I have a Nexus 4 which is currently running the most up to date Ubuntu Touch build. As much as I enjoy the default ringtones and notification sounds included with the OS, I was wondering where the directory which holds said sounds is and how to access it on my PC. I figure if the notification sounds are in .ogg format I should be able to add Android notification sounds and ringtones. Any ideas?
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There is a bug on Lauchpad for this issue. If you mark it as affecting you too, it will increase the bug head and hopefully contribute to getting this fixed soon: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntu-system-settings/+bug/1268097 – Alex Aug 09 '15 at 18:43
5 Answers
It looks like the current settings UI just lists the ringtones found in /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/ringtones
, which is read only (provided you haven't switched it to writable image mode).
The choice of ringtone is controlled through GSettings, so you could change the ringtone to a file in a different directory using the gsettings
tool from the command line. As the phablet
user, run a command like the following:
gsettings set com.ubuntu.touch.sound incoming-call-sound /path/to/ringtone.ogg
Presumably a way to set custom ringtones will be added to the UI at some point in the future though.

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Connect your phone to ubuntu computer. Copy your music/sound to Music folder. Open:
phablet-shell
Inside shell:
sudo mount -o remount,rw /
sudo cp /home/phablet/Music/Your\ Ringtone.ogg /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/ringtones/
Also, if you'd like to change the notification or alarm sounds
sudo cp /home/phablet/Music/Your\ Notification.ogg /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/notifications/
Note 1: You need developer mode on, password set and have the phone unlocked to be able to connect to it and than to use the sudo command on it.
Note 2: OTA updates are likely to revoke your changes.

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The gsettings command no longer seems to work.
The good news is that you just need to copy your custom SMS notification tone into /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/notifications/
and copy your custom ringtone into /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/ringtones/

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First run this command if you are in read only mode.
sudo mount -o remount,rw /
Save your own ringtones and notifications using following commands: (Preferred format is *.ogg
)
sudo cp /path/to/your/ringtone/ringtone.ogg /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/ringtones/
sudo cp /path/to/your/ringtone/ringtone.ogg /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/notifications/

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It helps to alias your SSH for a resizeable terminal before using gsettings command otherwise you get these annoying line-wraps on the same line: How can I make `adb shell` have the correct terminal size?
Having done the above then you can do:
sd
touch /userdata/.writable_image
reboot
sd
su - phablet
cd /home/phablet/Downloads/
wget http://adequatech.ca/stephenchowsinging.ogg
wget http://adequatech.ca/trekBeepClick.ogg
wget http://adequatech.ca/trekIntercomWhistle.ogg
gsettings set com.ubuntu.touch.sound incoming-call-sound /home/phablet/Downloads/stephenchowsinging.ogg
gsettings set com.ubuntu.touch.sound incoming-message-sound /home/phablet/Downloads/trekBeepClick.ogg
For SMS notification sound, try this one:
gsettings set com.ubuntu.touch.sound incoming-message-sound /home/phablet/Downloads/trekIntercomWhistle.ogg

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