Press Save when you have chosen a new tone. When iOS 5 is released, users will also be presented with a Ring Tones list, allowing them to set custom made or paid ringtones as text alerts. Here you can pick a sound that is different from your default text tone. Here you will be presented with a list of all the Alert Tones. We have already covered how it works you can find the post here. Yes, we realize there is a Vibration setting in this screenshot it's part of iOS 5. Scroll down until you see the "text tone" field, it should read Default. You should now be viewing the contact card of the individual you had selected.
After you have thought about it and come to a decision, open up Contacts on your iPhone and select that contact. The first step to setting up a custom text alert for a contact is to decide which contact(s) you want to have a unique sound. While this capability has been around for those in the jailbreak community from early on, it's a fairly new feature having been introduced in iOS 4.2. It is a simple process to set up, but one that is easy to miss if you aren't paying attention. One way to know who is on the other end of that SMS you just received, is to customize the text alert, based on a contact, on your iPhone. Knowing who sent you a text message before even looking at your phone is extremely convenient, especially if you are the type who receives many SMS messages daily.