Zedge
Description
Personalizing the ringtone on a phone used to involve either purchasing a ringtone from a phone carrier store at $2 per ringtone, or going through the technical process of converting an audio file and placing it in the appropriate directory. Zedge’s user base built on the simpler proposition: browse a library of free ringtones, wallpapers, and notification sounds, download what you want, and set it directly from the app in a few taps. The company released Zedge in Norway in 2003, originally as a web-based ringtone directory, and ported it to mobile when smartphones replaced feature phones.
ZEDGE ASA, the publicly traded Norwegian company that owns the platform, has expanded the library with a combination of professional content, licensed music snippets, user submissions and content creator partnerships. The app had over 600 million downloads by the mid-2020s and has remained one of the most downloaded customization apps on both the Android and iOS markets.
Ringtone Library
Zedge’s ringtone library is organized by category: pop music excerpts, instrumental music, sound effects, nature sounds, voice clips, notification sounds, and alarm tones. Search by song title, artist name, or theme and relevant results are returned from the library. Preview plays ringtone before downloading After downloading, the app manages the permission flow to make the ringtone the default call ringtone, a contact specific ringtone, a notification sound, or an alarm. On Android, the app sets ringtone directly; on iOS, the process involves an extra step via the Shortcuts app or system settings because of restrictions on third-party ringtone access on the platform.
Wallpaper Library
The wallpaper collection spans the static images and animated wallpapers in different categories: abstract, nature, sports, gaming, anime, cars, architecture, and seasonal wallpapers. High-resolution wallpapers scale to the device screen dimensions and the app crops to the appropriate aspect ratio during the set process. Animated wallpapers use the Android live wallpaper format on Android devices; iOS does not support third-party animated wallpapers, so the iOS version of the wallpaper collection offers static images only.
Notification Sounds
Notification sounds are specific to app notification channels on Android so that different sounds can be used for incoming messages, emails, and other apps separately. The notification sound library includes short, distinct audio clips that can be used for alerts: chimes, beeps, short music stings and spoken phrases.
Creator Platform
Zedge enables content creators to upload original ring tones, wallpapers, and other content to the platform. Uploaded content goes into a review queue before it is made public. The creator program has a monetization mechanism in which creators earn credits when their content is downloaded through the Zedge Premium system. The creator platform creates a steady stream of new and niche content in addition to what Zedge’s editorial team produces directly.
Zedge Premium
The Zedge Premium subscription eliminates the advertisements from the app experience and gives access to an exclusive library of premium content — higher resolution wallpapers, licensed music ringtones, and creator-made content available only to subscribers. Non-subscribers access the standard free library with ads displayed between downloads.
AI Wallpaper Generator
Zedge added a feature for AI image generation to create wallpapers from text prompts. Users describe a scene, style or theme in text and the generator creates an original image calibrated to phone wallpaper dimensions. Generated images download and set as wallpapers directly through the same flow as library content.
Category Browsing and Trends
The home feed surfaces trending content based on download activity, with tabs for New, Top and editorially curated collections. Category browsing narrows down the library by content type and theme. The Discover tab offers themed collections based on seasonal events, popular media franchises, and cultural moments.
Search and Favorites
Search looks for specific ringtones or wallpapers by keyword. A favorites system stores content for later download or re-application without having to search again. Following creators gets notifications when those creators publish new content.
