Hello,
I bought a song today, which I wish to use as a ringtone.
Acording to some reading I've been doing online, there is a bug in Apple music, where if you use the, "convert to AAC" option, the new version will not show with its shortened time.
Rather, it continues to show the time of the full song.
Does anyone know the easiest, most accessible way to create a ringtone in iOS 26?
Someone suggested i try GarageBand which I have installed but I can't figure out how to access my Apple music library from there.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
If at all possible, i'd like to do it today, as the song title contains today's date.
By KE8UPE, 27 December, 2025
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Online
There are many websites that will trim the song for you. The only condition is less than 30 seconds. So convert, copy, and use.
Easier On Windows
The easiest way I found was to create an mp3 file of the song either from ripping a CD or converting a YouTube video into an MP3 file. Then, I used the free program MP3 Direct Cut on Windows to edit a selection down to 30 seconds. The program also has fades so the volume can be ramped up at the beginning or faded out at the end. This is very useful when choosing a selection in the middle of a music track, such as God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, The Four Horsemen by Metallica, or Sugar Magnolia from the Grateful Dead. It also has volume boost for quiet, low volume recordings. Once the 30 second audio file is created and edited, then it is converted using any number of sites to an M4R file for an iPhone ringtone. My iPhone ringtones turn heads! When I am in a room and the phone rings, people know it.
Just a question out of curiosity, why would we do that if we hav
Just curious, why would you want to make a ringtone if we have the ringtone in store that we can purchase tones from? They’re like the same price as a regular song as far as I’ve seen. But then again I’m somebody who just uses the regular stock ringtones.
Thought you could do this directly now?
I don't do this and have never tried but I thought in iOS26 you could now create a ringtone direct from the song via a share option? If wrong maybe I dreamed I'd seen it somewhere!