Help

1. Create an account by clicking on the register page. Fill out all the required information. When you are done, click "Register"
2. Enter your name and password on the next screen.
3. You have a free credit! Next, click the browse button and find the audio file that you want to turn into a ringtone.
4. Give your new ringtone a short name
5. Click "Proceed"
6. You will now be brought to the trimmer. This is where you can choose the part of the song that you want as a ringtone. Click "Continue" after reading the instructions
7. Depending on your connection speed, you may need to wait a moment while the song loads into the trimmer. After it is finished, you need to choose where you want your ringtone to begin and end. Click on the "help" button to get instructions, or hover your mouse over any button to see what it does.
8. Click "Make Ringtone"
9. Follow the instructions on the page to get the tone to your phone!

Backstory: We used to have contracts with the mobile providers, which meant we paid them ridiculous amounts of money to buy into their whitelist and follow their rules (including paying them 50% of our revenue). Needless to say, that didn't last long (we are just a couple of guys in Seattle).

Anyway, what you can try is this:

1. Visit http://Rngtn.us on your phone's browser
2. Enter your download code
3. Download your ringtone (this varies with every phone--but your main menu key should have a 'sav' option)

Alternatively, if the above doesn't work:

1. Visit http://Rngtn.us on your computer
2. Enter your download code
3. Download your ringtone to your computer
4. Transfer the file to your phone (this is where your mobile company forces you to use aweful cables or bluetooth or some other archaic means)

Check out our up-to-date iPhone instructions

OwnYourPhone requires the following:

1. A phone that can play "real music" ringtones (a test: listen to the ringtones already on your phone. If any of them have the sound of a human voice, you probably have a compatible phone.
2. Your carrier must allow you to access the web. (Verizon is more draconian and may not work anyway). We recommend an unlimited data plan to avoid unintentional extra charges. Unlimited data plans also allow you to do cool things with your phone like use Google Local for Mobile. Different providers have different names for their data and web plans.

Verizon is not currently supported. Check back soon.

Hellz yes!

Visit the ringtone download site: http://Rngtn.us on your computer and enter your code just as you would on your phone. This way, you can download the file and transfer it onto your phone manually (if you are having trouble) or backup your ringtones (just in case) \m/

And if there is anything else we can do to empower you to Own Your Phone, let us know. Freedom is choice!

There are literally tens of thousands of phone/carrier combinations, many of which require special programming functionality on our site. We are rapidly expanding our list of supported phones. Please contact Support and let us know what your phone did. Be sure to include your account name, phone company, phone brand and model number (usually located under the battery) and we'll get working on supporting your phone right away. As soon as we get your phone working, you'll be the first to know.

Each phone is a little bit different. Here are some general guidelines for several brands of phones.

Nokia

1. When the message arrives press show
2. Press Options
3. Choose "Use Detail"
4. Choose "Web Address"
5. Chose "Options"
6. Choose "Go to"
7. Wait as the ringtone is transferred
8. After it is received, select "Options"
9. Choose "Save tone"

Sony Ericsson

1. On your phone, press "Yes" to read your message when it arrives
2. Use the center button to highlight the link
3. Choose "Go to Page"
4. Choose "Download." The ringtone will be saved to your "My Sounds" folder
5. Go to the main menu and choose "Pictures and Sounds"
6. Choose "My Sounds" to set your ringtone

Motorola

1. When your message arrives on your phone, press "Read"
2. Press the top center button
3. Choose "Go To"
4. When the transfer is complete the ringtone will play
5. Select "Store" to save your ringtone

Samsung (non-Sprint)

1. Press "View" to read the message
2. Press "Options"
3. Select "Save Address"
4. Select the address starting with http://wap
5. Select "Go To URL"

Samsung (Sprint)

1. When your message arrives, press OK
2. Press "Go"
3. Choose Continue and press "OK"
4. After the download is complete choose "Use" and press "OK"
5. Choose "Play"
6. Choose "Set As"

Large paid-music services only let you download music that is encoded so that it only plays on your computer or iPod-like device. If you upload a song you purchased from the iTunes music store, we cannot decode it because of DRM.

