To change your iPhone ringtone, go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone and tap the sound you want. Each tone plays a preview when you tap it, and the one with the checkmark is saved as soon as you leave the screen. There’s no Save button.
This sets the default sound for all incoming calls. It doesn’t change your text tone, and any contact you’ve given their own ringtone keeps it. The path has stayed the same through recent versions, including iOS 26.
How to change the default ringtone
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap Sounds & Haptics.
- Tap Ringtone. The name next to it is the tone you use now; on a new iPhone that’s usually Reflection.
- Tap any tone in the list to hear it. Scroll down and tap Classic if you want the older iPhone sounds, such as Marimba.
- When the tone you want has the checkmark, tap the back arrow or just leave Settings. The change is saved.
To check it worked, ask someone to call you, or look at the Ringtone row in Sounds & Haptics, which now shows the new name.
Note: Previews play at your current ringer volume. If you hear nothing, your iPhone is probably in Silent mode; see the troubleshooting section below.
New ringtones in iOS 26
iOS 26 added six variations of Reflection (Buoyant, Dreamer, Pond, Pop, Reflected and Surge) and a new tone called Little Bird. The Reflection variations are tucked away: tap the small arrow next to Reflection in the Ringtone list to show them.
How to set a different ringtone for one person
A custom ringtone for a partner, a parent or your child’s school lets you know who’s calling without looking. It overrides the default for that contact only.
- Open Contacts, or the Phone app and tap Contacts.
- Tap the person’s name.
- Tap Edit in the top-right corner.
- Scroll down and tap Ringtone.
- Pick a tone, then tap Done.
- Tap Done again on the contact card to save.
The same Ringtone screen has an Emergency Bypass switch. Turn it on and calls from that person will ring even when Silent mode or a Focus like Do Not Disturb is on. Save it for people you’d never want to miss.
If the person isn’t in your contacts yet, add them as a new contact first.
Changing the ringtone vs the text tone and other sounds
Your iPhone keeps separate sounds for different alerts. They all live in Settings > Sounds & Haptics:
| What you want to change | Where to change it |
|---|---|
| Sound for incoming calls | Ringtone |
| Sound for new text messages | Text Tone |
| Voicemail, mail, calendar and reminder alerts | Their own rows on the same screen (New Voicemail, New Mail and so on) |
| Alarm sound | In the Clock app: edit the alarm and tap Sound |
| How loud the ringtone is | The ringtone volume slider near the top of Sounds & Haptics |
In iOS 27, alarms and timers get their own volume setting on this screen, so you can turn the ringer right down without making your morning alarm quieter.
How to change the ringtone vibration
At the top of the Ringtone screen is Haptics. Tap it to choose a vibration pattern for calls, record your own under Create New Vibration, or pick None. Whether the phone vibrates at all in ring or silent mode is a separate setting, covered in our guide to turning vibration on or off.
Using a song or buying a new ringtone
- Buy one: At the top of the Ringtone list, tap Tone Store to browse ringtones in the iTunes Store. Purchased tones appear in the list automatically.
- Get back tones you bought before: Tap Download All Purchased Tones on the same screen. This restores tones bought with your Apple Account, which is handy on a new iPhone.
- Use your own audio file: On iOS 26 and later, you can open an MP3 or M4A file under 30 seconds long in the Files app, tap Share and choose Use as Ringtone. Songs from Apple Music can’t be used this way. Our guide to setting a downloaded ringtone walks through this and the GarageBand method for older iOS versions.
Changed the ringtone but still don’t hear it?
- Check Silent mode. On iPhones with a Ring/Silent switch, push it toward the screen so no orange shows. On iPhones with an Action button, open Control Center and look for the bell. Here’s more on turning the ringer back on.
- Turn up the ringtone volume. Drag the slider in Sounds & Haptics. The side volume buttons only change the ringer if Change with Buttons is turned on.
- Check for a Focus. Do Not Disturb, Sleep or another Focus can silence calls. Swipe down from the top-right corner and tap the Focus to turn it off.
- Look at the caller’s contact card. If one person still plays the old sound, they have their own ringtone. Edit the contact and set Ringtone to Default.
- Unknown numbers go straight to voicemail? That’s call screening or Silence Unknown Callers, not the ringtone. Check Settings > Apps > Phone.
If the tone plays at a low or distorted volume, Apple’s guide for fixing no sound or distorted sound from the iPhone speaker covers cleaning the speaker and testing it.
Common questions
Can I change the ringtone other people hear when they call me?
No. The sound a caller hears while waiting (the ringback tone) comes from the carrier, not your iPhone. Some carriers sell it as a separate service.
Does my ringtone sync to my iPad or Mac?
The default ringtone is set on each device separately. A custom ringtone assigned to a contact is stored on the contact card, so it can carry across devices that share your contacts through iCloud, as long as that tone exists on the other device.
Why does my custom ringtone disappear after setting up a new iPhone?
Tones you bought can be restored with Download All Purchased Tones. Tones you made yourself need to be added again from the audio file.
Matthew Roberts is the founder and editor of ARS Digitech. He started the site to answer the iPhone questions his friends and family kept asking him, and it has grown into a library of iPhone and iOS how-to guides. Matthew writes and maintains every tutorial on the site, checking steps and menu names against Apple’s official support documentation and updating guides when an iOS release moves a setting.