How to Customize iPhone Text Messaging Sounds

Want to get a customized text messaging sounds on your iPhone? If you do, here are a couple of methods to do it. By the way, if your iPhone text tones not working, some fixes detailed at the end of this post might be helpful.

Part 1. Buy Ringtones from iTunes Store

Purchasing a ringtone from the Tone section of the iTunes Store is what Apple expects. By doing this, Apple can earn money from the money you pay. In exchange, it allows you to set this custom ringtone as your ringtone directly without the need for any separate process. If you don't mind spending $0.99 for a ringtone, go ahead to buy your text messages a nice notification sound from iTunes Store.

Step 1. Open the iTunes Store app on your iPhone.

Step 2. Tap More, which is a three-dots icon.

Step 3. Tap "Tones." Then, find a ringtone that you wish to buy and tap its price.

Step 4. Choose "Set as Default Text Tone" and tap "Done."

Part 2. Make a Customized iPhone Text Messaging Sound via EaseUS Ringtone Editor

If you can't find your wanted tones from the Tones Library of iTunes Store, you can make a song a ringtone with some iPhone ringtone makers like EaseUS Ringtone Editor. This application offers the basic functions of editing, trimming, and converting an mp3 file to m4r. With it, you can convert any song you like to a text notification sound. While designing your tone, you can add effects to it. More interestingly, it has a built-in converter that enables you to convert YouTube to ringtone. Thus, you can make a funny video to your ringtone. That must be very interesting.

If you wish to make customized ringtones for text messages on your iPhone, don't miss this useful and interesting iPhone ringtone creator. Now, you can download it on your computer and follow its step-by-step guide to make your own text tones.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Ringtone Editor on your PC. Connect your iPhone to the PC via a USB cable. Tap the "Trust" option on your iPhone if you get a popup.

Step 2. Drag and drop a song on your PC to the interface. You can also click "Browse" to select a song as well. Play the song and choose the part you want to set as ringtone. Then click "Clip" to trim it. 

Step 3. In this step, you can personalize your ringtone by adding recordings and sound effects like fade-in/fade-out and emoji sound to the clip. 

Step 4. Then click "Export" to choose "Push to iPhone" to add this custom ringtone to your iPhone.

Part 3. Make iPhone Messages Notifications via iTunes/GarageBand

Compared with the above two methods, this method is far complicated. But the best part of this method is that it is completely free without including any additional fee. The process involves five steps. First of all, you'll need to find a song you wish to make a ringtone from. Then, cut the song to about 15 seconds, which is an appropriate length. Thirdly, Convert the ringtone to m4r format. Fourthly, export this edited sound to your device. Finally, set it as your text tone. More detailed steps are shown below.

Step 1. Find your sound

This is a personal choice based on your taste. You can download a song from SoundCloud or download a ringtone from websites like Mobile9, Zedge, iTunemachine, and Mobiles24. If you choose a song, then you'll need to cut it to an appropriate length.

Step 2. Edit your song

To edit your song, you'll need iTunes or GarageBand to help. Let's assume it's iTunes. Below are the steps. If you wish to use GarageBand, you can refer to the steps in this instruction on how to make a song a ringtone. 

• Import the song to your iTunes Library. 
• Right-click the song you import and choose "Song Info."
• Input the start and stop times of the song you wish to set as a ringtone. (15 seconds is an ideal length)
• Click "OK."

Step 3. Convert the mp3 file to m4r

After cutting your song, you'll need to convert the mp3 file to m4r by following these steps.

• Choose the song you edit in your iTunes Library.
• Choose "File" > "Convert" > "Create AAC version."
• Then a new file will appear in your iTunes. Right-click this file > "Show in Windows Explorer."
• Locate your file and press "F2" to change its file extension from m4a to m4r. 

Step 4. Export the ringtone to your iPhone

When you've got your ringtone prepared, you can directly sync it to your iPhone by following these steps. 

• Connect your iPhone to iTunes.
• Tap your iPhone icon.
• From the expanded section, choose "Tones."
• Drag and drop the ringtone you edit to the Tones section.

Step 5. Set the ringtone as your text message sound on iPhone

After that, you can go to your iPhone and change your text message tone to the one you made with iTunes.

• Open the Settings on your iPhone.
• Tap "Sounds & Haptics." (or Sounds on some old versions) 
• Tap "Text Tone."
• Choose the song you wish to set as a ringtone. 

Part 4. Fixes to iPhone Text Tones Not Working

Sometimes, your text tones may work improperly due to some update issues or weird bugs. Or it's because your device is connecting your car or headphone. Whatever the reasons might be, try the following solutions to fix it. 

• Turn off your Bluetooth. Sometimes, your iPhone may still connect to your car or headphones even if you've disconnected it already.
• Restart your iPhone. This can fix most small iPhone issues that are caused by weird bugs or other factors.
• Check a specific person's name to see if you've set to hide his/her alerts. To do this, you can click on the person's name at the top > Click "Info" > Check if the "Hise Alerts" has been disabled. If it is, enable it. 
• Check if you've allowed notifications in the Settings app: Open the Settings > "Messages" > Make sure you've enabled "Allow Notification." If this option is turned off, you can't hear your text tone either.
• Make sure the "Do Not Disturb" option is turned off.

The Bottom Line

All possible ways to customize iPhone text messaging sounds have been detailed in this guide, we hope you have known how to do it. If you have any questions related to this guide, don't forget to contact us to help you.