Stay Alert

Set Default Alert on Mac

In macOS, you can go to System Settings > Sounds to specify an alert sound that plays when you try to do something that’s not permitted, like pressing Command+W in the Finder (the Close Window command) when no window is active.

You can also toggle user interface sound effects, which includes things like completing a file copy, moving items to the trash, or emptying the trash. The latter two are commonly very satisfying to many of my clients.

Sound Alerts for Apps

Various applications include alert sound effects for certain actions. Some app sounds are customizable, such as the notification when receiving new messages in Mail or Messages. For other apps, you may be able to specify a sound on one platform but not another.

On Mac, go to Mail > Settings > General to specify the New messages sound and to toggle playing sounds for other mail actions. Likewise, in Messages > Settings > General, you can choose a Message received sound and opt to play other sound effects as well.

Meanwhile, on iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Sounds and you can specify sound effects for Ringtone, Text Tone, New Voicemail, New Mail, Sent Mail, Calendar Alerts, and Reminder Alerts. Some individual apps may have alert customization in their own settings but most either use the system default or provide their own sounds that you can’t change.

Except for sound effects, like when sending or receiving a text message, the above cases are tied to notifications. Thus, you must permit sounds in the Notification settings for each app.

iOS Default Alert

For the first 16 versions of iOS, Apple used the same default alert sound, Tri-tone, and did not permit customization. In iOS 17, Apple introduced a new sound called Rebound, made it the default instead, and retained the same limitation.

However, as of iOS 17.2, you can now choose the sound you want to be the default alert.

Custom Alerts on Mac

Adding custom sounds on the Mac is really easy. You can place AIFF audio files in the Sounds folder of your Home Library. (In the Finder, click the Go menu, hold the Option key, and choose Library from the menu. Then, open the Sounds folder.)

On next launch of any app where you can specify custom sound effects, the new sound(s) you added are available to choose.

Custom Alerts on Mobile

To add a sound effect on iPhone or iPad, it must be a Ringtone file. In reality, though, this is simply an MPEG-4 Audio file with a different extension.

If you didn’t purchase it from the Tone Store, you can accomplish this in a couple ways. Apple’s documentation specifies a somewhat complicated process of using GarageBand on the mobile device, because the Mac version of the app cannot export Ringtones.

Already, this can pose problems because GarageBand is not consistently available to download for some older versions of macOS or iOS. It’s also a large application that some devices may not have space to install. Nonetheless, here’s what Apple says to do:

1. If you have the audio file on your Mac, you can import it into an Audio project in GarageBand on the Mac, share the project to GarageBand for iOS, and save it to iCloud Drive.
2. Then, on iPhone/iPad — being sure to use the device where you eventually want the sound effect available — open GarageBand. Do not open the previously saved project, because there is not a Share button when the project is open. Rather, you can long-press the project in the file browser or tap Select and choose the project. Tap Share  and choose Ringtone. Give the ringtone a name as you wish and tap Export.
3. After exporting the sound, you can directly assign it to a particular action, or you can visit Settings > Sounds at any time to do so.

An Easier Approach

This process is way easier using a method not documented by Apple. Remember that MPEG-4 Audio file? All you need is one of these (with .m4a extension) on your Mac. This is the default format of songs in Music.

1. You can use Music to create m4a files from other formats: In Music > Settings > Files > Import Settings, choose AAC Encoder; then, use File > Convert > Create AAC Version for the selected item(s). Or, you can export an audio clip to m4a using QuickTime Player.
2. Locate the file in the Finder and change the file extension from .m4a to .m4r. To do so:
   1. If the extension is visible next to the filename, you can simply press Return, rename, and press Return again.
   2. If not, Get Info on the file (File menu or Command+I) and change the extension in the Name & Extension section of the Info window.
3. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac, select the device in the sidebar of a Finder window, and drag the Ringtone file into the General pane of the device syncing screen. Wait a moment for a progress bar to appear and disappear as the sound is transferred.

Now, you’ll find the sound effect available to select on the device’s Sounds setting screens. To delete a custom sound from a device, swipe it to the left, just like deleting items in other apps like Mail and Messages.