How to Turn a Voice Memo into Ringtone on iPhone (2025)

What to Know

• To make a voice memo ringtone on your iPhone, first record a voice memo and save it to the Files app.
• Once it’s saved to Files, you can upload it to the GarageBand app.
• You can then use GarageBand to convert the voice memo to ringtone and export it to iPhone Settings.
• You can then use a voice memo as a ringtone on your iPhone.

Have a voice memo that you’d like to convert to a ringtone for iPhone? You can record any sound and set it as a ringtone—all using the phone in your pocket. It’s easy to take any audio you’ve recorded on your Voice Memos app and make a ringtone from it. In this article, I’ll explain how to make a voice memo into a ringtone on iPhone.

What You’ll Need

You don’t need to download an third-party ringtone apps to turn Voice Memos into ringtones on an iPhone. You can use Apple’s own GarageBand, available free from the App Store. It works on any iPhone running iOS 11 or later.

GarageBand is a powerful multitrack music sequencer that you can use to create professional-sounding songs. With this tutorial, though, you’re going to use Garageband to turn voice recordings into a ringtone, right from your iPhone, and no computer is required.

Any kind of audio can be recorded directly on to your iPhone or iPad using the Voice Memo app that comes pre-installed on Apple devices. This allows you to create custom audio recordings for free within a matter of seconds. With GarageBand, you can trim these voice clips and even set them as your default ringtones or contact-specific ringtones right within the app, as long as they’re under 30 seconds in length.

Can’t wait to make your first custom voice memo ringtone on iPhone or iPad? Great, let’s get into it.

Steps to Turn a Voice Memo into a Ringtone on iPhone

Step 1: Record a Voice Memo

First, record a voice memo on your iPhone using the built-in microphone, a supported headset, or an external microphone.

1. Open the Voice Memos app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Record button to begin recording.
3. Tap the Stop Recording button to stop recording.

Step 2: Export the Voice Memos Recording to the Files App

Before you can set a Voice Memos recording as a ringtone on an iPhone, you need to export the recording from Voice Memos to the Files app on your iPhone.

1. Go to the Voice Memos app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the recording you want to export, tap the More Actions button, then tap the Share button.
3. Scroll down, tap Save to Files, navigate to the location where you want to save the recording, then tap Save.

Step 3: Create a GarageBand Project

Once you’ve saved the voice memo to the Files app, you need to create a GarageBand project. If you don’t have GarageBand on your iPhone, download it from the App Store.

1. On the Home screen, touch and hold the GarageBand app icon until the menu appears, then tap Create New Audio Recording.
2. When GarageBand opens, tap the Tracks button at the top of the screen.
3. Tap the instrument icon on the left to select the track, then tap the Loops Browser button at the top of the screen.
4. Tap Files, then tap Browse items from the Files app.
5. Touch and hold the recording, then drag the file all the way to the left in the Tracks view.
6. To use a particular section of the recording for your ringtone (ringtones can be up to 30 seconds long):
   • Tap the audio file in the Tracks view, then drag the left or right edge of the frame.
   • To zoom in for more precise editing, touch and hold either edge.
   • Once you’ve selected the section that you want to use, drag the region all the way to the left to make sure there’s no blank space before the audio file.

Step 4: Export the Ringtone

1. Tap the Navigation button, then tap My Songs.
2. In the browser, tap the More button, tap Select, then select the audio file you just created.
3. Tap the Share button, then tap Ringtone.
4. Enter a name for the ringtone, then tap Export. If the ringtone is longer than 30 seconds, tap Continue to have GarageBand shorten the ringtone automatically. Or tap Cancel to return to the song so you can shorten it.
5. When the ringtone has finished exporting, tap Use sound as, then choose an option:
   • Standard Ringtone: This will set the voice memo as your regular ringtone.
   • Standard Text Tone: Makes this voice memo play every time you get a text message.
   • Assign to Contact: This option lets you assign the voice memo as the ringtone for a particular contact in your address book.
   • Done: This will return you to the My Songs browser without assigning the ringtone.

How to Change Ringtones on iPhone

If you don’t assign your new ringtone from within GarageBand, you can set it anytime. Head into the Settings app, choose Sounds & Haptics, and then tap on Ringtone. Your custom-made ringtones will show at the top of the list, above all the standard ones that came with your phone.

If you want to use your ringtone for a particular friend or family member, you can select that person in the Contacts app, tap Edit, then choose Ringtone or Text Tone to use your new masterpiece.

Conclusion

Using the steps outlined above, you can easily turn a voice memo into a ringtone on an iPhone without using a computer. Additionally, you can also assign the ringtone to a contact of your choice or set it as your text tone.

Did you make a custom ringtone with a voice memo by using GarageBand? Do you know of another approach for converting voice memos into ringtones or text tones for iPhone? Let us know your experiences and thoughts in the comments.

See also: How to create a custom ringtone for your iPhone (2 Ways)