Join now - be part of our community!

Problem setting custom notification sound (alarm, sms, ringtone) in Android N (7.0)

SOLVED
tatsujin1
Visitor

Problem setting custom notification sound (alarm, sms, ringtone) in Android N (7.0)

edit: darn it, this message was supposed to be in the "Xperia X Compact" forum, because that's my phone model.

I don't really know if anything significant changed in my phone, but since yesterday my previously set custom alarm sounds are gone. And I can't set new ones.

First off, I want to use my own custom mp3 for this, not anything that comes bundled with the phone or anything that any installed app provides; a simple mp3 file copied to my phone. This was working fine until yesterday. I remember it was tricky when I first got the phone, but can't quite remember what did the trick then. I did this, however, before the phone got upgraded to Android 7.

Now to the actual problem: Since yesterday, my default alarm sound and the ones I set specifically for some different alarm presets no longer work. If I check the alarm preset it says under "Alarm Sound: Default ringtone (212)". On another preset it says "Alarm Sound: 209". Naturally they don't work. If I tap that setting, the normal "Alarm sound" list of radio buttons appear where it's possible to select the sound to use, only that none of the buttons are actually selected, and my sound isn't in the list. Also, pressing the large "+" in the top right corner here (which I assume is the official method to add custom sounds) just shows a white screen "No content available".

The behaviour is essentially the same if I go to phone settings->Sound and try to change the "Default alarm ringtone". The current setting is displayed here as "Unknown ringtone", tapping it shows the same radio button list (nothing selected, none of my custom sounds, "+" does nothing useful).

Perhaps I should mention that changing the setting works, but it will of course not be the desired setting. Slightly_smiling_Face

Ideas?

At the same time I also started to experience this problem: /t5/Xperia-Z3/Camera-failed-operation/td-p/1027974.

PS. I specifically mentioned only alarm sound here, but this problem is the exact same for all notification sounds.

Tags (2)
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
tatsujin1
Visitor

Actually, I haven't tried it for a long time.

But I tried it now (like a major Android version update, and then some, later), and now it works! Tapping the "+" now actually shows a file-browser-thingy that allows me to select stuff.

So I guess we can mark this as "solved", kind of Slightly_smiling_Face

View solution in original post

16 REPLIES 16
tatsujin1
Visitor

Should probably mention that in an attempt to get my sounds back I copied them to these folders:

/sdcard/Alarms

/sdcard/Ringtones

/sdcard/Notifications

/sdcard/Download

/sdcard/Music

/sdcard/Android/media/com.google.android.talk/Notifications

/sdcard/Android/media/com.google.android.talk/Ringtones

But nothing shows up in either the radio-button list or in the blank page opened by the "+" (still "No content available")...

XxXxXxX
Visitor

Have you try repair by Xperia Companion?
CameronT
Champion

Hi @tatsujin1,

Very strange. Can you try storing the files on the internal memory and see if they will show up then?

If not, it might be worth doing the software repair using Xperia Companion as @XxXxXxX suggests. Make sure you back up your device first.

tatsujin1
Visitor


Very strange. Can you try storing the files on the internal memory and see if they will show up then?

 

Strange indeed. However, I think I unintentionally misled with my previous comment: the only storage I have is the internal one. I have no SD-card. Sorry about that. (in some cases they're listed as the same)

A follow-up question: what actually is supposed to be shown when you tap the "+" ? "No Content available" does kind of indicate that there might be content, but what content is that? Slightly_smiling_Face

CameronT
Champion

@tatsujin1,

It should load the sound picker and show you different sound files that are on your phone.

Try resetting your app preferences, maybe you've accidentally denied access to it. This is done under Settings > Apps > 3 dots > Reset app preferences.

tatsujin1
Visitor

That cause might not be unthinkable; I tend to try to remove "cruft" I don't need. Slightly_smiling_Face

However, I'm quite sure I wasn't doing anything like that just before this happened.

What do you mean by "3 dots"? Should there be an application named "3 dots"? In that case, I don't have it...

profile.country.US.title
Qatrium
Expert

@tatsujin1

He meant the icon on the top right corner (vertical 3 dots):InkedScreenshot (Mar 17, 2017 16-44-03)_LI.jpg

tatsujin1
Visitor

I see. I've never seen it referred to as "3 dots" before.

I tried it but no change.

I, however, got back all the crap I had disabled before ... Slightly_frowning_Face

CameronT
Champion

@tatsujin1,

Yeah, it will do that, sorry I should have mentioned it. 

Do you have the same issue in safe mode?