The Best Font Apps for iPhone And iPad

Designers, teachers, artists, presenters, and others engaged in creative projects were delighted when iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, at long last, had facilitated the use of custom fonts on the iPhone and iPad. This feature, also available with the new iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, lets you install custom fonts in TrueType Font (TTF), OpenType Font (OTF), or TrueType Collection (TTC) formats, freeing you from the constraints of Apple’s built-in fonts and making it easier for creators to put their best face on leaflets, posters, reports, and other display type and text.

You can install custom fonts and apply them to compatible apps on your Apple mobile devices. To control those new fonts or use your iPad as a creative workstation, you work directly through the app you’re using them with. It’s an ideal solution for anyone who creates presentations on their desktop to show on their iPad — no worries about surprise replacement fonts that can mar a display or layout.

While you still can’t change Apple’s system fonts, updated font features represent progress. Some font apps and managers, while also providing font customization, still operate using older configuration profiles instead of taking advantage of more recent and secure approaches. However, profiles often work with a wider variety of apps.

Even today, there still aren’t a ton of res for installing and managing iOS fonts. We do expect to see font apps from additional vendors like DynaComware, Monotype, Morisawa, and Founder as font customization evolves. Apple has partnered with these font providers to offer fonts on the App Store. If you want to install third-party fonts on your device right now, we detail the apps available. Our detailed how-to install fonts article shows you exactly how it’s done.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe Creative Cloud works with system-wide custom fonts on your mobile devices, offering some 17,000 fonts to Creative Cloud subscribers, 1,300 of which are free. You do not have to be a Creative Cloud subscriber to use the free fonts — just download the app and create a login. Once installed, you can tap on the Fonts tab at the bottom of the screen to download new fonts directly to your iPhone or iPad, and they will be available to a host of apps that support them in both iOS 13 and iOS 14.

iOS

Font Diner

The free Font Diner is a popular app specializing in high-quality, retro-style fonts for creative projects. It features more than 400 original typefaces for graphic designers at all levels. Font Diner is one of the few apps that are currently compatible with iOS and iPadOS. It offers a basic set of fonts for free and several additional font sets for $5 each. It’s compatible with Pages, Keynote, and Numbers only.

iOS

AnyFont ($2)

AnyFont lets you install — well — any font in TTF, OTF, or TTC format on your iPhone or iPad via a configuration profile. After installation, you can use these fonts with Word, PowerPoint, Pages, Excel, Numbers, Keynote, and others that employ the device’s font book. You can add single or multiple fonts simultaneously as ZIP or TTC files and preview them in the app.

iOS

iFont

iFont allows you to install new fonts in TTF, TTC, and OTF formats. You can also add files compressed in a ZIP file to use with applications like Pages, Keynote, Microsoft Word, or any other compatible apps. Users can download and install fonts from the Google Fonts library, Dafont, and other custom s within iFont. However, this requires a configuration profile. iFont has an array of cool features, where users can install, compare, and preview typefaces and review individual glyphs and technical font details. You can test out the fonts you want by clicking on the notepad icon underneath the selected font. This will prompt you to type a few words and allow you to share this as an image to view in third-party applications such as WhatsApp or Messenger. Unfortunately, iFont can’t adjust the font used in the keyboard or other apps that are not compatible with custom fonts. iFont works well with iOS 14, so we suggest trying out apps like Pages and GoodNotes, which we know are compatible with customized fonts on the new OS. 

iOS

Fonteer

Fonteer allows users to install OTF or TTF fonts on whatever device you’re using by emailing the fonts as a configuration profile. From the emailed file, you can unzip the fonts into FontBook so they’ll be accessible by any app that allows you to change fonts. This app lets you manage various font collections simultaneously, explore and install Google Fonts, and download different fonts using your browser or email. You can use it with a wide range of apps, including Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Autodesk SketchBook, Pixelmator, and Adobe Comp. You can test the app by downloading the free version, which will let you try out three fonts. If you like the interface and find it easy to use, you can buy the full app at a one-time price and have access to unlimited font installations. Sadly, Fonteer doesn’t let you alter the font on your home screen, in messages, or emails.

iOS

RightFont ($3)

You can get the flexible RightFont app for iOS at no charge. With this app, you can install, preview, and manage fonts on both your iPhone and iPad. OTF, TTF, and TTC formats are 100% supported, and installed fonts work with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, and a bunch of other apps. Users can download and font on your device, iCloud Drive, or Google Drive. You can even share fonts via AirDrop and email and easily install them using RightFont. RightFont is compatible with iOS 14 and lets you preview all the font families with customized content in bulk.

iOS

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