Hack the iPhone

Custom ringtones and system sounds

intel Mac

Updated: April 8, 2009

I am going to demonstrate three methods for putting custom ringtones onto your iPhone, using iTunes version 8.1.1.

Method 1: Using an .mp3 (MPEG) or .m4a (AAC) file, already edited to the proper length.
Method 2: Using a non-DRM music file, and selecting a portion of it to use.
Method 3: Using GarageBand to make a new ringtone.

I will also show you how to put custom ringtones onto your iPhone without using iTunes. You'll instead use SSH to transfer the files manually.

I will also show you how to replace the system sounds. These are things like the unlock sound, the new voicemail sound, et cetera.

Method 1: Using an .mp3 (MPEG) or .m4a (AAC) edited file

Let's say you have a sound effect file or a piece of music in either .mp3 (MPEG) or .m4a (AAC) format that is already edited to the proper length. Here is how you make it into a ringtone.

Get your .mp3 (MPEG) or .m4a (AAC) file, which is already edited to the length you want.

Drag it into the iTunes library.

Right click this file, and select Create AAC Version. Yes, I see the Create Ringtone... option just below this, it won't work.

Note: If you do not see Create AAC Version, then click on iTunes, then Preferences, and you will see this screen. Click the Import Settings... button.

Then select AAC Encoder, in the Import Using drop down box. There are also many other formats you can select here.

You'll now have an .mp3 (MPEG), and .m4a (AAC) version of your file.

Now drag the AAC file out of iTunes and on to your desktop.

Now click on the file name so that it is editable.

Change the a to an r, and hit return.

Click .m4r at this pop up message.

You should now have this on your desktop.

Delete the AAC file for your ringtone from iTunes, its presence makes it impossilbe to import the .m4r. Now drag the .m4r on your desktop into iTunes.

It will be placed into your ringtones folder automatically.

Go to your Ringtones tab, and make sure you select to sync your ringtones, then click Apply.

The ringtone is placed in the Custom section.

Method 2: Using a non-DRM music file, and selecting a portion of it to use.

Launch iTunes and select a non-DRM song to use. Right click the song and select Get Info.

Note: If you purchased music on iTunes, you can remove the DRM by peforming the following: burn a playlist of DRM protected songs to CD. Import the songs from the CD into your iTunes library. Convert these files to AAC format. You can change your sound format import settings by going into iTunes preferences, and clicking the Import Settings... button in the General tab, then select AAC Encoder.

Go to the Options tab and specify the start and stop time for your ringtone. Click OK.

Right click the song name again, and select Create AAC Version. Yes, I see the Create Ringtone... option just below this, it won't work.

You will now see a second instance of the song you selected. Notice that it is only 30 seconds long (or however long you selected).

Drag the duplicate of the song out of iTunes.

Click the file name so that it becomes editable.

Change the a to an r, and press return.

Click .m4r at this pop up message.

Delete the 30 second AAC file that you just made in iTunes. It will conflict with trying to add the .m4r file. Then drag the .m4r file into the iTunes Library

It will be placed into your ringtones folder automatically.

Go to your Ringtones tab, and make sure you select to sync your ringtones, then click Apply.

The ringtone is placed in the Custom section.

Don't forget to go back to your original song, and erase the custom start and stop times so it will play normally. If you don't remember the stop time, you can just clear the entry field, and uncheck the box, then click OK.

Method 3: Using GarageBand to make a new ringtone.

Apple has also provided a way to create ringtones via GarageBand. Launch GarageBand and select iPhone Ringtone. Then select either Example Ringtone, Loops, or Voice, and click Choose.

Name your project, pick your options, and click Create.

A default loop opened up. The sky is the limit in GarageBand.

When you are done with your composition, click Share, then select Send Ringtone to iTunes.

In about a minute, your ringtone will be saved, sent to iTunes, and if your iPhone is connected, it will be synced automatically.

The ringtone will be placed in the Custom section of your ringtones menu.

Using OpenSSH to install ringtones (instead of using iTunes)

Attention

Now drag your new .m4r file into the Ringtones folder.

You should see it in your folder.

The new ringtone will be placed with your standard ringtones.

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

Attention

I will be using Fugu to upload the files in this tutorial. These instructions can be applied to any files you want to add to your iPhone, provided you already have SSH installed. If you have not installed OpenSSH, or used Fugu before, then you must read this tutorial first.

Note: It is better to use the WinterBoard program and its style of theme creation to change system sounds on the fly. To learn how to do this you should read Introduction to WinterBoard, and Section 11: Changing system sounds.

The method described below is changing the system file directly. You would need to change it each time manually to switch sounds.

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. Here's my example in iTunes, note it is in mp3 format already.

The first step is converting your file to aiff format. Click iTunes, Preferences, and then the General tab. Click the Import Settings... button.

At the next screen make sure you select AIFF Encoder from the Import Using drop down box. Click OK. You may want to switch this back when you are done, just be aware that this is how you change file formats with iTunes.

Now when you go back to iTunes and right click your file and select Create AIFF Version. Yes, I see the Create Ringtone... option just below this, it won't work.

The conversion will be made and the sound will be placed in your library. So now I have an mp3 and an aiff version.

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.

I would rename the original unlock.caf file to something else, before dragging your new unlock.caf file into this folder. That way you can always go back to the original sound. You will need to reboot the iPhone for the change to take effect, or use a program like PowerTool (available in Cydia) to just respring the iPhone.

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