How To Set A Specific Ringtone For Contacts On Android

How To Set A Specific Ringtone For Contacts On Android

If you use your phone for more than just making calls, your contacts are probably the people you interact with the most. You might like some of them more than others, and you might also have different preferences depending on the time of day or what you’re doing when you contact someone. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that Android comes equipped with a variety of ways to personalize your contacts. From assigning specific photo albums to individual contacts to applying unique ringtones, there are plenty of ways to set your favorites apart from the rest. This guide covers everything you need to know about setting up custom ringtones for your contacts on Android.

How To Set A Specific Ringtone For Contacts On Android

Change the Default Ringtone for Contacts

The first thing you should know about setting ringtones for contacts is that Android has a default ringtone for all of your contacts. You can change it if you want to assign each contact a different ringtone, or you can change it if you want to apply a different ringtone to all of your contacts. The default ringtone for contacts is the same ringtone that you hear when you get a call from a number that isn’t in your contacts. Therefore, you can set the default ringtone for contacts to whatever you want it to be. This can be anything from an actual human-produced ringtone to an audio clip that you record yourself. If you want to change the default ringtone for contacts, you can do so by following these steps: Open the “Contacts” app on your Android device. Once you’re inside the app, tap the “People” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap the “Ringtone” icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Now, you can select which ringtone you want to use as the default for your contacts. Alternatively, you can select “Ringtone” and then choose “Assign ringtone” to change the ringtone for individual contacts.

Assign Individual Contact Ringtones

If you want to assign a specific ringtone to an individual contact, you can do so from the “Ringtone” screen. To do this, follow the same steps listed in the previous section. Once you’re on the “Ringtone” screen, you can select “Assign ringtone” to assign a specific ringtone to a specific contact. Once you’re on the “Assign Ringtone” screen, you can either tap “Select ringtone” and then choose a ringtone from your device’s existing ringtone library or tap “Pick another song” and then select a song from your device’s built-in music library.

Create Custom Contact Ringtone Shortcuts

If you have specific contacts that you interact with more than others, you might want to make it easier for yourself to assign a specific ringtone to those contacts. You can do this by creating a custom contact ringtone shortcut. To do this, follow these steps: Open the “Contacts” app on your Android device. Once you’re inside the app, tap the “People” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap the “Ringtone” icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Now, you can create a custom contact ringtone shortcut by tapping the “Select ringtone” drop-down menu and choosing “Assign shortcut.” Now, tap the “Select contact” drop-down menu and select the contact you want to assign this ringtone to. Next, tap the “Select ringtone” drop-down menu and then select the song you want to use as the contact’s ringtone. Once you’ve selected all of these settings, you can tap the “Save” button in the upper-right corner of the screen. Now, whenever you open your “Contacts” app, you can simply tap the “Contact name” icon next to the contact’s name to play the contact’s ringtone.

Set a Specific Ringtone from a Folder of Songs

If you want to assign a specific ringtone to contact but you don’t want to assign that ringtone to every other contact on your device, you can set a specific ringtone for the contact by choosing a folder of songs. To do this, follow these steps: Open the “Contacts” app on your Android device. Once you’re inside the app, tap the “People” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap the “Ringtone” icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. Now, tap the “Select ringtone” drop-down menu and then choose “Choose from the folder.” Next, select the folder you want to use as your ringtone folder, and then select a song from that folder. Once you’ve selected a song, you can tap the “Done” button in the upper-right corner of the screen. Now, when you assign this folder to a contact, the first song in the folder will be the contact’s ringtone. Looking for a different folder of songs to use as ringtone folders? You can use music you’ve purchased from Apple Music, the music you’ve purchased from Spotify, the music you’ve saved to Google Play Music, the music you’ve downloaded to your device, or music that you’ve added to your device’s built-in ringtone library.

When You Should Use A Ringtone

  1. When you want to be able to hear the ringtone in a particular way. For example, a ringtone that plays at a specific time during the day will allow you to set up your phone or tablet so that when it rings, it will alert you only when you’re supposed to be available.
  2. When you want to assign a specific ringtone to a contact. For example, if someone calls and you don’t recognize their number, you can select the contact’s name from your device’s list of contacts and then tap the “Contact name” icon next to their name and choose the tone of ringtone associated with that contact from your device’s built-in ringtone library.
  3. When you want to set up your phone or tablet so that whenever it rings, it will play one of your custom notification sounds instead of its default notification sound. When this is done, any notifications that require action (such as messages with attachments) will not play their default sound but instead will play your custom notification sound instead. To do this, open the “Notifications” app on your Android device and then tap the “Notification” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap “Edit” next to each notification type (text message, email or missed call) for which you want this setting applied (if applicable). Next, select “Custom ringtone” from the “Ringtone” pop-up menu and then select the tone of ringtone you want your notification sounds to play.
  4. When you want to change the ringtone of your phone or tablet’s ringer. To do this, open the “Notifications” app on your Android device and then tap the “Notification” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap each notification type for which you want this setting applied (if applicable). Next, select “Custom ringtone” from the “Ringtone” pop-up menu and then select a new tone of ringtone for that notification type.
  5. When you want to assign a specific ringtone to a contact. For example, if someone calls and you don’t recognize their number, you can select the contact’s name from your device’s list of contacts and then tap the “Contact name” icon next to their name and choose the tone of ringtone associated with that contact from your device’s built-in ringtone library.
  6. When you want to assign an existing sound file to your phone or tablet’s ringer. To do this, open the “Notifications” app on your Android device and then tap the “Notification” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap each notification type for which you want this setting applied (if applicable). Next, select “Sound file” from the “Ringtone” pop-up menu and then select an existing sound file that you want to be associated with that notification type.
  7. When you want to assign a specific sound file to a contact or group of contacts whose names are already in your device’s list of contacts. To do this, open the “Notifications” app on your Android device and then tap the “Notification” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap each notification type for which you want this setting applied (if applicable). Next, select “Sound file” from the “Ringtone” pop-up menu and then select a new sound file that you want to be associated with that notification type.
  8. When you want to enable the default sound for a “Loud” notification type (such as incoming calls or alarms). To do this, open the “Notifications” app on your Android device and then tap the “Notification” tab in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, tap each notification type for which you want this setting applied (if applicable). Next, select “Sound file” from the “Ringtone” pop-up menu and then select a new sound file that you want to be associated with that notification type.

Summing Up

If you use your phone for more than just making calls, your contacts are probably the people you interact with the most. You might like some of them more than others, and you might also have different preferences depending on the time of day or what you’re doing when you contact someone. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that Android comes equipped with a variety of ways to personalize your contacts. From assigning specific photo albums to individual contacts to applying unique ringtones, there are plenty of ways to set your favorites apart from the rest.

Erik McKenzie
Erik is an expert in technology trends and writes tech tips on blogs. He has a passion for helping people understand new technologies and how they can be used to improve their lives.