16 years later, iOS 26 catches up to Android for custom ringtones

iOS 26 is an enormous software program launch for iPhones, not simply because Apple made the massive bounce up from iOS 18 to 26. There’s a brand new design language known as Liquid Glass to stay up for, and much more of Apple Intelligence sprinkled all over the place. However there’s another change coming to iOS 26 that Android customers have taken without any consideration for over 16 years. Sure, iPhone customers can lastly set customized ringtones with out a laborious setup course of.

With iOS 26, setting a customized ringtone is simply as straightforward because it at all times has been on Android

Ever since Android got here out in 2008, customers have been in a position to set any MP3 file as their phone’s ringtone in just a few taps. Regardless of the Android model or the producer, you may set a customized ringtone in lower than a minute should you favor your cellphone to ring upon receiving calls. The method circulate may look completely different throughout your entire Android universe, however it’s and has at all times been useless easy.

Nonetheless, iPhone customers have needed to bounce by means of 100 hoops to set a customized ringtone. They’d both have to undergo GarageBand (a 1.5GB+ app!) to edit the observe on their iPhone, or use the Mac’s Music app to transform an audio file right into a ringtone after which use Finder to switch that file to your iPhone.

With iOS 26, the method is lastly so simple as a couple of faucets. As noticed by Macworld, iOS 26 Developer Beta 1 lets you choose any audio file and set it as a customized ringtone by means of the Share menu. All you must do is find the audio file inside apps like Information or Voice Memos, choose it, faucet the Share button, and choose the brand new “Use as Ringtone” button.

When you accomplish that, the customized ringtone will seem in Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone and can routinely be set as your present ringtone. You can even set it as a ringtone for all calls or particular contacts, letting who’s calling simply from the ringtone while not having to select up your cellphone. The method circulate works for MP3, M4A, and probably different supported audio information, although the audio should be underneath 30 seconds lengthy.

What took Apple so lengthy?

In the event you’re questioning what took Apple so lengthy, you’d spot the trace within the second screenshot. Whereas the corporate hasn’t talked about something about this resolution, ringtones was an enormous enterprise as soon as upon a time. They had been sufficiently big for Apple to have a Tone Retailer inside iTunes, the place they’d promote ringtones for customers to obtain and use on their Apple units.

How huge had been ringtones, you ask? Right here’s singer and rapper Akon, who rose to prominence in 2004, talking about how individuals used to pay $4.99 (!!!) for ringtones that lasted for half a minute, whereas they’d pay $1.99 for full songs. Akon initially didn’t receives a commission for ringtone use, however his enterprise acumen led him to transform contracts to receives a commission for them. The singer even went on to create music that was particularly ringtone-friendly, citing the instance of Lonely, the place the track could be chopped as much as create varied ringtone variations. He ultimately ended up within the Guinness Ebook of World Data for essentially the most ringtones bought ever on the time.

I can’t recall how a lot ringtones price again within the day, however posts on Apple Community forums point out customers would pay Apple $0.99 per ringtone for a perpetual license. In distinction, carriers would cost $2.50 to $3.50 per track with a restricted 3-month to 1-year use validity. That’s some huge cash customers paid for music snippets they’d hear often.

Ultimately, individuals’s habits round telephones modified, and plenty of most well-liked to maintain their telephones on silent perpetually. Most customers had been additionally happy with the default ringtones that shipped on their telephones. So, one can think about that the cash in ringtone gross sales has dried up.

With this transformation in iOS 26, iPhone customers can lastly set their ringtones simply like Android customers, however one would argue that the transfer is ten years too late. Higher late than by no means, I assume.