iPhone Tips & Tricks: Fix for iPhone's low ringer volume

One of the complaints of the iPhone, probably the most hyped gadgets ever created, has surprisingly been iPhone's low ringer volume. It seems to be well below the standard, in terms of volume, established by other mobile handsets.

Most of the users have blamed iPhone's tiny speakers to be the culprit of this problem. However, as per folks at iPhoneAlley, the culprit could be the audio itself and not the speaker.

So if you are one of those who finds your iPhone's ringer volume too low then here is a tip for you. Your iPhone's ringer volume issue can be resolved by using a custom ringtone rather than ringtones currently available on the iPhone and more importantly the ringtone should be a loud, high frequency audio.

To make your life easier Michael Johnston from iPhoneAlley also has given the details of where to find this high frequency audio. If you have a MAC then you don't need to look any further as you can find it on your MAC itself.

After some searching, he found the simple "ring" he was looking for in the track aptly called "Cell Phone Ringing" thanks to GarageBand's free audio tracks. The track can be found at the following location:

/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/iLife Sound Effects/Work - Home/Cell Phone Ringing.aif
(Those with Windows PC can probably ask their friends who have a MAC to send the audio to them as I could not find it on the internet to provide you with the link)

You need to use one of the iPhone Hacks mentioned below to get this audio as the custom ringtone on your iPhone:

• iFuntastic if you have a Intel-MAC (see iPhoneHacks.com, iFuntastic 2.1: Get custom ringtones, change carrier logo, reorder app icons on your iPhone)

• iBrickr or iPhoneRingToneMaker for Windows PC (see iPhoneHacks.com, Installing iPhone hacks made easy with hands-on tutorial - Windows Edition or iPhone RingToneMaker: Custom ringtones for your iPhone made simpler)

You will be pleasantly surprised how well you can hear your iPhone's ringer once you have "Cell Phone Ringing" as your ringtone.

Thanks Michael for the latest iPhone tip!

Folks! I don't have an iPhone yet to check this out (iPhone still to be launched in Europe) so do let me know in the comments below if this solves the low ringer volume problem for you.

Update: Greg Geller from FutureMusic, a reader @ iPhoneHacks.com has just sent an enhanced version of Cell_Phone_Ringing.aif file. This is what he had to say:

I took the Cell_Phone_Ringing.aif file that you suggested and utilizing some of the latest software from our studios, I was able to increase the volume significantly while enhancing the sonic frequencies to sharpen its character as well. I also shortened the time between rings to two seconds. Enjoy!

Excellent stuff Greg! Thanks a ton for send this in. You can download the enhanced version of "Cell Phone Ringing" from this link .

[via iPhoneAlley]

Don't forget to rate this post:

Comments

[Steven]

I agree completely. Two great high-pitched ringtones I enjoy are five seconds of the electronic soundstrack from "Space 1999" and the repeating flashback siren sound from "Kill Bill". The latter is so loud it freaks me out when the iPhone rings!

[Chris]

I set the bridge of 11AM by Incubus as my ringtone. it's definitely loud enough, but the bass seems to be a little distorted when it plays. Any ideas?

[Arthur Freydin]

almost any ringtone I've tested sounds much louder than apple's stock tones.
currently, I use the theme for American Beauty for my girlfriend's ring and a couple others for other people. Every ringtone sounds louder than stock.

[Christian]

For the bass in the phone's speaker... Drop the ringtone in Garageband, (try Soundforge 'PC', or try Audacity 'MAC') run a graphic equalizer or something of that nature and cut out any frequency below about 80-100Hz Those frequencies will just muddy up the speaker, especially a bass-heavy mix. I don't have time to give a step by step, but try decreasing the bass.

