Relaxed App Store rules now allow iPhone ringtone creators

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's newly published App Store Review Guidelines have paved the way for custom ringtone creation applications from third-party developers on the iPhone.



As noted this week by MobileCrunch, a number of ringtone creation applications have hit the App Store since the official App Store Review Guidelines were published earlier this month. One option, the 99-cent Ringtone Designer Pro (iTunes link), is one of the top paid applications on the iPhone.



"Since the early days of the App Store, applications that allow users to make ringtones from songs on their handsets have either inexplicably sat on hold or were outright denied," author Greg Kumparak wrote. "And yet, here we are; as of right now, there are no less than 5 different ringtone making apps sitting in the App Store."



The change also arrived as Apple removed the ability to create and cut custom ringtones in iTunes 10. Ringtones are still available on the iTunes store, but the 69-cent purchases come in the form of a pre-cut 30-second clip.



In 2007, soon after the iPhone was launched, Apple added ringtones to the iTunes Store. Users were initially able to create custom ringtones from over 500,000 participating, licensed tracks.



The feature required customers to purchase a participating song from iTunes, and then spend another 99 cents to make up to a 30-second segment of the song into a ringtone.







But there were also a number of tools and methods that customers could use to make their own ringtones, recognized by iTunes and synced to an iPhone with the .m4r file extension. Users could also make their own free custom ringtones through Apple's own GarageBand application.



Apple's publication of the App Store Review Guidelines was accompanied by the company's relaxation of certain rules for software on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Earlier this week, those changes marked the return of Google Voice software to the App Store, more than a year after Apple removed applications that used Google's telephony service.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    About time! Otherwise a brilliant phone, but it's almost impossible to change message tone. Hopefully this will make it doable for non-techies.
  • Reply 2 of 18
    Indeed... great news. This is what happens when you have competition. Go AAPL!
  • Reply 3 of 18
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Matthias03 View Post


    Indeed... great news. This is what happens when you have competition. Go AAPL!



    Agreed. While I will continue to have/use an iPhone for quite sometime I wish success for Palm, Android, and Windows Mobile 7 just to keep Apple honest.



    BlackBerry, not so much....
  • Reply 4 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by razorpit View Post


    Agreed. While I will continue to have/use an iPhone for quite sometime I wish success for Palm, Android, and Windows Mobile 7 just to keep Apple honest.



    BlackBerry, not so much....



    Actually, it's Apple that has motivated those companies to innovate and change. (I'd say Apple was keeping them 'honest', but where's the evidence MS, RIM, etc., had any honesty to 'keep'?)
  • Reply 5 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mister Snitch View Post


    Actually, it's Apple that has motivated those companies to innovate and change. (I'd say Apple was keeping them 'honest', but where's the evidence MS, RIM, etc., had any honesty to 'keep'?)



    While I agree with you to, the circle goes round and round. Palm mainstreamed the PDA market, destroying the "Casio clones" in the process. Then WINCE came out and caught Palm off-guard while they were dragging their feet. Next Apple came and caught MS while they were dragging their feet. Recently though I think Apple to a certain point have been dragging their feet. While we don't know what has been going on behind the scenes, competition has come in and has opened possibilities which weren't available at the time on the iPhone. I'm not saying Apple isn't an innovator, but who would argue the App store was better a month ago than today since all of these rules have been relaxed?
  • Reply 6 of 18
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member
    Well i wish there is a free app that does 30sec........
  • Reply 7 of 18
    But you still can't create a ringtone and save it on your iPhone. You have to sync with a computer that is dedicated to syncing your Apps. This a big limitation, since it mean you can only do it from the 1 computer that you sync with. If you create a ringtone on the go, you still have to go back home. Also why can you only sync your apps with 1 computer to begin with?
  • Reply 8 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by phasornc View Post


    Also why can you only sync your apps with 1 computer to begin with?



    Because iTunes sucks and needs to be re written from the ground-up, or even better a new cloud based iTunes where you can sync from any computer.
  • Reply 9 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by phasornc View Post


    Also why can you only sync your apps with 1 computer to begin with?



    To Prevent Piracy.
  • Reply 10 of 18
    Thinking back on Apple's history. A lot of their stuff have been copied, but they continued almost not even being in the race, (PC wise).



