• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Problem with custom contact ringtones

I don't think this is unique to android of samsung. I have had several Nokia with this problem and eventually I sussed it out. It is to do with duplicates. If there are two contacts with the same number it gets confused - and uses default or last used. you may noe know about a second one, but for example if you have an ICE number (in case of emergency) as you home number, then when you home rings does it go with the "home" contact of the "ICE" contact?

I guess the fact that this comes back for some people is that the phone is constanly synchin contacts - almost guaranteed to create duplicates at some point.
 
We had the same issue of playing the default ring tone when a custom was selected. Somehow contact information was mingled and we found that other contacts had the same phone numbers. For example when I called from my cell to my wife's it showed a completely different friend was calling but, showed the number as mine. We had to go in and clean this up so, only one number for one contact.

I have no idea how this happened nor if this is your issue but it is simple to identify all you need to do is call from the number you have a special ring tone set up for and see if shows from a different contact when ringing.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for all your continued help everyone. I've cleaned up duplicate numbers - no joy. Tried ringo - didn't solve the problem either.

I think I've just about tried everything possible. Still no solution from Samsung or Android.

Now I think it's time for the only thing I know will solve this problem.....a different phone! :(
 
:thumbup:This worked for me; at least it has so far. Thanks for the tip! If it goes south on me, I'll post further.

JETSGS2 said:
Okay, so here it is...
Same exact thing has happened to my wife's phone, but not mine. We even went to the store and tried a brand new phone and same thing! But...We just figured it out! Okay, so here we go...

Edit: If you are not a user of Google contacts, then do not do the merge described below because this will overwrite your phone contacts with your google contacts. Only do this step if all your Google contacts are up to date and include all contacts in your phone.

From within your computer, go to your Google contacts, the is a "My Contacts" label. At the bottom, there is an "Other" label. Somewhere in there are duplicates, so the phone doesn't know which to assign the cutom ringtone to. Go through and clean up all Google contacts, plus add the "My Contacts" to any contact that doesn't have it. Then delete any from the "other" list and any doubles in the contacts. Then, on your phone, open contacts and go to menu-more-settings-save new contacts to, and select Google. (Trust me on this one...PLASE DO THIS.) Then go to contacts, menu, and select Merge with Google. (You may lose contacts that you've put in your phone from your phone, but this is the only time this will happen.) From this point on, anything done in the Google contacts will instantly update in your phone and vise-versa, but more importantly, your ringtones should work when assigned to individual contacts.

If that doesn't work, let me know, there is one other thing to try. Good Luck!

Joe
Samsung Galaxy S2
Click to expand...
 
Hi Ruth.

I think i know what is happening, although i dont have the solution.

Pay attention:

I had the same problem in my Samsung Galaxy 5 (happened almost in 30-40% of the cases)
I have the same problem in My Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (very seldom though, only in about 1-2%).
The Galaxy Ace 2 has better processor, an much much larger RAM!

Look what was the case.

I once noticed than when my wife called (which has a spesific ring tone, different than the default), the phone first displayed the phone number of my wife (and not the name) and after a few moments, the name (because my wife is off course in the contacts).

Now i think you realize what is happening:

the phone tries to retrieve from the list if the number is known.
But for some reason it has a delay.
And if the delay is too much, the phone says "WTF, i' m gonna ring anyway, so let's play the default ringtone". because the urgent thing is to ring.

I think that is the reason.

Having the Samsung Galaxy 5, with a very bad RAM, it is no surprise it is happening, It is too slow to retrieve in no time the contact. Try sometimes your self to display your contacts. You will notice a delay.
So i tried a solution: i tried to keep my contacts on my RAM:
I display my contacts and then i press Home (and not Back!). So the contacts are "running" on background. The next time you display the contacts it is happening in zero time! And the bug happens very rare!
I also tried to make my contacts more "light" in data (smaller photos or even smaller ringtones, i mean less data)

Now with my new phone things seem to be much much beter because of the much better hardware. But sometimes ecen mya ace 2 seems to delay to display the contacts.Sometimes, very rare though, i have the problem again.

The absolute solution, is to make a pathch that delays the call, in order to give the time to the phone to retrieve the contact.

I hope i 'm helping with this
 
Thank you for your reply!

I think you're definitely on to something here. Let's face it - there seems to be no other possible explanation or solution, and this fits in with my experience: I have also noticed sometimes only the number displays before the name/picture on some calls (followed by the wrong ringtone!).

