In this quick post, I explain why you may want to get a silent tone on your iPhone or iPad, and how to use it on your device.
I use two SIM lines on my iPhone. The second SIM is only for my bank (who are instructed never to call me) and backup cellular data. I don’t pick up calls on it because I know they are spam or misdialed calls.
Until recently, I had set a different ringtone for this second SIM, which instantly signaled that I should ignore this call. However, even a custom ringtone for this line meant that people around me and I had to be disturbed by the incoming call. At times, my wife would even wonder who called and why I declined to answer it.
This is when I got a silent ringtone on my iPhone and set it as the ringtone for my second SIM. So now all calls to this number come in normally, but they don’t alert me via a ringtone. When I’m free, I can just look up this missed call in my Phone app and Truecaller and be certain it was yet another unimportant call I was totally justified in ignoring.
Having a silent ringtone also lets me set it as the custom ringtone for some people whose calls I don’t want to be alerted to, but it isn’t socially acceptable to decline their call or block their number.
A couple of alternatives to silent ringtone but why they don’t work for me
Silent mode: Using a silent ringtone ensures I don’t have to put my iPhone in silent mode, as that also silences calls made to my main SIM line and mutes all other call, text, and app notifications, like those from WhatsApp and FaceTime.
Call Focus filter: I could have set up a Focus mode that only allows calls from my main SIM line, while keeping my other SIM active for cellular data. However, this means keeping a Focus mode active at all times. Plus, I don’t get to see the calls in my Phone app (even though most of them are spam).
Get a silent ringtone on iPhone or iPad
You can search for “Silent Ringtone” in the preinstalled iTunes Store app and buy one for like 99 cents. Or, follow these steps to get one for free.
1) Make sure your iPhone or iPad is running the latest version of iOS 26.
2) Use one of these methods to get a silent ringtone:
- Search the web for ‘Silent Ringtone’ on your iOS device and get a ringtone that’s 29 seconds or shorter. You can get one in MP3, M4A, M4R, or another popular format.
- Visit this Zedge.net link and tap Download > Continue in browser. Wait a few seconds, then tap Download. Even though this Zedge version of the ringtone is 30 seconds, iOS may show an error; in that case, just trim it to 29 or 28 seconds (it will take hardly 2 minutes).
- Touch and hold this link in Safari and select Download Linked File to get a 28-second silent ringtone, courtesy of Zedge.
3) Open the Files app on your iPhone or iPad and go to your downloads folder. You can also view this new file in the Recents tab.
4) Tap the silent ringtone, and it should open a preview right in the Files app. Tap the share button and select Use as Ringtone (it will open the ringtone screen in the Settings app). This silent tone is now added to your iPhone as a ringtone option. It will remain available even if you delete the MP3 file from the Files app.
5) Now, make sure you’re in iPhone Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone > (select a SIM line if you use more than one) > and then tap the Silent Ringtone to set it as the ringtone.
You can also edit a contact and set their custom ringtone to the Silent Ringtone.
What about silent text tone?
You don’t need to follow the above steps to add a silent ringtone to your iPhone if all you need to do is have no ringtone for your new texts. Simply, go to iOS Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Text Tone and select None. Unfortunately, iOS doesn’t yet offer an option to select None as the ringtone, and hence the above method.
Also, check out: 5 ways to get ringtones for your iPhone