How to put an excerpt from a song on a call to Xiaomi: step-by-step instructions

Personalization of a smartphone starts with a melody that meets you when you call in. Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and Poco devices often find that standard sounds seem boring and the same type of sound. You want to hear your favorite track, not another synthesized squeak. Fortunately, the MIUI shell and the new HyperOS provide ample opportunities for customizing audio notifications without having to get root rights.

The installation process can be confusing because of the nature of the Android file system and the limitations of some shell versions. However, if you know the right paths and settings, you can replace the standard signal in just a few minutes.

In this article, we’ll break down all the current ways to put a song on a call, including setting tunes to individual contacts and solving common problems with displaying tracks in the list.

Preparation of the audio file for installation

Before you change the settings of the system, you need to make sure that the audio file is prepared correctly. MP3, M4A or WAV. If you downloaded a track from a streaming service, it can be protected. DRM-copying and extension.m4p or be inside the cache of the application – such a file the system will not see as a ringtone.

Also worth paying attention to the length of the composition: tracks that are too long can be cut by the system or incorrectly repeated cyclically; the optimal length of the fragment is from 15 to 30 seconds; if the file is too long, it should be pre-cut, leaving only the brightest fragment.

⚠️ Note: Files downloaded from instant messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) often have restrictions on playback outside of these applications. Before installing a call, copy such a file to another folder or rename its extension if possible.

You can use some players' built-in features or third-party editor apps to trim tracks. Once the file is ready, it needs to be saved to the device's memory, preferably to the root folder or a specially created Ringtones directory, so that the system can easily find it.

Installation of the melody through sound settings

The most standard and reliable way to change the ringtone is to use the system settings menu, which works on all current versions of MIUI and HyperOS, and you don’t need to download additional apps if your file is already in the phone’s memory.

First, open the Settings app and find the sound section. The path may vary slightly depending on the shell version, but the logic remains the same. You need to get into the call melody selection menu.

• 📱 Go to the section "Sound and vibration».
• 🎵 Select "Phone Call" or "Call Melody».
• 🔊 Click on the icon «+» Select “Select a local ringtone».
• 💾 In the opened Explorer, find the previously saved file and confirm the selection.

Once selected, the system may suggest listening to the entire track or a portion of it. If the file does not appear in the list, try restarting the device or moving the audio file to the Internal Storage/Miui/ringtone folder.

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If you don’t see your track in the list, try moving it from the Downloads folder to the Music folder or creating a Ringtones folder at the root of internal memory and putting the file there.

Importantly, when selecting a local file, the system can warn you that the volume will be limited.This is a standard Android security measure to prevent damage to the speaker by too loud or distorted files.

Use the application "Mi Peak" (Mi Sound)

Many Xiaomi devices have a proprietary Mi Peak app (or Sound/Mi Sound) preinstalled, a powerful tool that allows you to not only select but also edit tracks directly on your phone, and the functionality of this app often exceeds standard settings.

Open the app and find the Ringtones or Call Melodies section, where you'll see both the standard library and access to files on the device, and the unique feature is the ability to create a ringtone from any song stored in memory, with automatic cropping and fading.

The Mi Peak app often has a theme and sound store where you can download popular tracks. However, you need to go to local storage to install your song. The interface here is more friendly: you can visually highlight the beginning and end of a passage with your finger on a timeline.

• 🎚️ Open "Mi Peak" and select "Create a ringtone».
• 📂 Select a song from the track list on your device.
• ✂️ Adjust the beginning and end of the fragment with sliders.
• 💾 Click Save and select Set as a Call».

The advantage of this method is that the created file is automatically saved in the correct format and placed in the desired system folder, which eliminates playback errors in the future.

How to Put a Song in Separate Contact

Often, you need to assign a unique tune to a specific person to understand who is calling without taking the phone out of your pocket. In MIUI, this is done through the Contacts or Phone app.

Open your contact list and select the person you want. In the contact card, find the settings menu (usually three dots in the corner or the "More" button), and that's where the customization option is hidden.

Once you select Melody (or Rington), you will have a standard audio selection window, you can select any track from the system list, or you can click "Select on Device" to find your file. Once confirmed, the selected song will play when that caller calls.

If you want to reset and return the standard sound, just select either "Default" or "System" from the same menu, which is useful if the contact has been tagged with a unique sound temporarily.

Solving problems with the display of tracks

Users often face a situation where a file is in memory, but it is not in the ringtones list, a common problem associated with access rights or caching of the Android media scanner.

The first thing to check is the file format and its bitrate. Some system players ignore very high quality files (such as FLAC or Lossless), preferring standard MP3s with a bitrate of up to 320 kbit / s. Converting to a more common format often solves the problem.

⚠️ Note: If you have been transferring files from your computer, make sure they are not marked as "read only" and this may block them from adding to the ringtones system database.

It’s also worth checking the folder that contains the file. The system scans certain directories. If your track is deep in messenger folders (like Android/media/com.telegram), the system may not see it as a media file for security reasons.

In some cases, cleaning the cache of the Media Storage app helps. Go to Settings → Apps → All Apps, find Media Storage, and click Clear Data, and then the phone will scan the memory again, which will take a few minutes.

Configure through third-party file managers

If standard methods don't work, you can use an advanced file manager like Total Commander or MI File Manager, which gives you direct access to the file system and allows you to force the file to be placed in the desired directory.

You need to find the Ringtones folder in the internal storage, and if you don't have one, you can create it manually, then copy the audio file that you've prepared to do that, and the system automatically recognizes the new files in that folder as available for installation on the call.

• 📁 Open the file manager and go to the internal storage.
• 📝 Create a folder with the name Ringtones (if not available).
• 🎵 Copy or move your track to this folder.
• 🔄 Restart your phone to update the list.

This is especially useful when you need to download a set of ringtones en masse, so you can copy a whole folder of music at once, and all the tracks will appear in the list of available ringtones.

Frequent Questions and Answers (FAQ)

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The key to successful installation is to correctly locate the file in the Ringtones folder and use a compatible MP3 format, which ensures that the melody does not disappear after the reboot.