How do I set an .m4r file ringtone I airdropped to my iPhone 13?

I have an old .m4r file on my Macbook, which I used AirDrop to copy to my iPhone 13. There's no way to set it as my ringtone, however.

In the ringtone settings page, it's not there, and if I go to the Files app I can open the .m4r file and even play it, but there's no option to "set as ringtone".

Solution 1:

Wow! I finally got it but it was extremely counterintuitive. I had to go to the Ringtone settings page on my iphone 13 and there was a section with "Store" with two buttons, "Tone Store", and something like "Download all downloadable ringtones from the store".

I had no interest in purchasing ringtones from the store, so I didn't bother tapping this at first, but I figured what the heck, and I tapped the "download all downloadable ringtones", and the .m4r file's ringtone instantly appeared in the ringtones list in settings, and I was able to use it.

It is astonishing that this worked, since my .m4r file was in my Files app on my iphone 13 the entire time, so in no sense did I "download" it.