Custom Ringtones with iPhone Firmware Version 1.1.1

Yea, that’s right, you can get custom ringtones with iPhone firmware version 1.1.1. This was the only thing that I didn’t like about firmware 1.1.1, I couldn’t have custom ringtones but a workaround has been found.

First off you need to be using a Mac, I’m sure there is a way to do the same thing on a PC but I’m not sure how to do it. Secondly you need to be using iTunes version 7.4.0, if you are using 7.4.2 don’t worry because you can downgrade. To downgrade drag the itunes app to your trash and install 7.4.0 using the installer found here. The third thing you will need is Rogue Amoeba’s MakeiPhoneRingtone application. The fourth and final thing you will need is, of course, your ringtone, but it needs to be encoded in AAC.

So let’s just jump right into the steps.

1. Put the ringtone file on the desktop so that you know where it is.
2. Right click on the ringtone and choose “Get Info,” underneath “Name & Extension” change the extension of the file to .m4r. Then double click the ringtone to have it open up in iTunes and automatically get added to the ringtone section.
3. Sync your iPhone. You will now see that the ringtone is listed and can be chosen but does not play back, we will fix that in a second.
4. The next step caused a lot of people to get confused so I’ll try to keep it clear, go back to the original ringtone, not the one in your iTunes library but the one on your desktop. Right click on it and choose “Get Info,” underneath “Name & Extension” change the extension back to .m4a. After the extension has been changed drag the ringtone into MakeiPhoneRingtone and it will be added into the ringtone section.
5. Sync your iPhone and the ringtone should play.

The only problem with this hack is that the ringtones are a bit finicky (and it lists the ringtone twice in the ringtone section in iTunes) many people report this workaround as something that doesn’t work but it really does. The only way I could get it to work is to do the exact steps mentioned above.

Strangely enough when I tried to do this with a bunch (14) of ringtones at once a few of them didn’t work, and I’m not sure why. But, try it out with a few different ringtones and it is sure to work (it took me a few hours before I could get it to work but it was worth it when someone called me and I hear the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song).

Note: I’m sure this workaround will work for quite sometime but Ambrosia software (the makers of iToner) are committed to making iToner work with firmware 1.1.1. They made a statement recently saying:

“Apple has recently released iPhone 1.1.1 OS update for the iPhone. Unfortunately this OS update breaks our custom ringtone product iToner.

We’re distressed about this turn of events, because we have labored long and hard to make iToner not just a great product, but also as compatible as possible.

I’d like to take a moment to explain the situation as we understand it currently.

This iPhone 1.1.1 OS update breaks not only iToner, but also every other piece of third party software for the iPhone. It appears that Apple has taken the route of encrypting and signing the contents of your iPhone in such a way that things like third party applications and ringtones are rejected outright.

We have not given up, however. No promises at this point, but we are working hard at solving this issue for our users. Thank you for your continued support & patience.” -Andrew Welch, el Presidente Ambrosia Software, Inc.

Here is a cleaner list of steps then the descriptive one above (I add this mostly because I wanted a simple list to glance at to make sure I was doing everything in order).

1. Change the AAC encoded ringtone’s extension to .m4r
2. Double click it to add it to iTunes
3. Sync your iPhone
4. Change the original ringtone’s extension back to .m4a
5. Drag it into MakeiPhoneRingtone to add it to iTunes a second time
6. Sync your iPhone again