I will try your suggestion of making my contacts lighter - although we shouldn't have to do this, the phone should be able to cope! Also, I'll try shortening some of my ringtones. I'll try to keep contacts running also, which may be an important step towards a temporary solution.

I have no idea how to make a patch that delays the call, and as you say, if this IS the problem, then that may be the only permanent solution.

So, if I understand you correctly, the phone needs to hold the call momentarily, until it has collected all the data of the caller i.e. ringtone, picture, number, name etc?

I really think this could well be the reason for this fault. Now - how to fix it....?
 
Thank you for your reply.
I 'm wodering what model you have (RAM, Processor etc).
With my new phone (Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, 768MB RAM and dual core processor), that i have for 2 months, it only occured 4 or 5 times.
So practically, I do not need a solution. It is a rare phenomenon.
Try to keep contacts on background running, by pressing contacts and then the Home key (not the Back key). And if you open a new app (e,g. weather), at the end do it again: Contacts and Home key.
I 'm curious if it works Ruth.
 
I have the same problem - Custom contacts don't allways play.
So does my wife any ANYONE who has an Android phone.
This problem appears even in Android 4 versions.

now being a programmer myself, although not and Android dev, I believe this is a bug in the basic Android source code, and therefore CANNOT be fixed by any app or external "trick". It can ONLY be resolved if the bug is located in the original code and the code being modified to fix this issue.

I believe the problem has nothing to do Google contacts, sound format bla bla bla...

According to my gut feeling and programming experience, the problem lays in the simple annoying fact that sometimes the Android system cannot find the file to be played or cannot "decide" which to play.

You see, in Androids root directory there's a folder named
"System/media/audio/ringtones"
Also, on your USB storage there's another folder called
"sdcard/media/audio/ringtones"

Notice the identical part: "/media/audio/ringtones".
If the "sdcard" prefix is used, it will relate to your custom tones.
If the "System" prefix is used, it will relate to the built in tones.

Now, imagine a case where a call comes in and the tone you've assigned to it is... dunno... say "Pokerface_GaGa.ogg", BUT because of the bug the phone looks for this file in the OTHER path!! it looks for "System/media/audio/ringtones/Pokerface_GaGa.ogg" and since that file DOES NOT EXIST it reverts to the default ringtone.

To summarize this issue, the Android OS has a messup when dealing with the contact custom ringtone path. It sometimes uses a wrong file path and therefore cannot find the specific file so it plays the default ringtone. This is because initially the code does not utilize the correct FULL PATH all the way through. This is bad programming practice.

Sure the Android dev guys ( those who actually work at Google developing the next version ) CAN fix it. It requires to review the source code in a debugging environment and locating where the potential to messup can occur - and fix it. but for some reason this is neglected.

This is all only my theory...

Since my phone is rooted What I am going to try is:

1. Converting all my custom tones to ogg format
2. Transfering them to the folder where the Systems ones are

Again, you can only write to this folder if your device is rooted.
If this solution does not help - Then I will eat my hat and admit I was wrong :-)

But it's worth a shot!!
 
zvigrunb said:
I have the same problem - Custom contacts don't allways play.
So does my wife any ANYONE who has an Android phone.
This problem appears even in Android 4 versions.

now being a programmer myself, although not and Android dev, I believe this is a bug in the basic Android source code, and therefore CANNOT be fixed by any app or external "trick". It can ONLY be resolved if the bug is located in the original code and the code being modified to fix this issue.

I believe the problem has nothing to do Google contacts, sound format bla bla bla...

According to my gut feeling and programming experience, the problem lays in the simple annoying fact that sometimes the Android system cannot find the file to be played or cannot "decide" which to play.

You see, in Androids root directory there's a folder named
"System/media/audio/ringtones"
Also, on your USB storage there's another folder called
"sdcard/media/audio/ringtones"

Notice the identical part: "/media/audio/ringtones".
If the "sdcard" prefix is used, it will relate to your custom tones.
If the "System" prefix is used, it will relate to the built in tones.

Now, imagine a case where a call comes in and the tone you've assigned to it is... dunno... say "Pokerface_GaGa.ogg", BUT because of the bug the phone looks for this file in the OTHER path!! it looks for "System/media/audio/ringtones/Pokerface_GaGa.ogg" and since that file DOES NOT EXIST it reverts to the default ringtone.

To summarize this issue, the Android OS has a messup when dealing with the contact custom ringtone path. It sometimes uses a wrong file path and therefore cannot find the specific file so it plays the default ringtone. This is because initially the code does not utilize the correct FULL PATH all the way through. This is bad programming practice.

