System ringtones have disappeard - only mp3 files stored on Galaxy S8 appear

[Android Central Question]

Of some mysterious reason the list of standard Samsung Galaxy S8 ringtones have disappeared when I go to "settings, sound and vibration, ringtones". The display says "sound files" at the top but instead of ringtones all all mp3 files on the device are shown as options (several 100reds) - plus the current ring tone "hangouts_incoming_call.ogg" only. However, selection of any of the mp3 files is not allowed. The same files are display under "device vibration". How do I get back to the original selection of Samsung standard ringtones and get rid of the display of all mp3 files which I cannot select. Adding to the mystery is that my wife's Samsung Galaxy S9 just purchased exhibits exatly the same problem/behaviour.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! This can sometimes happen if you inadvertently selected some 3rd party file manager app to select ringtones instead of the system picker. Try going to Settings>Apps, tap Menu>Reset All App Preferences, and then try setting a ringtone again. Does it ask you which app you want to use to complete the action?

 

[eBack]

Thanks for your reply. I have reset all apps preferences. Trying to select ringtones again it asks me to choose from sound files, explorer, ES File explorer and media storage. If I select sound files and then ringtones again the same problem as described above returns. Also, if I connect the phone to my computer and search for ringtones in "\Galaxy S8\Phone\Android\media\com.google.android.talk\Ringtones" there is only one single file in this directory - "hangouts_incoming_call.ogg". Have I lost all the other ringtones and why is all the mp3 files displayed? Lars B

 

[eBack]

Sorry for a bit quick reply. I did a file search in another older phone (with a working selection of ringtones) and got the same result as above searching for "ringtones". Obviously ringtones are stored individually somewhere else or consolidated in some other (hidden) file.

 

[eBack]

Having tried the other options it turned out that choosing the last one "media storage" solved the problem. You put me on the right track. Thank you very much for helping. Problem solved.

 

[B. Diddy]

LOL, you figured it out before I had a chance to suggest picking Media Storage!

By the way, you can't see the preinstalled system ringtones using a conventional file manager because they're saved to a protected system directory.