How to Make a Song or Voice Memo Your iPhone Ringtone

To make a song your iPhone ringtone, import a usable song or audio file into GarageBand, trim the section you want, and choose Share → Ringtone. Name and export it, then select Use sound as → Standard Ringtone. GarageBand ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long.

Starting with a video? See how to turn a video into a ringtone. Using Android? Follow the Android ringtone guide. You need GarageBand on the iPhone and an audio file you can import, a song you made, or an eligible downloaded song in your Music library. A protected or unavailable song cannot be used through this method. Apple's custom ringtone instructions document the workflow and its limits.

1. Choose and prepare the song

1. Find a usable source. Save an audio file you are allowed to use in the Files app, or choose an eligible song already downloaded to your iPhone's Music library. Keep an unchanged copy of the source.
2. Choose a recognizable passage. Pick the chorus, a short instrumental phrase or another section that makes sense when a call starts. Ringtones exported from GarageBand are limited to 30 seconds; a shorter excerpt can be easier to recognize.
3. Note its approximate start and end. Listen for a clean opening and a complete phrase. You can trim within GarageBand in the next steps.

If you have a supported mono or stereo MP3 or WAV in Files, the free audio trimmer can prepare one excerpt locally. It accepts files up to five minutes and 50 MiB; a WAV output must also fit 50 MiB. Set the start and end, prepare the file, listen to the actual download and save it to Files. It outputs WAV or MP3; it does not install a ringtone. GarageBand's ringtone export is still needed for the workflow below. Browser decoding support varies.

Make a Voice Memo your ringtone

To use your own Voice Memo, first save a rendered copy to Files, then import that copy into GarageBand and use the ringtone export below. You do not need to convert it to MP3 for this workflow.

1. Open Voice Memos and select the recording. Duplicate it first if you plan to trim the memo itself and want to preserve the original.
2. Tap More → Share, scroll to Save to Files, choose a folder and tap Save. Apple says the default exported recording is an M4A with any layers flattened; an editable share is a separate option. See its Voice Memos export instructions.
3. Open GarageBand and follow the next section's Files → Browse items from the Files app route to import the saved recording. Trim it to the desired passage, move it to the start, then use Share → Ringtone to export and assign it.

Check the first syllable and the end of the saved ringtone. If the memo contains unwanted noise, adjust or re-record the source before exporting; the ringtone conversion itself does not clean up a recording. See trimming a Voice Memo for the difference between keeping a selection and deleting it.

2. Import the audio into GarageBand

1. Install or open GarageBand on the iPhone. Apple suggests touching and holding the GarageBand app icon on the Home Screen and choosing Create New Audio Recording.
2. Tap the Tracks button at the top. Select the instrument track on the left, then tap the Loops Browser button.
3. For a file in Files, choose Files → Browse items from the Files app. For an eligible Music-library song, choose Music and locate the downloaded song.
4. Touch and hold the chosen file and drag it all the way to the left in Tracks view. Wait for the audio region to appear, then play it to check it imported.

If a Music-library item is dimmed, Apple says it may be protected or not downloaded. Download an eligible song and try again; a protected file cannot be used as a ringtone this way. Use a different authorized, importable file instead. Do not assume an offline streaming download is an editable audio file.

3. Trim the ringtone to the section you want

1. Tap the audio region and drag its left and right edges to choose the passage. Touch and hold an edge to zoom in for a more precise edit.
2. Move the trimmed region all the way to the left so the ringtone does not begin with an unintended blank space.
3. Play from the beginning and check that the first note or word is intact and the ending sounds deliberate. Keep the selected ringtone within 30 seconds.

If you need to work with the full source file first, GarageBand's audio import guide says to set the song section to Automatic before importing; otherwise, the current section length can limit what is imported. Control names and layouts can vary by iOS and GarageBand version.

4. Export and set the ringtone

1. Tap the navigation button and choose My Songs to return to the GarageBand browser.
2. Select the project and choose Share → Ringtone. Apple's instructions describe using the More button, Select and Share; you can also touch and hold a song in My Songs to access Share.
3. Enter a name and tap Export. If the project exceeds 30 seconds, GarageBand offers to shorten it automatically. Choose Cancel instead if you want to adjust the passage yourself.
4. When export finishes, tap Use sound as → Standard Ringtone. You can choose Standard Text Tone or Assign to contact if that is your goal.

If you tapped Done, set it later in Settings → Sounds & Haptics → Ringtone. To assign a contact's sound, open that person in Contacts, tap Edit, then choose Ringtone. Apple describes both options in its tones and ringtones guide.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
The song is dimmed in GarageBand	Check whether it is downloaded and eligible. Apple says protected files cannot be used as ringtones this way.
The wrong section plays	Return to Tracks view, adjust the region edges and export again. Automatic shortening may not choose the passage you wanted.
The ringtone starts with silence	Move the trimmed region to the beginning of the project and listen for silence inside the source itself.
Only the beginning of a longer file imports	Check the GarageBand song-section length and set it to Automatic before importing the full file.
The file is saved but is not in the ringtone list	An MP3 or WAV in Files is not automatically installed as a ringtone. Complete Share → Ringtone in GarageBand, then select it in Settings.

Common questions

Can I make an iPhone ringtone without a computer?

Yes. Apple documents creating and exporting a custom ringtone in GarageBand directly on the iPhone. The audio source must be eligible for import.

Can I use a song from a streaming app?

Do not assume an offline streaming download is an importable file. Apple says a protected Music-library song cannot be used for this GarageBand ringtone workflow. Use an eligible downloaded file or a recording you made instead.

How long can the ringtone be?

GarageBand exports ringtones up to 30 seconds. If the project is longer, it offers to shorten it, or you can cancel and choose the passage yourself.