    That is truly not the case Phone wise. They have probably made some money for Blackberry recently.



    They have of course given Google, Samsung, HTC, Dell, and Palm/HP a new and better direction in which to go.



    They have shown Nokia that numbers isn't everything.



    And they have proved to Microsoft, that they have to admit how important it was to have a weak Apple around to copy and take advantage of.



    But sadly ( for ALL of the above ) those days are SOON coming to an end. Apple might be kind in making FaceTime available to all. But that will just be to cement the fact that FaceTime will displace not only iChat. But also Skype will start to loose their luster. And in 2-3 years will probably go by the wayside.



    What will happen in 2011 will also not be so pretty. Apple will start closing the gate behind them and putting a big lock on it.

    Their new chip was only the beginning.

    Their new products will be dramatically different once the use that Liquid Metal stuff. People love new shining stuff. Add incredible strength to it, and put a price on it that others cannot beat. Also, use this on all your products ranging from $1000.00 down to $100.00.

    Their competitors can only do this with help or either the Carriers, Google, or Microsoft softening the cost. Apple will need nothing like this. They will have whatever product you need at the price point that will fit just right.



    And, I am sure those other guys will be happy to hear this. But, they seriously are just now getting started. They don't have to wait to see what the other guys are doing. They ARE the other guys, ( and it almost looks like the only guys that are doing anything ).



    About time for some worrying I would say.



    Oh, and by the way Google. I would remember what S. Jobs meant when he said that you got into the phone market.



    Just my 3 cents worth.
  • Reply 11 of 18
    Ringtones: WORST. INVENTION. EVER!!!!
  • Reply 12 of 18
    Well you can create ringtones with itunes itself. its pretty easy too. In fact, there's a app that explains the process on how to do it.
  • Reply 13 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by phasornc View Post


    But you still can't create a ringtone and save it on your iPhone. You have to sync with a computer that is dedicated to syncing your Apps. This a big limitation, since it mean you can only do it from the 1 computer that you sync with. If you create a ringtone on the go, you still have to go back home. Also why can you only sync your apps with 1 computer to begin with?



    Holy crap.



    In iPhone Settings there should be a system setting in sounds to choose custom ringtone, and make it right on the phone with the OS, without an app. And it should just work. This current "solution" is none at all. No wonder some people choose Android. If Apple had any sense they would have done this and a few other things long ago.



    No custom text sounds? I mean, come the fuck on Apple. Given us a new option to choose which of the "6" sounds I want person a to have it an insult. Please allow us to add more custom sounds right on the phone or at least in iTunes, or even give us more sounds.
  • Reply 14 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Futuristic View Post


    Ringtones: WORST. INVENTION. EVER!!!!



    People talking on the phone in public, loudly, can be far more rude.
  • Reply 15 of 18
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mgl323 View Post


    Well you can create ringtones with itunes itself. its pretty easy too. In fact, there's a app that explains the process on how to do it.



    You're talking through your preverbal ass.
  • Reply 16 of 18
    Yeah yeah yeah.... Customized ringtones... While in my place of work, I heard my friend's Nokia's sounded like a transformer when it received a text message.... I also wished that Apple allows a customized Message Alert, be it a text message, mail, or some custom push alert sound... (so we can distinguished which pushed apps is "ringing")
  • Reply 17 of 18
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    You're talking through your preverbal ass.



    That seems unnecessarily surly seeings how you can, in fact, easily make ring tones with iTunes. Apple removed the explicit ringtone maker in iTunes 10 (probably because no one was using it) but it's pretty simple to extract a 30 sec clip and export in an iPhone friendly format (non-DRM tracks, of course).
  • Reply 18 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Garamond View Post


    About time! Otherwise a brilliant phone, but it's almost impossible to change message tone. Hopefully this will make it doable for non-techies.



    You can make your own for free in iTunes and it couldn't be easier. IMO, ringtones are a solution in search of a problem. WTF is the deal the all the loud annoying ringtones people put on their phones. I do have 1 special ringtone installed though. 30 seconds of silence for a call block list. You make my block list, my phone doesn't ring when you call.
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