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Custom SMS without Jailbreak

Should iPhone allow custom SMS sounds?

  • Yes

    Votes: 75 97.4%

  • No

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • Total voters
    77
P

prestomusic

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 26, 2010
138
0
Brisbane, Australia
How to do it? Petition Apple of course...

The 'direct feedback' route hasn't seemed to work so far. So maybe a collective voice might be a better option?

This issue certainly seems to rile a lot of iPhone users so let's do something about it:

1. Sign the petition at this link

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/custom-sms-alert-sounds-for-iphone/

2. Email the link to all the iPhone users you know, asking them to sign too

3. Answer the poll in this thread


Maybe, just maybe if enough people do this we might get what we want.
Many Thanks!
 
Apple doesn't respond to petitions, they respond to sales, and for the past 3 years the iPhone has been selling very well without custom SMS tones. I'm sure Apple has custom SMS tones on their list of things to implement, but its obviously far down the list, and its far down my list of thing I would like to see iOS implement as well.
 
Last edited:
Sure it's annoying, but you really think an online petition (name one time those have actually done anything) is better that directly contacting Apple?
 
I dont see the big deal with custom SMS tones. Whenever apple puts something out some people are never going to be happy with it. I guess its hard to make everyone happy.
 
The draw of custom SMS tones is that I don't have to check my phone every time I hear the only decent tone that every iphone user has. When I hang out with friends and 4 or 5 of us have iphones it gets annoying wondering who got the text.
 
I'm happy with my generic SMS tone...I used to put my own on my old Verizon phones and they get REALLY old and annoying after a while. Though, I would love to have a Zelda tone for select people.
 
Interstella5555 said:
Sure it's annoying, but you really think an online petition (name one time those have actually done anything) is better that directly contacting Apple?
Click to expand...

Maybe? Like I said, direct feedback hasn't worked to date, so...?

Maybe most people wouldn't be bothered to email Apple because they figure their email will disappear into the abyss once they click 'send'. With an online petition it's public and the results are there for all to see.

I don't see the harm in trying.
 
saving107 said:
Apple doesn't respond to petitions, they respond to sales, and for the past 3 years the iPhone has been selling very well without custom SMS tones. I'm sure Apple has custom SMS tones on their list of things to implement, but its obviously far down the list, and its far down my list of thing I would like to see iOS implement as well.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but the question was 'Should Apple allow custom SMS?' not 'is custom SMS currently the most important omission on iOS?'

Obviously there is a tonne of more important features that could be improved or included.
 
prestomusic said:
he he:D

on the contrary, in this case it couldn't be easier to make 'us' happy!
Click to expand...

Apple gave iPhone 4 users new text tones with iOS 4.2, and everyone around this forum complained that they were too long, yet whenever I hear people with custom text tones on others phones, their generally as long as a ringtone, so what do people want?

I agree that we should have the option, but eh.
 
Wait, this is about SMS sounds?

When I read the title, I thought this was going to be about "custom" SMS in terms of natively giving us something similar to what QuickReply does.

Who cares about SMS sounds? Maybe teenagers all sitting around in a circle with their iPhones all in close proximity, but I guarandamtee the vast majority of people don't give a rats @ss about SMS sounds. I'd venture to say most adults in professional working type situations routinely have their phones on silent/vibrate anyway, thus SMS sounds would be completely moot.

But nonetheless, regarding the viability of custom tones:

A) Is each user going to compose their own tone?

B) If not, how in the world do you expect the tone you want to use to be "custom" or unique (in the sense that the supposed reasoning is to differentiate it from other native iPhone tones - even if all iPhones came with a hoard of "custom" tones, that still doesn't make each tone unique because all your iPhone buddies will have the same tones)

C) If anything, Apple would simply add SMS tones to iTunes, and make you pay for them.
 
james92se said:
But nonetheless, regarding the viability of custom tones:

A) Is each user going to compose their own tone?

B) If not, how in the world do you expect the tone you want to use to be "custom" or unique (in the sense that the supposed reasoning is to differentiate it from other native iPhone tones - even if all iPhones came with a hoard of "custom" tones, that still doesn't make each tone unique because all your iPhone buddies will have the same tones)

C) If anything, Apple would simply add SMS tones to iTunes, and make you pay for them.
Click to expand...

How about they just let the SMS app use the ringtone sounds?

And how is it you're coming up with problems to a plan that's so simple I can describe it in one sentence? Just do that. Problem solved.
People know how to make and add ringtones. I'm sure they can figure out how to make 2 second ringtones.
 
I just can't believe how pathetic the new tones are. And that's not a matter of opinion, it's a fact. They are ALL too long, and they sound like an 80's cartoon show. This is APPLE, I can't believe how they've dropped the ball when it comes to ring/sms tones. I mean, a dog barking? Really? A "choo choo" train? It's bad.
 
Small White Car said:
How about they just let the SMS app use the ringtone sounds?

And how is it you're coming up with problems to a plan that's so simple I can describe it in one sentence? Just do that. Problem solved.
People know how to make and add ringtones. I'm sure they can figure out how to make 2 second ringtones.
Click to expand...

Yes I'm serious, in terms of the reasoning given for wanting "custom" tones. A "custom" tone would be, well, custom. I'm not coming up with problems to a simple plan. You want custom tones, then compose a custom tone. Semantics? Maybe ;)

Since it looks like you're talking about wanting to add snippets of copyrighted material as an SMS tone, then surely Apple will make you pay for it just like they make you pay for ringtones through iTunes (as I said in C).

And ahh, stealthy edit before my quote/post.
 
james92se said:
Wait, this is about SMS sounds?

When I read the title, I thought this was going to be about "custom" SMS in terms of natively giving us something similar to what QuickReply does.
Click to expand...

umm. 'custom' is the terminology that Apple uses to describe ringtones that users have added themselves, as opposed to 'standard' which are the stock sounds that come on the phone. have a look in settings-sounds-ringtones and you'll understand. so, obvoiusly I'm applying the same terminology to SMS sounds.

Small White Car got it. It's so simple - allow users to load .m4r files, that's all it comes down to.
 
Online petition? meh....

Custom SMS sounds? Yeah!

As stated by another poster there are other changes that would probably be higher priority for me. So, I'm willing to wait for the SMS tones.
 
Knowimagination said:
The draw of custom SMS tones is that I don't have to check my phone every time I hear the only decent tone that every iphone user has. When I hang out with friends and 4 or 5 of us have iphones it gets annoying wondering who got the text.
Click to expand...

Exactly. They need to do something about this. If not soon, i'll be sure to JB mine.
 
Apple needs to upgrade it's entire notification system. I came from Blackberry and love my iPhone but wish they had have the customization that Blackberry offered.

Maybe the iP5 will do more!:confused:
 
james92se said:
Since it looks like you're talking about wanting to add snippets of copyrighted material as an SMS tone, then surely Apple will make you pay for it just like they make you pay for ringtones through iTunes (as I said in C).
Click to expand...

But they don't "make you pay."

The offer paid ringtones, yes. They also let you make ringtones in garage band using any audio you have (such as audio you got from a CD). So Apple makes it pretty darned easy to make ringtones from copyrighted material.

This is an actual feature of the software I'm talking about here...not a hack.

I don't think you can say they make you buy anything.
 
Stealthipad said:
Apple needs to upgrade it's entire notification system. I came from Blackberry and love my iPhone but wish they had have the customization that Blackberry offered.

Maybe the iP5 will do more!:confused:
Click to expand...

There has been some hope for iOS 5 since they hired the (or one of the) notifications system designers from RIM, IIRC.
 
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