Sure the Android dev guys ( those who actually work at Google developing the next version ) CAN fix it. It requires to review the source code in a debugging environment and locating where the potential to messup can occur - and fix it. but for some reason this is neglected.

This is all only my theory...

Since my phone is rooted What I am going to try is:

1. Converting all my custom tones to ogg format
2. Transfering them to the folder where the Systems ones are

Again, you can only write to this folder if your device is rooted.
If this solution does not help - Then I will eat my hat and admit I was wrong :-)

But it's worth a shot!!
Click to expand...

Don't eat your hat, putting .ogg files in /system definitely works :p :p
I'v been doing that for the last 2 years!
 
ayush29k said:
Don't eat your hat, putting .ogg files in /system definitely works :p :p
I'v been doing that for the last 2 years!
Click to expand...

Well, I myself have tried what I recommended and was totaly amazed that... It didn't help!! :o:confused:

Wow... I put all my ogg ringtones in the system folder, alongside with the built in ones, DELETED all tones from the external folder (No chance phone "Can't find" anymore) and today, my wife called in and the stupid device played the default tone... Ha Ha..

what can I say other than I like to keep my promises,
so I'm off to buy a hat :-) :smokingsomb:

I do have a theory though why them Google Guys don't care and just ain't fixin' it... That's because they're using Iphones... :)
 
zvigrunb said:
Well, I myself have tried what I recommended and was totaly amazed that... It didn't help!! :o:confused:

Wow... I put all my ogg ringtones in the system folder, alongside with the built in ones, DELETED all tones from the external folder (No chance phone "Can't find" anymore) and today, my wife called in and the stupid device played the default tone... Ha Ha..

what can I say other than I like to keep my promises,
so I'm off to buy a hat :-) :smokingsomb:

I do have a theory though why them Google Guys don't care and just ain't fixin' it... That's because they're using Iphones... :)
Click to expand...

Did you set the permissions correctly?

I don't know why people are having this problem, i never had trouble setting a ringtone. When i was on stock, i put it in the sd card and it used to work, later when i rooted i started adding them in the rom itself, keeps the sd card clean.
For rooted users:
Convert your mp3 files into ogg.
Use a root explorer app, navigate to the directory /system/media/audio/ringtones, place the ringtone here.
Set the permissions as
rw-
r--
r--
and reboot. You should now have the option to set that new tone in the settings menu.
You can also add alarms, notifications or UI(replace the tone only, cannot add 2 tones for the same function, requires renaming the tone to the appropriate function) tones like this.
 
May I just use this thread to ask about ringtones for incoming text messages [not phone calls]. On a previous phone I was able to *set particular ringtones to certain individuals for text*. While I can set ringtones for incoming phone calls I cannot set different ringtones to different texters.
Any ideas please.
thanks,
 
My phone is Samsung Ace Duos , model no GT-S6802.

I am facing a critical problem. My phone automatically came to vibrate mode after receiving incoming call.
I increase the ring tone by pressing left side up button, then the ring tone increased. After that when coming any incoming call then it rangs with increased ring volume and after receiving the call or dropping the call again it comes to vibrate mode as i set my vibrate mode "always".
Previously it was ok, but why i dont know for last 7 days I am facing this problem.

Please help. I did googling a lot but found no clue.
 
If anyone cares I haven't had the problem described in the OP since I changed the format of all my contact numbers to +1##########, they work every time now ringing the ringtone I assigned to that contact. Hope that helps someone. Any other format I tried (###) ###-#### and ########## gave me the problems as mentioned in the OP.
 
I've had issues for months with this. I've been running various nightly builds of CM 11 so I just chalked it up to that. Phone is ATT SGS3

I did a full erase and flash to latest CM yesterday to clean things up and get the latest CM Kit Kat rom. This effort did not resolve the issues with contact assigned ringtones.

I finally think I have fixed it by removing the phone group from the profiles. The profile manager was overriding the assigned ringtone. When I turned profiles off the correct ringtone would play. Removing the phone group from the profile manager had the same result and that has been my solution so far. Profiles are under settings/personal on CM 11.
 
Like you, I scoured the earth for an answer to this issue. I've cleared app and media device cache and data [if that sentence makes sense]; converted my mp3s to ogg; rebooted x times; turned off "Okay Google" feature; have the latest and greatest sdcard; sacrificed a goat to Odin; ext...

I created an account to tell you I've found something that works for me - hopefully it will for you. Unfortunately I did two things at once, so I can't say which one is the answer [bad scientist I know].

