• Use GarageBand on your iPhone to create custom ringtones using audio files stored on your iPhone or in iCloud, or using a song from your Apple Music library.

• Manually reduce the audio to 40 seconds or less or let GarageBand take care of it for you.

• Export GarageBand ringtones so they appear in the list alongside Apple’s native tones.

Tired of annoying ringtones from your iPhone? Maybe it’s time to set up a custom ringtone or text tone. You don’t even need a computer, just grab your iPhone and get to work.

For reference, you don’t need to set custom ringtones using your iPhone. Importing custom ringtones from a Mac Or Windows computer is also a very simple process.

Start by installing the GarageBand app

The iPhone uses Apple’s M4R file format for ringtones. Unfortunately, you won’t find many ringtone websites distributing M4R files, they usually deal with MP3s. And if you try to use a voice recording, song, or other generic audio file as a ringtone, it won’t be in M4R format.

Apple is free GarageBand app makes it easy to convert audio files to M4R. This will also help you set your audio file as your ringtone, saving you the hassle of digging through your settings. GarageBand should come preinstalled on your iPhone, but you may need to reinstall it from the App store if you have already deleted it.

Choose or download a ringtone

GarageBand can transform almost any audio file from your iPhone or iCloud Storage ringing. So whether it’s a voice memo, a ringtone you downloaded from a website, or a song from your Apple Music library, you’re good to go.

Some websites, such as Zedgeoffer free generic ringtones and meme sound clips. If you want something more specific, I suggest using EzMP3 or a similar website to convert YouTube videos to MP3 audio files. The length of the MP3 doesn’t matter because we’ll shrink it in GarageBand

Import your audio file into GarageBand

Open the GarageBand app on your iPhone and start a new project by tapping the “+” button in the upper right corner of your screen. Any instrument is suitable, no matter which one you choose. I opted for the piano because it is the default instrument.

Once you’re in Instrument View, tap the Track View icon in the upper left corner of your screen. GarageBand will open a horizontal table and reveal new controls that were not available on the previous screen.

Tap the Loop Browser icon in the upper right corner of your screen. By default, GarageBand will show you a collection of “Apple Loops,” which are preset samples for music production.

We want to extract a file from your iPhone or iCloud storage, so tap the “Files” tab at the top of your screen and tap “Browse items in Files app.” Choose the file you want to turn into a ringtone and it will appear in the Loops Browser (this may take a second if your file is stored in iCloud).

Now tap and hold your audio file in the loop browser. Drag it in any direction and it will fall into GarageBand’s Tracks view.

If you’re trying to use a song from your Apple Music library, go to the “Music” tab instead of the “Files” tab. Find the song, long press it and drag it in any direction.

Turn your GarageBand project into a ringtone

Your audio file should now appear as a track in GarageBand’s horizontal track view. You just need to shrink it, convert it to M4R ringtone format and assign it as ringtone or text tone.

Typically, iPhone ringtones cannot be longer than 40 seconds. GarageBand will automatically trim your audio to 40 seconds if you don’t do it yourself. This may be fine in some situations, but if you’re using a song with a quiet intro, it’s best to tighten things up by hand.

Tap the “Settings” cog at the top right of GarageBand. Enable “Time Rule”. GarageBand will now show you the duration of your ringtone in seconds.

If you need to manually trim your audio file, tap it and drag the white blocks that appear on its left and right sides. After trimming, drag the track to the 00:00 mark and tap the “Play” arrow to make sure it sounds good.

Now it’s time to return to the GarageBand home screen. Tap the drop-down arrow in the upper left corner of your screen and select “My Songs.”

Your project will appear on the GarageBand home screen as “My Song”, “My Song 2” or something similar. Tap and hold your GarageBand project icon to display a pop-up menu. Next, tap the “Share” button.

You’ll be greeted by three large buttons, including one that says “Ringtone.” Select the “Ringtone” option and you will be asked to give your ringtone a name.

After naming your ringtone, tap the “Export” button in the upper right corner of your screen.

Your iPhone will say “Ringtone Export Successful”.

Select “Use sound as” when prompted and you’ll see three options on how to use your ringtone. If you want to set it as your standard call tone, choose “Standard Ringtone”. The “Standard Text Tone” option will play your ringtone when you receive a text message, while “Assign to Contact” lets you assign the ringtone to a specific person in your contact list.

And that’s it! Any ringtone you export from GarageBand will appear alongside Apple’s default ringtones in the “Sound & Haptics” section of your iOS settings. In other words, you shouldn’t need to re-export the ringtones.