it to the timeline, and then that's it. keep in mind I haven’t done this in a while, so it might be a bit inaccurate

By Holger Fiallo on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

There is no way without an app that helps such as iTunes for your PC or what someone suggested like garage.Tried to do so myself. It will not play it.

By Brian on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

I think I posted this elsewhere, but GarageBand for iOS is a bit broken as of its latest update(s). VO is incredibly clunky within the app, and you cannot even find the share button in order to follow the instructions posted above.

So regardless, GB would not be a good option at this point in time. 😞

By Ali Colak on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

As it seems there is no way, I've caved in and downloaded itunes. I had to cycle through the parts on the iphone tab, and mannaged to paste it in there and it worked.

By peter on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

It is unfortunate that Apple has always made this so difficult. I'm guessing it started out as a way of protecting part of their business of selling ring tones. But really, it would be easy enough for the OS to recognize this unusual file extension and make it a ring tone if Apple had the desire.

What ever happened to "user friendly" and "easy"?
--Pete

By Gar on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 - 04:43

Hi,
You don't have to find a share button, it's an action available in the rotor when your focus is on the project name in the my songs view.
Hope this helps.