We’ve been making custom ringtones on our phones for years now, but with today’s smartphones, everything has gotten easier. Here, we’ll run you through the process of making a custom ringtone for your Android device using a multitude of methods, including RingDroid, GarageBand, and AVCWare Ringtone Maker. Setting your phone to play Ed Sheeran’s latest tune every time your latest Tinder date calls has never been easier.
How to make a Ringtone using RingDroid
RingDroid is an intuitive app that lets you create ringtones from any WAV, 3GPP, ARM, AAC, MP4, or MPE3 audio file you have on your Android phone. The process is straightforward and easy to grasp, at least after one or two attempts. The best part? It’s completely free, and you can create ringtones without your computer on hand.
Copy the song to your phone’s internal storage
The song will need to be your phone’s internal storage before you can turn it into a ringtone. How you do this is up to you, but there are a couple of ways to do it.
- The “retro” way would be to connect your phone to your computer to transfer it over manually.
- Alternatively, upload the song file to your Google Drive account and then download it to your phone.
Create the ringtone using RingDroid
Launch RingDroid. You can grab the app for free on Google Play if you don’t have it already.
RingDroid will list all the music on your phone when opened. Scroll through the list, or use the search bar at the top, and locate the song you’d like to use for your ringtone.
- If you can’t find your newly downloaded song, try closing the app and restarting it.
Tap the song title to select it and tap Trim to shrink it down.
Adjust the markers and select the part of the song you want to use as your ringtone.
Tap the download icon at the bottom-right once you’re satisfied with your selection.
Name the ringtone and export it.
Assigning the ringtone using RingDroid
If you’ve just finished making your ringtone, then setting it is easy.
Tap Use as on the window that pops up immediately after exporting your trimmed tune.
Then select if you want to use it as an alarm, ringtone, notification, or any combination of the three.
If you’re setting it from the app’s main menu, that’s easy to do as well.
From the app’s main menu, tap Trimmed tones, then select the file you saved.
Tap More, then Use as.
Like the last method, you’ll then be able to choose if you want it as an alarm, ringtone, notification, or any combination of the three.
Assign the ringtone through your phone’s settings menu
Go to Settings > Sound > Phone ringtone. Then select My Sounds on a standard Android 10 interface.
Choose your desired ringtone.
The process may be slightly different on other manufacturer’s phones and on earlier versions of Android. For instance, on Samsung’s phones, you’ll go your Settings app, then hit Sounds and vibration > Ringtone.
Assign the ringtone through your phone’s contacts menu
If you think a number of contacts deserve their own custom ringtones, you can set individual ringtones in your Contacts app. Just follow the steps above to make a ringtone, then assign it in the following way:
Open Contacts and select your desired contact.
Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner.
Select Set ringtone.
Choose your desired ringtone for that contact.
How to make a ringtone using GarageBand (MacOS)
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GarageBand is another free alternative that lets Mac users create their own custom ringtones for Android. And because Apple’s software comes bundled with your Mac, there’s no need to purchase the software.
Launch the program, and make sure to grab the latest software update before you continue.
Open your chosen song in Garageband by dragging it from your files into Garageband.
Select Cycle mode (the circular arrow icon next to the red Record button) and select the portion of the song you want to use for your ringtone. Keep in mind that Android ringtones typically run in 30-second (or less) loops.
Go to Garageband > Preferences > Advanced and make sure the box beside Auto Normalize is checked.
Once you’ve settled upon a ringtone selection, click the Share option in the main menu bar. Afterward, click Export Song to Disk and choose your desired MP3 format and a save location for the resulting audio snippet.
Click Export in the bottom-right corner of the window.
How to make a ringtone using AVCWare Ringtone Maker (Windows)
AVCWare is a piece of software that allows you to create ringtones simply by choosing your song, selecting the portion of the song you want to use, and exporting it as an MP3.
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Launch the program and locate the song you want to convert. If you don’t have the program already, you can snag it here.
Move the selection handles to select the portion of the song you want to use. You can also manually input the exact start and stop times for your ringtone, if you prefer.
Choose the Output File Name and Output Folder to save your ringtone.
Click the iPhone icon in the lower-right corner. Once done, follow the steps above on how to set and assign ringtones.
Copying your ringtone to your phone’s internal storage
Whether you create your ringtone on your Mac or Windows computer, you’ll need to put it on your phone. Here’s how to do so:
Connect your Android phone to your computer.
Drag and drop your new ringtone into the Ringtones folder on your phone’s internal storage. If you don’t have a designated ringtones folder, go ahead and create one.
Eject your Android phone. Once done, follow the steps above on how to set and assign ringtones.
If you’ve not had enough music by the end of this guide, then check out our list of the best music apps for Android and iOS.