[WhatsApp] Set Custom Notification Sound for Specific Contact and Group

In Summary

If you get a lot of messages on WhatsApp, it’s likely that you’ll end up missing some important ones once in a while.
Thankfully, WhatsApp supports custom alerts, just like regular contact-specific text and call tones, which you can set for incoming notifications on WhatsApp to never miss them again.
WhatsApp lets you set custom ringtones for messages on iPhone or both calls and messages on Android, and you can do this using the steps in the guide below.

WhatsApp alerts you to all incoming messages from your contacts and groups using the same notification sound. Even though this sound is distinctive enough to tell you when a notification is from WhatsApp, wouldn’t it be great if it could also help you identify the contact or group that sent you the message?

Well, it turns out WhatsApp can. It supports custom alerts, just like regular contact-specific text and call tones, so you can set custom notification sounds for specific contacts or groups to never miss their calls or messages again.

Here’s a quick guide to help you set custom notification sounds on Android and iPhone.

Table of Contents

How to Set WhatsApp Custom Notification Sounds on Android

If you use WhatsApp on an Android phone, WhatsApp lets you use custom sounds for both calls and messages. Based on whether you want to do this for a particular contact or group, follow the steps below.

Set a Custom Ringtone for a WhatsApp Contact Or Group

Launch WhatsApp on your Android device.
Open the contact for which you want to use a custom ringtone and click the name at the top to open its notification settings. As of writing this guide, WhatsApp doesn’t let you set a custom ringtone for group calls.
Select Custom notifications, and check off the checkbox for Use custom notifications on the following screen.
Click Ringtone under Call notifications, select Sounds (to use one of the system tones), or tap on a file manager (to use a custom ringtone).
Tap the ringtone you want to use to select it and hit Save.

Set a Custom Message Tone for a WhatsApp Contact Or Group

Open WhatsApp.
Go into the contact or group on which you want to use a custom message tone and tap on the name to open its settings.
Hit Custom notifications, and on the following screen, tick the checkbox next to Use custom notifications.
Select Notification tone under Message notifications, and depending on whether you want to use a default system tone or a custom one, select Sounds or a file manager listed in the pop-up card.
Choose a tone and hit Save to set it as the default messaging tone for the contact or group.

Now, whenever you receive a new message or call from a contact or group on WhatsApp, WhatsApp will alert you of the same using the custom tones you just set up.

How to Set WhatsApp Custom Notification Sounds on iPhone

Unlike WhatsApp for Android, which lets you set custom ringtones for incoming WhatsApp calls from your contacts, the WhatsApp app for iOS, sadly, only allows you to use custom alert tones for messages. And here’s how you do that:

Launch WhatsApp on your iPhone.
Go to the chat or group whose message alerts you want to receive with a different notification sound and hit the name at the top to access the settings.
Select Wallpaper & Sound.
Tap on Alert tone under CUSTOM TONE.
Select the tone you want to use as the message tone for the contact/group and hit Save.

After you do this, whenever there’s a new message from this contact/group, WhatsApp will play the custom notification sound on your iPhone to alert you.

Personalize Your WhatsApp Experience With Custom Notifications

Using custom notifications is one of the several ways to personalize WhatsApp as per your needs. If you get a lot of messages on WhatsApp, and that causes you to miss important calls or messages, setting custom alert tones for important contacts is a surefire way to keep up with them and ensure you never miss push notifications from such WhatsApp contacts/groups again.