How to add custom ringtones to your Android phone

When you decided to go with Android, customization was probably at the top of the list. Many longtime Android devotees swear by the ability to change up every element of how their phone works.

So perhaps you want to extend that capability to ringtones. Sure, there are those sounds that come on your phone (we’ll show you how to tweak those, too) but you can also opt for music from your own sources. Here’s what you need to do.

Give the right permissions

You’re going to need to dig into the permissions. Get there by going to Settings > App Permissions > Storage. Then toggle on the setting for contacts.

storage permissions — Toggle on the permission in Contacts.

This will allow you to pick a ringtone from outside the default list because you’ll be able to access your internal storage. One option is to save audio files to your phone, which you can do with a third-party app or by inserting a file to Drive and then saving it to your hardware storage.

Editing the ringtone

Now, head to Contacts. Touch the person who you want to edit, and then select the overflow menu (three vertical buttons) and you’ll see an option for where to get the sound from.

set ringtone android — Editing options for contacts are available from the overflow menu.

Then, you can grab the image from storage. Alternatively, you can use a third-party app like Zedge and Ringtone Maker.

zedge ringtones — Zedge is a great tool for customizing your ringtone and other elements of your phone.

They allow you to tap into their database of ringtones and then to save you to your internal storage.

Alternatively, you can use your own sound. If it’s in Google Drive, Dropbox, or another cloud service you’ll need to download it to your device so that you can access it from the contact editing menu.

By assigning specific ringtones to individuals in your contacts, you’ll know right away who is calling. So that way you can rush to pick it up, or if it’s someone you’d rather not talk to, ignore.