If you can burn CDs that contain the music you downloaded, and re-import the song an mp3 file (rip the CD), you can use the resulting mp3 with OwnYourPhone. After you've created your ringtone, you can delete the mp3 file.

Right now, we support mp3, m4a (iTunes), wmv, ogg, wav, aiff, mp4 and aac. We don't (and probably never will) directly support files downloaded from the iTunes Music Store or any other large paid music download service. This is because these companies use technology to restrict what you can do with your music. However, there are ways you can get around restrictions that prevent your fair use. The most common, and usually most reliable method is the Burn and Rip (import) method. Your freshly imported song should work fine at OwnYourPhone. (A summery of the process is here.) If this doesn't work for you, there are other tools available to convert restricted music to an unrestricted format. Try a Google search.

With modern software, making mp3 files is easy. iTunes is probably the most well-known and easiest free software for moving CDs onto your computer. It's available for Mac and PC. Windows users can also do it with the free program CDex, or Windows Media Player 10. Instructions for WMP10 are here.

If you do not actually own the CD that contains the song you want to hear, downloading it from a file-sharing network is probably illegal. However, there are some places to get free music, legally. Try:

http://music.podshow.com

http://podsafeaudio.com

The best way to determine if your phone is compatible is to follow the instructions on the enter your number and phone carrier, then click the "test" button on the main page. We recommend that you try the test before buying credits from OwnYourPhone. If the test does not work, then the site will not work for you right now.

Please send us a message to let us know if the test fails on your phone, and we'll try to make your phone and carrier compatible as soon as possible.

If your Carrier does not allow bit-by-bit internet access, you will need a plan. We signed up for web access on our phones, and find it both fun and useful. It opens up a whole world of possibilities, and lets you do all sorts of neat things. See next question.

Maybe. Many carriers will allow you to download ringtones if you pay for a data plan (web access) on your phone. Also, if you have a data cable or bluetooth on your phone, you may be able to transfer ringtones to your phone. Just use your web browser on your computer to connect to Rngtn.us, download the ringtones from us, then transfer the ringtone from your computer to your phone.

Ask your phone company! In general, if you have an unlimited data plan, you can access OwnYourPhone.com content for free. Some phone companies let their customers use the Internet but charge them per kilobyte or megabyte. These users can access OwnYourPhone, but will have to pay their phone company some amount of money depending on how much the phone company charges and how long their ringtone is. (shorter ringtones=less data)

Also, standard messaging rates may apply for any text messages we send to your phone. You can choose for us not to send you any text messages on your profile page.

Ok, so no one has ever actually asked me this question, but I wanted to tell you anyway. We have tested A LOT of phones, and the best, by far, have been the newer phones from Motorola. Even their cheaper models tend to be quite capable.

The founders of OwnYourPhone use a Motorola v600 and an iPhone (unlocked and jailbroken with ziPhone). They both work great.

In general, OwnYourPhone supports new phones that come with ringtones that have the sound of voices. We are building a compatibility list so you can look up your phone but this will take some time. Any phone that supports the web (or a major US carrier that has us whitelisted--Sprint, T-Mobile, Cingular, Dobson, Cellular One, and soon Verizon) and MP3, MP4, QCP, AWB, or AMR ringtones will work with OwnYourPhone.

And remember: if it doesn't work with OwnYourPhone, it sucks :)

Yes and No. We tried setting up a contract with Verizon. Unfortunately, they rejected us on their network because they refuse to allow you to have user generated content on your phone. Apparently, Verizon Wireless hates freedom. If they change their mind and turn from the dark side, we will try them again. If you have the opportunity in your coverage area, we highly recommend at this time that you transfer to a less draconian mobile provider.

You probably will not be able to get an SMS/MMS from us through Verizon but you can try navigating your phone's browser to http://Rngtn.us and entering your code there to download your ringtone.

Alternatively, if you have a way of transferring ringtones from your computer to your phone (via a cable or wireless--not likely with Verizon), you can download your ringtone to your computer via the same method described above.