How do I set text tones on my iPhone?

[iMore Question]

Setting Text tones on iPhone

The family shares a common contact list and we each have an iPhone. We want different text and in tones for the same contact but found that when one of us changes it the tone is changed on the other phones. How do we handle this where each of us can have a different ring or text tone for the same contact?

Thanks

 

[Bigeric23]

Re: Setting Text tones on iPhone

I didn't think you could share contacts via Family Sharing. Are you all sharing one ID?

 

[HankAZ]

Re: Setting Text tones on iPhone

The family shares a common contact list and we each have an iPhone. We want different text and in tones for the same contact but found that when one of us changes it the tone is changed on the other phones. How do we handle this where each of us can have a different ring or text tone for the same contact?

Thanks

I didn't think you could share contacts via Family Sharing. Are you all sharing one ID?

You can, indeed, share contacts, but not via the Family Sharing thing. It's done by using the same account under Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and selecting Contacts on that same, common account.

However, as the OP points out, there are many downsides.

• The issue with ringtones and text tones is one.
• You also cannot use the geo-fencing for reminders, etc. The reason for this is the setting in the same Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars ... My Info. You can only have ONE value there in the contacts. So when person 1 sets it to themself, it gets changed to them for everyone. Then when person 2 sets a geo-fence-based reminder, it doesn't "fire" until person 1 gets to the location (because iOS thinks that person 1 is you).
• It also causes issues with "Recents" and "Favorites" in iOS 7 and 8. (Not sure how iOS 9 is/is not affected, as my wife and I have separated our contacts - though iOS 9 has a different presentation of the whole "Recents" and "Favorites" on the app switcher/Search screen.)

Having a common contact list was incredibly useful for us as a family. Clearly, at least in our opinion, this is one of the shortcomings of the way Apple has implemented this. I have spent countless hours talking with Apple support, case managers and even engineers about why it should be different, but so far, no changes have come.