# Assigning ringtones by caller **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 14, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328 "2021-11-14T12:36:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/1 "2021-11-14T12:36:56Z")
Do you use different rings for different callers or do you have a single ring for everyone? I’ve set 3 in my phone - one assigned to family and friends, one assigned to businesses I deal with regularly, and one for everything else. The “everything else” seems to ring the most, but when the phone is in another room, I don’t have to run to answer, since I’m pretty sure it’s a crap call. It’s certainly made my life simpler. I toyed with giving family members their own individual tones, but frankly, it was too much like work, and they call so rarely anyway, there’s no point. My ex-son-in-law assigned specific rings to specific individuals. The only one I remember: when his mother called, it played the theme from _The Munsters_. Are ringtones your CallerID? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/2 "2021-11-14T12:48:23Z")
Me phone announces the caller id verbally. So i wait until it tells me who’s calling before i go to answer it. I guess caller id is my caller id. Or maybe, caller id is my ringtone. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/3 "2021-11-14T13:14:36Z")
Just my wife: she get’s GN’R’s _Sweet Child O’ Mine_. Everyone else gets Tom Petty’s _American Girl._ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/4 "2021-11-14T13:30:38Z")
Everyone gets their own ringtone, pretty much. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/5 "2021-11-14T13:35:12Z")
Everyone I’ve given my number knows to text me. My ringer is always off. Calls from non-contacts go straight to voicemail. Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/6 "2021-11-14T13:42:18Z")
That’s on my landline. I don’t have reliable cell reception at home, so i tell people to call the landline. But if my cellphone rings, i look to see the caller id before deciding whether to answer. Sometimes someone calls back from a text, forgetting that my phone doesn’t work well as a phone. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/7 "2021-11-14T14:35:21Z")
I should prolly have mentioned that everyone gets their own custom text-tone as well, which is different from their ringtone (of course). ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/8 "2021-11-14T17:07:52Z")
Close friends and family each have personalized tones, as do my doctor, my vet, and my dog sitter. My generic tone is the Sesame Street aliens (yip yip yip phone!) As a side note, where do you get your ringtones? I use Zedge, an app that has all kinds of interesting, weird, and wacky choices. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/9 "2021-11-14T17:13:51Z")
We were in a work meeting once, serious topics being discussed. One of the higher-up’s phone went off - loudly - with “Woo, Foxy Lady!” (original Hendrix sound bite). To appreciate this you have to picture the guy; maybe 70 years old, as buttoned down in appearance as you can imagine. He excused himself from the meeting to take the call, mentioning that it was his wife. mmm ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/10 "2021-11-14T17:32:19Z")
I have assigned particular ringtones to a handful of people (my wife, my parents, my sister, a couple of close friends); everyone else gets a general one. That said, I, too, typically have my phone on silent mode, so unless I’m in the car (in which the ringtone gets played audibly through the car’s Sync system), or already on the phone on another call, I almost never hear the actual ringtones, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/11 "2021-11-14T17:33:40Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > As a side note, where do you get your ringtones? I just used the ones that came on the phone. I tried once to download some, but I couldn’t find them once I downloaded them and my more tech-savvy daughter wasn’t around, so I gave us and stayed with the ones I had. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/12 "2021-11-14T17:52:29Z")
Back in the day I made custom ring tones for people so my then girlfriend and now wife got “chocolate salty balls” while my sister got “Kyle’s mom is a bitch”. As I changed phones moving the ring tones became a bigger hassle and eventually I just stopped. My phone is permanently on vibrate now so it wouldn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/13 "2021-11-14T18:02:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Just my wife: she get’s GN’R’s _Sweet Child O’ Mine_. Everyone else gets Tom Petty’s _American Girl._ The ringtone for my wife is Fleetwood Mac’s cover of “Talk To Me Baby”. For everyone else it’s the intro to Wilco’s “Casino Queen”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/14 "2021-11-14T20:27:49Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > As a side note, where do you get your ringtones? I haven’t done much with ring tones, but I have a lot of custom alarms and some other alerts. I use Audacity to edit songs I’ve purchased and sounds I’ve recorded. We used my infant hiccuping as an alert for a while. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/15 "2021-11-15T00:15:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I should prolly have mentioned that everyone gets their own custom text-tone as well, which is different from their ringtone (of course). This is me. After a while you become so familiar with their text tone that it’s just like hearing their voice. A dear friend passed away three years ago and I’ve not been able to even play his text tone…I certainly will never assign it to anyone else. I also assign ring tones. One friend is “30Rock.” Others are: Downton Abbey theme Mad Men theme Hercule Poirot theme from Masterpiece Mystery NCIS theme Mission Impossible theme (the 60s TV show) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/16 "2021-11-15T03:57:47Z")
Family get the ‘red phone’ ring from James Coburn’s Flint movies (_Our Man Flint_ and _In Like Flint_). Friends get the Codec alert from the _Metal Gear_ games. Medical stuff is one of the _Doctor Who_ opening themes. Everyone else . . . should just stop calling. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/17 "2021-11-15T04:14:46Z")
Key individuals at work get their own ring and text tone, the rest get grouped under one ring tone for work. Same with family/friends. I have a ringtone for contacts that aren’t social but not work related either. If you aren’t in my contacts list, thats one of the bland factory ringtones that usually gets ignored/sent directly to voicemail. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/18 "2021-11-15T12:41:34Z")
Oh yeah, the vet where my dog goes gets the original Superman movie theme. The vet where I take my cats gets the old “Meow-meow-meow-meow” cat food commercial jingle. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/19 "2021-11-16T03:24:37Z")
The gentle buzz of vibrate is my ringtone for everyone. I pick a minimally annoying default sound for everyone for the uncommon times I am off vibrate. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328/20 "2021-11-16T04:33:13Z")
I have in the past done custom ringtones, but just haven’t bothered with it on my new phone. Wife’s was the ringtone from Transylvania 6-5000 as that’s one of her favorite movies. Got a few strange looks when she called or texted. The rest of the family was the Adam’s Family theme. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assigning-ringtones-by-caller/954328.md?page=2)