As for the volume of Apple's stock ringtones: They are no where near the industry standard of 0dbs. I've made sure to normalize the audio for ringtones going into my phone to THIS level (0dbs), the result... the phone produces more than adequate volume. I've had my phone maxed out and really couldn't hear it before. Now most all ringtones sound loud. (and good, aka no buzzing or cracking in the speaker)

WARNING: Most "warm" or "mellow" sounding songs and tones are not going to produce enough of the frequencies that cut through the noise of everyday life. Songs that are classified as ringtones, such as those that download strait to the phone, have been very "adjusted" to cut through. Not just conversion happens in this process, but boosts and cuts in key frequencies. I guess Apple didn't get the memo.

WARNING: Louder is better, Right? If 0dbs is good, how about +10dbs! Not a good idea, overtime you WILL hurt your speaker. There is a reason it's called an "industry standard" anything above 0dbs is not recommended.

Lastly, no worries. I think I speak for most to say that the iPhone's "pros" far outweigh it "cons."

[Reg]

It's Mac, not MAC.

(Unless you are SHOUTING or referring to Media Access Control.)

Mac is an abbreviation of Macintosh, not an acronym.

[Kendrick]

ya i used to have a blackjack and it played loud ringtones just fine. i used the same song for the iphone and it sounds horrible. i tried reducing the base as much as i could, but it doesnt work.

[Kendrick]

ya i used to have a blackjack and it played loud ringtones just fine. i used the same song for the iphone and it sounds horrible. i tried reducing the base as much as i could, but it doesnt work.

[shawn]

the modded "Cell Phone Ringing" works very well...

thanks!

[john rogersonsteinsberger]

^ Christian thinks hes bad ass for correcting you for such a small meaningless error.

[Mike]

^ Shawn think's he's badass for pointing it out.

[Mike]

^ Shawn think's he's badass for pointing it out.

[Mike]

^ Shawn think's he's badass for pointing it out.

[Bedok]

^ Mike thinks he's badass for triple posting.

[AlKu]

you guys are nuts :P

[shane blyth]

"You can download the enhanced version of "Cell Phone Ringing"

ok so what do i do with this file when it has been downloaded... sorry i am new at this
cheers

[Miakosan]

Friends, please don't kill me an once :) . As "shane blyth" I am a new user of iPhone and almost destroyed it by installing iFantastic just to get the file inside device :(
What should I do to get it work, if I have:
1) iPhone vers. 1.1.1 (3A109a);
2) Mac OS Leopard with iTunes vers 7.6 (29);
3) file "Cell_Phone_Ringing.aif" on my Mac and not on my iPhone?

Thanks!

[Miakosan]

Hello!
I converted my own file Loud.mp3 to format m4a by program Switch Plus, and transfered it to iPhone by iNdependens 1.3.1. It is now on the iPhones sound list as Loud.m4r (as all other sound files there with an extention m4r), but... it does not work (no sound at all). I can hear only original sounds from the list. What I did wrong?
Thanks!

[Gustavo]

thanks, this really works, but do you have any other enhanced ringtones available ?

[Rich Cook]

HEre's how to get ringtones onto your iPhone if you have a Mac without hacking the iphone!
How to make ringtones with iTunes 7.6 and iPhone 1.1.3.

Apple has stopped allowing mp3s to work with iPhone ringtones. Also, ringtones need to be "short" (< 30sec? make 29 secs or less in iTunes)

How To:

1) Copy out songs or files to a folder and open them with QuickTime player.
2) Shorten them to 29 seconds
3) Export them to AIFF format
4) Import aiff files into iTunes.
5) Convert them to AAC format.
6) Copy aac files out to folder. They will have .m4a extension.
7) Change their m4a extension to m4r
8) Delete the original aac files from iTunes
9) Empty the trash
10) Drag the m4r files onto iTunes. They should appear into ringtones area and get put onto phone next sync.

[elmo]

I am new to the iphone. I have 16G and used ziphone. i downloaded some stuff thru the installer but now i can't see my calendar icon. please help. thank you
k_hundred@yahoo.com

[Adam]

hey I got an 8 gb and I used iliberty does anyone know how to make edge work