Ringtone Maker:create ringtone

Review by eFreeware

Ringtone Maker is a free personalization app from Big Bang Inc., and its purpose is narrow enough to state in a sentence: it takes an audio file you already own, or a recording you make in the app, and cuts a section out of it to use as a ringtone, alarm, notification sound or music clip. The reason to consider it is that you can make your own tones instead of buying them or hunting through a store for the exact sound you want.

The numbers behind it are unusual for a utility of this sort. More than 100 million installs, a 4.7 average from 673,651 ratings, and a lifespan stretching back to December 2010. None of that guarantees the app will handle your particular audio collection well, but it does suggest a tool that has been doing this one job for a long time and that a lot of people have kept on their phones.

What follows is a look at what the developer describes: where the app is genuinely useful, what it asks of you before it works properly, and the kind of person who will get the most out of it.

Turning a song into a tone

The core of the app is a trimming interface. You load a track, then choose where the clip starts and ends in one of three ways: drag arrows along a timeline, tap Start and End buttons at the moments you want to capture, or type the timestamps in directly. That last option is the one I would reach for when a chorus begins at a known point, because typing a time is more precise than trying to catch the beat with a finger.

Around that basic cut sit a few tools that make the result sound less like an abrupt slice. You can preview the selection before saving it, watch a waveform scroll under a cursor as it plays, and zoom that waveform to six different levels to find a clean entry and exit point. For MP3 sources there is also fade in and fade out plus a volume adjustment, which helps when the loudest part of a song would otherwise make a harsh notification.

Once you are happy with the clip, you save it and label it as a ringtone, alarm, notification or music file. Each type goes to its own folder by default, and the settings let you change those save paths, so the app suits anyone who wants control over where ringtones are stored. The supported inputs cover the common cases: MP3, FLAC, OGG, WAV, AAC/M4A, MP4, 3GPP/AMR and MIDI.

The editing does not stop at one clip. Copy, cut and paste are available, which means you can stitch sections of different files into a single tone rather than settling for one excerpt. For anyone who wants a ringtone built from two songs, or a short spoken intro followed by a piece of music, that is the feature doing the real work.

Recording your own clips

The app also records audio, and anything you capture can be edited in the same way as a music file. That opens up uses beyond songs. A parent can record a child saying a name and set it as the tone that plays when that person calls, which is the example the developer gives and the sort of thing this feature is best suited to.

Voice memos work the same way. If you want an alarm that announces what it is for, or a notification sound that is a spoken word rather than a chime, you can capture it in the app and trim it down to the second or two you actually need. The recording is treated as just another audio source, so the waveform view, the start and end controls and the fade options all apply.

This is the part of the app that is hardest to replace with a general-purpose audio editor, because the recording and the trimming sit in the same place. You are not moving a file between two apps to get a usable tone.

Assigning tones to contacts

A finished ringtone can be assigned to a specific contact from inside the app. The app reads your contacts so it can show them in a list, and it also lets you re-assign or delete a tone that is already attached to someone, so you are not stuck with an old choice. Managing contact ringtones in one place is more convenient than digging through the phone's own settings for each person.

The developer is explicit about why the contact permissions exist: they are needed to display your contacts when you choose the assign option. If the permission request still bothers you, the developer points to a companion app, Ringpod. That is a reasonable alternative to know about, though it means giving up the direct assignment feature.

Your audio library inside the app can be sorted by tracks, albums or artists, and individual files can be deleted from it. That matters more than it sounds once you have made a dozen test clips and want to clear out the ones that did not work.

Getting your music to show up

The one setup issue the developer flags is that Android updates its music database slowly. If you have just downloaded a song, it may not appear in the app straight away. The fix is a Scan option in the menu, which forces the database to refresh so the new file becomes visible. Knowing this in advance saves the confusion of assuming the app cannot see your music at all.

There is a second, more awkward case. Tracks held in Google Play Music are stored in a way that other apps cannot read, so they will not appear in the list. The developer's workaround is to open Google Music in Chrome on the phone, request the desktop site, pick the song, use the three-dot menu to download it to the device, and then open Ringtone Maker, which will find the downloaded copy. It works, but it is a multi-step detour rather than something the app can smooth over.

On storage, the app needs write access to save a new tone, and it needs write settings permission to apply one. The permissions list also covers internet and network state access. The app is free, and there is a separate paid version.

Where this app fits

This is a tool for people who already have audio they like and want a piece of it as a tone. If you have a favorite song, a podcast clip, a voice memo or a recording of someone in your family, the app gives you a straightforward way to turn it into something your phone plays. It is also a reasonable choice for anyone who wants a different sound for each contact without paying per tone.

It is less about discovery than about editing. The app does include free ringtone and music downloads, but the trimming and recording tools are the substance of it. Someone looking mainly for a catalog of ready-made tones would be using a small part of what is here.

The permissions list is longer than a simple cutter might suggest, though the developer explains each one. Anyone uneasy about the contact access has the Ringpod option to consider. For everyone else, the trade is straightforward: a capable editor at no cost, with advertising in the bargain.

A dependable cutter for do-it-yourself tones

I would point anyone who wants custom tones at this app before a paid ringtone store. It handles the common audio formats, gives you three ways to mark a clip, shows a zoomable waveform, and lets you record your own material and edit it in the same place. The ability to assign a tone to a contact from within the app, and to change or remove it later, rounds out the job nicely.

The caveats are real but manageable. The contact permissions are part of how the assignment feature works. The Google Play Music workaround is clumsy, and new downloads may need a manual scan before they appear. None of that stops the app from doing what it promises.

It suits people who have specific audio in mind and are willing to spend a few minutes trimming it, including parents who want a child's voice on a call and anyone who wants distinct tones for different contacts. The install base and the rating suggest plenty of people have found it worth keeping, and the feature set explains why.

What's new

Fix crash issue