The cat and mouse game between the iPhone hackers and Apple continues. The iPhone hacking community keep coming out with new ways or hacks to help iPhone owners add custom ringtones to their ringtone in most cases for free rather then using the expensive option of paying Apple additional 99c if you want to make a song as a ringtone.
Apple has released two updates for iTunes i.e. iTunes 7.4.1 and 7.4.2 to fix holes that made it easy to add custom ringtones. However, the iPhone hacking community has been quick to respond and are currently ahead of race. Lets check out the seven iPhone applications that you can use to add custom ringtones to your iPhone.
Update (20th October):
Erica’s SendSong ringtone app has also been updated to work with iPhone OS v1.1.1.
Update (17th October):
The latest version iToner v1.0.3 which has just been released by Ambrosia SW is now compatible with iPhone OS v1.1.1. Click here for more details.
Update (30th Sept):
The bad news for all those who have updated their iPhone firmware to
1.1.1 and looking to add custom ringtones is that NONE of the iPhone
applications listed above will work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
After the latest iTunes update one of the most common questions has been to find out if the iPhone applications which helped you add custom ringtones on your iPhone are still working with iTunes 7.4.2. So below is a list of seven applications or hacks and with the current status of their compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2.
iToner
The process of adding custom ringtones on your iPhone using the iToner can be described in three words after you plug in the iPhone: i.e. drag, drop and sync; it is as simple as that. All you need to do is to drop the audio files on an iPhone-like interface and click on the sync button to add them as custom ringtones to your iPhone.
Compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2:
Though Apple did manage to break this application with iTunes 7.4.2, Ambrosia SW have been quick to fix the problem. iToner 1.0.2 is now compatible with iTunes 7.4.2 and in addition to that they have made improvements to the playlist, along with other bug fixes and enhancements to the GUI.
Does it work with iPhone 1.1.1?
iToner does not currently works with iPhone OS 1.1.1 and Ambrosia SW is working hard on a fix. Click here for more details.
Requirements: This requires Mac OS X
How much does it cost? USD $15
For more details: Click here
Hackers website: Click here
iPhone RingToneMaker
iPhone RingToneMaker is a perfect solution to get custom ringtones onto your iPhone. It is not just a tool to add ringtones to the iPhone, it is an all in one solution for creating, editing, and managing custom ringtones onto your iPhone.
Compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2:
iPhone RingToneMaker is compatible with iTunes 7.4.2 and they claim that do NOT hack or touch the iPhoneâ??s internal structure nor do they alter things on the iPhone. They simply put the ringtone you created in the ringtone library.
Does it work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1?
iPhone RingToneMaker does not currently work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1 and folks at Efiko are working hard to resolve the issue.
Requirements: This requires Windows
How much does it cost? USD $14.95
For more details: Click here
Developers website: Click here
MakeiPhoneRingtone
Make iPhone Ringtone makes use of the more stable "stik" method of creating ringtones and is compatible with iTunes 7.4.1, the ultimate ringtone hack discovered by Cleverboy. It is one of the easiest and one of popular ways to add custom ringtones to your iPhone.
Compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2:
MakeiPhoneRingtone is not currently not compatible with iTunes 7.4.2. Folks at Rogue Amoeba are researching this and hope to have an update to restore compatibility. In the meantime, if you want to use MakeiPhoneRingtone it is recommended you stick with iTunes 7.4.1.
Does it work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1?
Apparently though you can add ringtones with the new firmware; you can’t play them so it seems like Apple has fixed the hack which was discovered by Cleverboy. So you say that MakeiPhoneRingtone does not work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
Requirements: This works only on Mac OS X
How much does it cost? Its free
For more details: Click here
Hackers website: Click here
Ringtonator Studio
Ringtonator is a simple drag and drop application that will turn any AAC file into an ringtone in iTunes so it can be synced back to your iPhone and vice versa. Like the MakeiPhoneRingtone, Ringtonator also makes use of the more stable "stik" method of creating ringtones.
Compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2:
iPhone hacker, Joe has recently released new version of Ringtonator called Ringtonator Studio (v1.5) which not only makes it compatible with iTunes 7.4.2 it also accept any Quicktime formats and let you crop your tunes, and then translate them directly into ringtones.
Does it work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1?
Apparently though you can add ringtones with the new firmware; you don’t see them in the list of Ringtones on the iPhone quiet similar to what is being observed with MakeiPhoneRingtones.
Requirements: This works only on Mac OS X
How much does it cost? Its free
For more details: Click here
Hackers website: Click here
iFuntastic
One of the reasons for iFuntastic being so popular has been due to the fact that it was one of the first GUI based hacks which made adding custom ringtones to your iPhone a breeze in comparison to the lengthy and complicated 23 step hacking process.
Compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2:
iFuntastic v3.5.5 is apparently not compatible with iTunes 7.4.2, I am sure bitSplit, the iPhone hacking genius would be working hard to fix this as soon as possible so until if you want to use iFuntastic you are better off sticking with iTunes 7.4.1.
Does it work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1?
iFuntastic like all third-party applications does not work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
Requirements: This works only on Mac OS X
How much does it cost? Its free
For more details: Click here
Hackers website: Click here
iBrickr
iBrickr is more like the windows version of iFuntastic for Mac users. The Windows application that makes it dead simple to add and manage custom ringtones on your iPhone.
Compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2:
iBrickr version 0.8 seems to be work with iTunes 7.4.2 only if you put the old version of iTunesMobileDevice.dll into the iBrickr application folder. Here is the link to the older DLL file in case you want to check it out.
Does it work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1?
iBrickr like all third-party applications does not work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
Requirements: This works on Windows
How much does it cost? Its free
Hackers website: Click here
Song Sender
Song Sender as the name suggests is an iPhone application that allows you to not only send a song from your iPhone library to a friend via email or use it as a ringtone.
Compatibility with iTunes 7.4.2:
Not applicable as all you need to do is to get Song Sender on your iPhone and it should work.
Does it work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1?
Song Sender like all third-party applications does not works with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
Requirements: Not applicable
How much does it cost? Its free
For more details: Click here
The other ways of adding custom ringtones is using SSH/File transfer and other is Apple’s iTunes 7.4.2 itself however in case of the former it did not fall in the category of iPhone applications or hacks which explicitly helped you add custom ringtones to your iPhone and as for iTunes 7.4.2 you need to pay 99c per song to add it as ringtone (assuming you already have bought the song) and the idea of this article was to provide you with the alternatives though I have added it as one of the options to the poll question below.
In the last poll on whether you will pay the additional 99c to Apple for a ringtone, the readers had emphatically voted in favor of the free iPhone hacks. Now that we have all the possible options that you could use to add custom ringtones to your iPhone and we know how it all works with iTunes 7.4.2 its time for the latest poll at iPhone Hacks: Which iPhone Application will you use to add custom ringtones to your iPhone?
It will be very interesting to find out and could also be used by new iPhone owners to figure out which application they should use.
Update (30th Sept):
The bad news for all those who have updated their iPhone firmware to 1.1.1 and looking to add custom ringtones is that NONE of the iPhone applications listed above will work with iPhone firmware 1.1.1.
If you are really desperate then you could look to downgrade the firmware to 1.0.2. I would recommend that you wait for the hackers to fix their applications to work with firmware 1.1.1 rather than using the downgrade option.
In case you are one of those who hasn’t updated the firmware and would like to add custom ringtones then you should NOT update your iPhone’s firmware to 1.1.1.
