Customising the ringtone

When a call comes into Cradle, the desktop app plays a ringtone so you don't miss it. You can choose where the ringtone plays, your headset, your laptop speakers, or both, and you have a couple of options for muting it when you need to focus. This article covers both, plus the common gotcha where the headset rings twice.

What "ringtone" means in Cradle

The ringtone is the sound Cradle plays when a call is coming in, before you answer it. It's separate from the audio you hear during the call itself, which uses your Speaker device.

Choosing where it plays is done in Audio Settings, the same panel where you pick your microphone and speaker.

Where the ringtone plays

The choice is in Audio Settings:

Open the Cradle desktop app.
Click the speaker icon in the top right of the app to open Audio Settings (or the headset icon in the lower left during a call).
Find the bell icon. That's the ringer-output control. Pick the device you want the ring to come from.

A common setup is to send the call audio through a headset (so it's private) but the ringtone through the laptop speakers (so you hear it even when the headset is off). For hot-desk or shared-office setups, picking the headset for both is better.

For the broader audio setup, see Choosing your microphone and speaker.

What the ringtone sounds like

The device the ring comes out of is set in Audio Settings, as above. The actual sound of the ring, what tone it plays, is a question about the audio file itself.

If your version of Cradle exposes a built-in ringtone choice, you'll find it in the same settings screen as the audio devices. If your version plays a single fixed ringtone, the only customisation today is the device it plays through. We'll keep this article in step with the product.

Muting the ringtone for a focus block

Three options, pick whichever fits how you work:

Switch Cradle presence to Busy. This stops calls reaching you at all, so the ringtone doesn't play because there's no incoming call. Useful for genuine deep-work blocks where you don't want to be interrupted, your team can still see you're around. See Setting your status.
Set the ringtone device to your laptop speakers, and turn the system volume right down. This keeps calls coming in but kills the audible ring. You'll still see the notification pop up on screen, you just won't hear it.
Turn off or unplug the ringtone device. If you've set the ringtone to a USB speaker or your laptop's built-in speakers and you mute or disconnect it, the ring is silent. Calls still arrive, you'll still see the notification.

Between the three, switching presence is usually the right tool for "I genuinely don't want any calls." Lowering system volume is the right tool for "I want to still take calls, just not be startled by the ring."

The "two rings" problem with headsets

If your headset has its own built-in ringer (Jabra, Poly, and similar) and Cradle is also playing its ringtone through the same device, you can hear two rings, slightly out of sync.

There are two fixes. Pick whichever's easier for you.

Fix A: turn off Cradle's ringer in Audio Settings (recommended for Jabra-style headsets)

Cradle has a switch in Audio Settings that turns off its own ringer when a Jabra-style headset with a built-in ringer is present. Cradle stays silent; the headset's own ring is the only one you hear, and the headset's manufacturer software keeps full control of it.

Open Audio Settings (speaker icon top right, or headset icon lower left during a call).
Find the toggle for using only the headset's ringer, and switch it on. (The Cradle ringer goes quiet; your headset still rings.)

This is the easiest path if you're using Jabra Direct or a similar app to drive the headset.

Fix B: turn off the headset-side ringer instead

If you'd rather keep the Cradle-side ringtone and stop the headset from ringing, turn off the headset-side ring in the manufacturer's app:

Jabra headsets: open Jabra Direct, find your headset, and turn off Ringtone in headset. Full walkthrough in Setting up your Jabra headset.
Other headsets: check the manufacturer's companion app for a similar setting. Look for Ringtone in headset, Headset ringing, or Play ringtone on headset.

Either fix solves the double ring. Use one, not both, or you won't hear anything.

What you should see

When a call arrives, you hear one ringtone, from the device you picked in Audio Settings.
The ringtone stops the moment you pick up, decline, or the call times out to voicemail.

If it doesn't work

The ring is silent. Open Audio Settings and confirm the bell-icon ringer-output is set to a real device, not "no device selected". Also check the "use headset ringer only" toggle isn't on if you don't have a headset-side ringer to back it up. Check the device's system volume too.
You hear two rings. Both Cradle and the headset are ringing. Use one of the two fixes in the section above.
You can't find the ringer setting. It's in Audio Settings, marked with the bell icon. Open the panel with the speaker icon in the top right (when not on a call) or the headset icon in the lower left (during a call). If you can't see it, you may be on an older version of the app, see Updating the Cradle desktop app.