Custom ringtones and system sounds (intel Mac)

Thanks to the fine folks over at Rogue Amoeba, Mac users have an unbelievably simple way to add their own ringtones to the iPhone. You can read more about this program here.

Apple has also provided a way to create ringtones via GarageBand. Read this article: How to create custom ringtones in GarageBand 4.1.1.

Update: You can now use an entire song as a ringtone. Convert your song to AAC format, change its extension to .m4r, then copy it via SSH to your /Library/Ringtones folder.

Step 1.

Download the program MakeiPhoneRingtone v1.3 here. Decompress the zip and launch the program. If you have a ringtone already in AAC format, skip to Step 3.

Step 2.

This program only accepts files in .AAC format. You can easily use iTunes to convert between file formats. First try to right click the file and select Convert Selection to AAC. You would then drag the converted file off to your dekstop.

If you do not have this menu selection, then go into iTunes preferences, click the Advanced tab, click the Importing tab, then click the drop down box for Import Using, and select AAC Encoder.

Step 3.

Drag your ringtone onto the program. If you don't see the green + symbol, then your file isn't in the proper format.

The ringtone will now appear in the ringtones folder in iTunes. Simply sync your iPhone now.

Custom ringtones are placed at the top of the list in a separate category.

If you would also like to replace system sounds here's how

These instructions were contributed by "Christian" "Ksilebo", and "TkN". For the ultimate in customization, you can follow these steps to change your system sounds for new mail, new sms, new voicemail, et cetera. Remember you will be updating the system sounds, you can always restore them with a full restore if you don't back up the original files.

These are the default system files, and they are found in /System/Library/Audio/UISounds

alarm.caf, beep-beep.caf, dtmf-2.caf, dtmf-0.caf, dtmf-1.caf, dtmf-3.caf, dtmf-4.caf, dtmf-5.caf, dtmf-6.caf, dtmf-7.caf, dtmf-8.caf, dtmf-9.caf, dtmf-pound.caf, dtmf-star.caf, lock.caf, long_low_short_high.caf, low_power.caf, mail-sent.caf, middle_9_short_double_low.caf, New-mail.caf, photoShutter.caf, ReceivedMessage.caf, RingerChanged.caf, SentMessage.caf, short_double_high.caf, short_double_low.caf, short_low_high.caf, SIMToolkitCallDropped.caf, SIMToolkitGeneralBeep.caf, SIMToolkitNegativeACK.caf, SIMToolkitPositiveACK.caf, SIMToolkitSMS.caf, sms-received.caf, Tink.caf, Tock.caf, unlock.caf, ussd.caf, Voicemail.caf

Choose a file on your computer that you like. MAKE SURE it is in mp3 format already.

The first step is converting your file to aiff format. If you right click the file and get only an option to convert it to mp3 ....

Then you need to change your preferences in iTunes. Click "iTunes" then select "Preferences".

Click the "Advanced" graphic, then the "Importing" tab and go to the "Import Using" drop down box and select "AIFF Encoder", then click "OK".

Now when you go back to iTunes and right click your new sound file you will see the AIFF conversion option.

The conversion will be made and the sound will be placed in your library. So now I have an mp3 and an aiff version. Note: the aiff file was placed in the main library. I dragged it back into this folder so it could be seen easier.

I then dragged the aiff file out of iTunes to my desktop.

Now click the file name so it becomes editable. Change the aif extension to caf.

You'll be prompted to confirm the extension change. Click "Use .caf".

There is the properly formatted .caf. Now you need to name the file the same thing as the file on the iPhone you want to replace. In my case I want to change the unlock.caf file with my own. So I renamed it.

Using Fugu navigate to the location of your new audio file and the /System/Library/Audio/UISounds folder.

Drag your new .caf file over and confirm the overwrite by clicking "Overwrite". You may need to reboot the iPhone for the change to be made.