Setting custom ringtones in android P

[Claraoswin]

I use a file manager but I don't see the ringtones folder anymore.

Anyone know how to set them in the new android version?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which phone do you have, and which file manager are you using? All Android devices should still have a /Ringtones directory. Where are you saving your custom ringtones to at this time?

 

[Claraoswin]

I have a Google Pixel and I'm using ES File Explorer

Welcome to Android Central! Which phone do you have, and which file manager are you using? All Android devices should still have a /Ringtones directory. Where are you saving your custom ringtones to at this time?

 

[B. Diddy]

What if you go to Settings>Storage and tap Files there? Does Ringtones show up then? Pardon my mini-rant, but I dislike and don't trust ES File Explorer, primarily because it was bought by Cheetah Mobile a while ago (who also makes Clean Master, the king of Android snake-oil apps). I don't know if ES is doing anything weird with how it's displaying your directories.

Every Android phone should have the following directories: /Ringtones, /Notifications, and /Alarms. I don't see any of them in that screenshot, which is odd. Do you recall ever deleting them? If you truly don't have those directories, then you should be able to create them, and I think the system would recognize them when you go to select a ringtone/notification tone/alarm.

 

[hallux]

I agree with @B. Diddy about ES File Explorer. I actually used it and recommended it for a while, then it was bought by Cheetah Mobile (if you say "Cheater" like you're from Boston, what does it sound like? yeah...) and started including unwanted payloads with the app updates. I now use Solid Explorer. I'll reply from my phone showing Solid and the file structure it has, it looks like you have a Pixel or Pixel 2 device, I have a 2 XL.

 

[hallux]

The promised screenshot, notice I have the folders you're looking for?

 

[B. Diddy]

And here's what it looks like with the native file explorer (when you go to Settings>Storage and then tap Files):

 

[Claraoswin]

If I create my own Ringtones folder will my phone settings recognize it?

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm not sure, but if you somehow deleted the original directory, then I'm guessing it will. Did you already look for the directory using the native file manager?

 

[Rukbat]

In the Pixel 2, in Pie, it seems as if the folders have been renamed with lower-case letters. My Alarms weren't being picked up, but when I renamed the folder to alarms (and did a media rescan), they were. (The same for ringtones and notifications.) Weird.

 

[Teritron]

Unfortunately it seems that this approach copying mp3 files into free accessable folders called R|ringtones, N|notification, sometimes under media, some times under media/audio etc. does no longer work with Android Pie. At least I have the OnePus 6T with Android Pie by default, and whatever I am trying is not working. Before with my OnePlus 3 and all the other Samsung phones before this worked like a charm! Google, what have you now done again?

Edit:
But there is for example an app called "Tone Selector (Ringtones/Alarm)" which exactly can do that. It allows you to specifiy the path, e.g. where you previously copied the files (Ringtones, Notification, etc.) and then you save this, and afterwards it is selected. It even works for SMS, when you confgured that SMS shall used the default notification tone.