How to delete/remove custom ringtones (tones) from iPhone in iTunes 12.7?

Question

As of iTunes 12.7, Apple now advises manually adding custom ringtones to iPhone per their support article here.

Apple's instruction is to drag and drop tones from Finder to the "Tones" section of my device in iTunes. This method works to add tones to my phone. However, I can't discern how to remove ringtones from my phone.

• I've tried clicking the tones in iTunes and pressing delete, without and with various modifier keys.
• I've checked the contextual menu under control-click (right-click) of the tones in iTunes.
• I've tried dragging the tones out of iTunes.
• I've poked around in iPhone settings and iTunes menubar and prefs.
• I've tried deleting files from my Mac at ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Tones/ and re-syncing my iPhone.

Any further ideas? Thank you.

Answer 1

If you tick the box "Manually manage music and videos", and click the "Apply" button, you'll be able to select a ringtone from your device (in iTunes) and hit your delete key (you'll be prompted for a confirmation to delete the file).

Answer 2

In iTunes on the computer.

1. Select the Device
2. Select Summary
3. Check the box next to Manually manage music and videos.
4. Select Apply

Now you should be able to delete ringtones using iTunes.

Answer 3

Actually, there is no Tone tab in iTunes 12.7, but it still on your iPhone, so you can still use it to delete ringtones from your iPhone directly. Here are the steps:

1. Open iTunes and connect your iPhone.
2. Click on the Device.
3. Scroll down and click on Tones.
4. Select a ringtone, right click and choose Delete from Library.

Answer 4

The answer is that it's impossible to remove them from your phone because any ringtones that existed on your phone after you updated to iTunes 12.7 appear to be inaccessible. They do not show up in iTunes in the "Tones" folder, so they can not be deleted. Even using the methods described above, turning on "manually manage music", restarting, syncing, etc.

Answer 5

Catalina and iOS 13

As of (and perhaps before, I'm not sure) macOS Catalina and iOS 13, there is no longer any iTunes app, so I know this answer does not exactly apply to the OP's question, but for those like me who found this question looking for an answer on how to delete custom ringtones from an iPhone under iOS 13:

On your iPhone:

• Open Settings
• Go to Sounds ➡️ Ringtone
• Scroll to see the ringtone you want to delete under "RINGTONES"
• Swipe left on the ringtone you want to delete, a "Delete" button appears on the right
• Press the delete button