I deleted my "Ringtone" folder off of my sdcard. I rebooted. I reinstalled Ringtone folder as "ringtone" [with lower case!]. Rebooted phone. Reassigned everything, and viola!
 
OP Ruth has probably gone on to a new phone and left this thread, enjoying custom ringtones and whatnot, as it's been over three years (!!!) since his first post. But I'd just like to add to the small choir a few things:

1) This is not a Samsung thing. I've noticed this with my phone for the first time in my 16 months of using it just yesterday. The phone? A Nexus 5, stock, unrooted, (though bootloader unlocked once to flash factory image of Lollipop 5.0, last November). So, not an SD card issue, methinks. An issue of renaming the folder to little 'r' 'ringtone' (casperPen) - I'll try that; an issue of using .0gg files and using root access to put them in the system's original ringtones folder (ayush29k) - I may try that later, too.

2) As Nikos1972 and zvigrunb surmise, I believe this is an issue of the Contacts process not acting fast enough (or sometimes at all) when a call comes, and choosing the default ringtone. Because what has changed with my phone 'suddenly' for this issue to arise? Well, nothing sudden at all, but just the increased annoying prevalence of my memory leak issue (a separate, dogged issue that Google claims they will address in 5.0.2, or 5.0.3, or 5.1, or whatever the next update for Nexus 5 will be [also rumored to arrive end of February - where is it!?]), which leads the system to caching a lot of processes, but actually just hogs a lot of RAM (up to 1 GB), leaving little space to keep background apps and processes running when new apps and processes begin. So I've noticed the wrong ringtones when I was listening to music while surfing on Chrome, or playing some RAM-intensive game at the same time.

3) This forum thread was the top Google result for 'android custom ringtone not working', and I haven't explored elsewhere yet but just read this thread... and now that I've searched the same thing on my computer, I get some different results pertaining particularly to Nexus 5s, so I'll be going there now...
 
If ruth5662 and anyone else are still having a problem getting selected ringtones for specific contacts to work try this - tap on phone icon, select "logs", find a call from the person you want to assign a specific ringtone, tap and hold until "selected" appears, tap on dots at top right of screen and select "view contact", select "edit" and scroll down to "ringtone". It should show as "default" not the ringtone you assigned to it. Tap and then select the ringtone you want to assign to this person and then "save". When that person calls you it should ring with the correct ringtone and not revert back to the default one. This worked for my Samsung Galaxy s5. I found the solution after constantly searching the Internet for help. I hope it works for others with the same problem.
 
Last edited:
I've had my S5 for two weeks and have had the same frustrating results. Aside from rooting and in the absence of SD card I've tried most everything suggested so far in this forum. I finally went to my sound setting and selected "Silent" as my default for both ringtone and notification. Now I have the daunting task of assigning custom sounds for my contacts. If one isn't assigned immediately I'll have Vibrate as my indicator till something else gets figured out. But for now it seems to be working for those with custom tones assigned. Holding my breath for a positive duration. Didn't have this problem with my s3. Whether I used Zedge or anything other than Samsung.
 
Kaybru said:
I've had my S5 for two weeks and have had the same frustrating results. Aside from rooting and in the absence of SD card I've tried most everything suggested so far in this forum. I finally went to my sound setting and selected "Silent" as my default for both ringtone and notification. Now I have the daunting task of assigning custom sounds for my contacts. If one isn't assigned immediately I'll have Vibrate as my indicator till something else gets figured out. But for now it seems to be working for those with custom tones assigned. Holding my breath for a positive duration. Didn't have this problem with my s3. Whether I used Zedge or anything other than Samsung.
Click to expand...
Update on my last post - ringtones are still working with this method BUT notifications are not responding to the same work-around. Only partially frustrated now.
 
Ruth5662 said:
Hi,

I am having the problem where I have set custom ringtones for some of my contacts, but they are not always being played as they are assigned.

I have all of my ringtones in an folder on my sd card (/sdcard/media/audio/ringtones). I have a custom ringtone set as default and other custom ringtones set for a few of my contacts. However, when I receive a call the phone will only occasionally play the correct ringtone. Most times it plays either the default ringtone, or the ringtone assigned to the last person that called (this last option being more common).

I have googled this problem extensively, and seen similar posts on this and other websites, but nowhere have a I found a solution to the problem.

Is there such a solution, and if not, how do we get the developers to fix a bug, if that's what it is?

I would be grateful for any help, this issue is driving me crazy!
Click to expand...
I had a similar problem and solved it by deleting my ringtone folder from my SD card and pasting my ringtones directly into the ringtone folder on the phone's ringtone folder. Worked a treat!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom