Custom Texttones iOS 17

By Octocorn, 20 September, 2023

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hello!
Last night I upgraded to iOS 17 on my iPhone 14 Pro.
Everything works smoothly for now except I can't set the custom message tones in the Sound and Vibration settings. I see the new ones just as the old ones under "Classic" but there are no my custom made tones I have been using for the last eleven years.
Does anyone experienced the same problem and what would be the solution for it?
TIA

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Comments

By Kevan on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

There is currently no way to use custom tones with the new iOS unless you either use ringtones for phone calls or alarms. I have a lot of files on my device too and now the shorter ones are useless on there. I'm in the same boat and have been doing this for 11 years.
No word from Apple really about the drop of custom text tones but lots of people apparently don't like the new default notification Rebound sound. You still can't change the sounds for apps in iOS 17, and many apps don't have their own tones. https://9to5mac.com/2023/09/19/ios-17-iphone-app-notification-sound/

By Brooke on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

I haven't updated my phone, but have noticed this on my updated iPad. I did some trouble-shooting yesterday using suggestions people had that might work. I logged out and then back into iCloud. Also reset all settings on the device. Still no luck. I'm really hoping they fix this; if they don't, I won't be updating my phone. Like both of you, I've been using custom alert tones since I got my first iPhone, 10 years ago.

By Ann Marie B on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

Yes I am seeing this on my iPhone 12. Miss my reflection email tone and the Apex voicemail tone. There are also new ringtones I would like to set for reminder and text alerts. . I really hope they fix this soon. I am subscribed to public beta updates. :)

By Missy Hoppe on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

I actually had a very nice chat with someone at Apple last night. He says that this is a known bug, and seemed optomistic that it might be fixed in the next major update. I would advise that anyone who hasn't already done so either call or otherwise send feedback so that Apple knows that this issue needs to be fixed ASAP. I think we've got a decent chance of things getting resolved since I was talking to regular support last night, not just Apple Accessibility. So, if the mainstream is experiencing/reporting this, they'll hopefully take it more seriously.

By RainbowBraille on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

You're going to hate my answer, I'm afraid. The only fix I could see was to downgrade. That is possible only under certain conditions, though. You'll want a current backup just before you upgraded to 17. Restoring from a backup will not be sufficient, however. You have to download the previous OS version from Apple's website, and as long as it's signed (or still supported), you can restore iPhone, then restore from backup in that order using your PC or Mac. I was attached to that ringtone and also honestly just curious, so since I had the backup and was within Apple's time window for a downgrade, I went for it. Fascinating, but also waaaaay stressful. There's no way to report a bug for 17 that I can tell—their form only goes to 16.6.1—but I filed anyway. Then, while I was taking care of an accessibility problem with one of the support reps, I asked them to help me put through some screenshots for Engineering. The more people who report, the better. I don't know if this is a malfunction so much as a design fail, but that still counts for a bug in my book. If you wind up needing to downgrade for this reason or others, I googled downgrade iOS 17 to iOS 16 and used the instructions from a Macworld article. You may get errors if you're a PC user and need to update Windows and/or iTunes. Whew, that was long, but I hope it's helpful. $)

By Matt on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

That is good to hear that they are aware of the problem with custom alert notification sounds. I wonder if this issue is the same for purchased text tones through iTunes? Hopefully they there will be a fix soon

By Jo Billard on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

I hope they fix the problem soon. I want my default Super Mario text tone, which is technically a ringtone, back.

By Missy Hoppe on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

That's the main reason I decided to call about it. Yes, I added a couple tones I made myself, but I probably have at least 30 purchased tones, and they don't show up for alerts at all. The rep was able to see this in screen share, and assured me that it's not supposed to be like that. Hoping it gets fixed in iOS 17.1. I even heard someone talking about it on a mainstream youtube channel, so hopefully, it means that Apple is on top of this issue and is actively working to fix it. Still, like anything else, I think that the more people who report it, the better.

By Missy Hoppe on Saturday, September 23, 2023 - 13:51

I use the pacman dies sound for my default text alert. I also have a ton of Mario sounds, and the Super Mario Overworld theme is my default ring tone at the moment. Thankfully, that is still working. this issue seems to only apply to alert tones.