How to cut or trim an audio file on iPhone

• The sound is a Voice Memos recording: trim it in Voice Memos.
• The sound is an MP3, M4A or WAV in Files: use the Trim Media shortcut below.
• You want a ringtone on iOS 17 or 18, or you need fades and more control: GarageBand.
• The sound is inside a video: extract the audio first (our guide to turning a video’s sound into a ringtone shows a Shortcuts recipe), then trim.

1. 1Open Voice Memos and tap the recording.
2. 2Tap the ⋯ button, then Edit Recording.
3. 3Tap the trim icon (a square with handles) at the top right.
4. 4Drag the yellow handles at each end of the waveform to the start and end you want.
5. 5Tap Trim to keep the selection (or Delete to remove it instead), then Save and Done.

Voice Memos trims in place, so duplicate the memo first (⋯ › Duplicate) if you want to keep the full recording.

Shortcuts comes with iOS and has a Trim Media action that shows a simple trimming screen for audio or video. Build the shortcut once and reuse it from the share sheet.

1. 1Open Shortcuts, tap + to make a new shortcut and name it “Trim Audio”.
2. 2Open its details (ⓘ) and turn on Show in Share Sheet; set the input to Media and Files.
3. 3Add the action Trim Media. It takes the shortcut input automatically.
4. 4Add Save File after it and leave Ask Where to Save on.
5. 5In Files, touch and hold your audio file, tap Share and choose Trim Audio. Drag the handles, tap Save, then pick a folder.

The original file is left alone; you get a new, trimmed copy.

1. 1Open GarageBand, create an Audio Recorder project and switch to the Tracks view.
2. 2Tap the Loop Browser, open Files, and drag your file to the start of the track.
3. 3Drag the left and right edges of the clip to trim it. Pinch to zoom the timeline for precision.
4. 4Drag the trimmed clip back to the very start, so there is no silence before it.
5. 5Go to My Songs, touch and hold the project and choose Share › Ringtone, or Share › Song to save an audio file.

Under 30 seconds — iOS won’t accept a longer ringtone. In practice 15–30 seconds is plenty, because a call rings for about that long before going to voicemail. Text tones and alerts should be much shorter, one to three seconds.

Two trimming habits make the result sound better:

• Start on the sound, not before it. A ringtone always plays from second zero, so a breath of silence at the start delays every ring.
• End on a natural pause. A ringtone loops, and a cut in the middle of a word or beat makes the repeat sound broken. A short fade-out hides the seam.

The free tools above all trim, but none of them is built around ringtones. Ringsy is: open a file, a video’s sound or a recording, and it appears on a waveform with a selection that can’t go past 29.9 seconds. Zoom in, nudge the start and end by a tenth of a second, tap to hear the loop as the phone will repeat it, and let Best part suggest the most recognisable stretch of a song. Add a fade in or out (0.5, 1 or 2 seconds) and keep Even out volume on, then save it as a ringtone or to Files. Everything is processed on the iPhone.