Ringtone issues

[ken66]

I have a Flip 3 on Android 13, patch level Nov 1, 2022. Issue I keep having is the ringtone. I have dual SIM (one eSIM), and the problem is when I set a ringtone for both SIMs the main one (physical SIM card) keeps reverting back to a ringtone called 1317. Only the ringtone setting will change, not the notifications setting, and it will only occur on the physical SIM setting, not the eSIM. It will do this randomly, usually a few hours after I set my own ringtone. It will always go back to this 1317 ringtone. When I go back to change it again, that 1317 ringtone doesn't even exist, or at least it doesn't show on any ringtone or notification option. I searched the phone in My Files for that sound profile and nothing shows up. I booted into Safe Mode and left the phone like that overnight and it didn't change back to this 1317. I've been told to simply remove the App once I'm in Safe Mode that is causing the glitch, but how on earth would I know what App is causing it? I'm not about to delete one app at a time and try it again each time, by the time I go through all 160 apps and waiting for at least 8 hours for each app delete to see if the ringtone changes, it'll be time for a phone upgrade again, lol. What is causing this, how do I fix it, and what the **bleep** is this 1317 ringtone it keeps going back to?? My wife has an S21 and her phone is actually doing exactly the same thing, except hers reverts to a different ringtone number, I think it's 1349. And her notification sound setting changes too, not just the ringtone. She is not using dual SIM on that one. Also on Andorid 13, security patch Dec. 1, 2022. Very annoying. 

[ken66]

Interestingly I reset my ringtone again and then tried another wipe cache through recovery mode, and also selected "repair apps", just thought what harm can that do, rebooted the phone, now the 1317 ringtone is gone only to be replace with an 1865 ringtone. Lol, this thing is just messing with my mind now. It's always been 1317. Maybe if I keep wiping the cache eventually all those will be gone? I don't know. I know I'm still trying to avoid the factory reset.

[ken66]

Hey, just wanted to let you know I found out what that 1317 ringtone was. I used my wife's phone to call me and listened to the ringtone and compared it to what ringtones were listed on the phone settings  and found it to be a "Samsung brand sound", called Galaxy Bells. My wife's phone has the same issue as mine, where it always changes back to it's own ringtone, but hers is a different number, but it turns out it is the same ringtone! So I found it finally in a File Manager app but I can't delete it because it is a read only file. How do I change that so I can delete it?

[RedDogRabbit]

Great that you found the source of the Ringtone 👍🏻

Does your wife's device have the same issue? 

Try using Solid Explorer from the Play Store to delete the /galaxy_bells.ogg file. (I have the paid version, but the free version should be the same, other than advertising?). 

I don't have the exact same file, but I have the option on my device, but it may fail if it is a system file. 

Ultimately a Factory Reset may be unavoidable to fix this.. 

 

Oh and in Solid Explorer's settings, you'll have to put a check in "show root storage" in order to see the file.

 

 

[ken66]

Yeah, my wife's phone is doing exactly the same, it just shows that ringtone as a different number, but it's still the same ringtone as my 1317.
Does that file explorer need the phone to be rooted in order to delete read only files? I used the file manager I have to access the system folders, that's how I finally found the ringtone, and I can move the ringtone to a different folder out of the system folder and into the internal storage folder, and I can delete it from that folder but it still stays in the system folder. So I can move it but it's more like I'm copying it because moving it doesn't delete it from that folder, it still stays there. I'm not sure if the phone needs to be rooted for this or if there is a way to change the attributes of the folder to remove the read only status.

[RedDogRabbit]

Solid Explorer should work to delete the bells.ogg file, but I'm not 100% sure.

Yes, normally you need Root to delete system files, but give it a try. 

I do have one other idea, other than a Factory Reset, but it is odd that your wife's has the same problem..

My device doesn't have the eSIM so I can't really check to see if SIM Manager might be able to help?

Do you and your wife's device have all the same 3rd party apps installed? 

Where I'm going with this is, rather than going through all of 3rd party apps, since you said that the issue wasn't there in Safe Mode, but it's happening on both devices, if there's a common 3rd party app, then that could narrow down the possible culprit. 

To narrow it down further, I think that it would likely be an app that has Notification permissions. 

[ken66]

On this end of the board, the file explorer didn't work to delete the system file, must be needing root to do that. Anyway, we took your advice and did the factory reset, all's good now. It actually sees that 1317 ringtone as the Galaxy Bells one instead of a number. So changing to her own ringtone now works and it stays there without switching back. Thanks again brother, your help is always appreciated.

[RedDogRabbit]

Yeah I figured that a Factory Reset would solve the problem for you. I know that it's a bit of a pain to do it, but now with the Smart Switch issue resolved as well ✨ 👍🏻

Unfortunately, other than the initial cursory response, Samsung's Moderators don't follow up & actually try to see an issue to it's resolution.. 🙄 

[ken66]

Yeah I don't find them to be helpful like what I get from your replies.
The one weird thing is that both our phones had the exact same issue. I haven't reset my Flip 3 yet, I plan on reverting to my S21 Ultra soon anyway. Then I'll reset it. Thanks again for your help with both my issues. Happy new year.