The Best Font Apps for the iPhone and iPad

Designers, teachers, artists, presenters, and creatives rejoiced when iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 facilitated the use of custom fonts on Apple’s mobile devices. This feature, also available in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, lets you install custom fonts in TrueType Font (TTF), OpenType Font (OTF), or TrueType Collection (TTC) formats, making it easier for creators to put a unique display and text face on their leaflets, posters, and reports. While you still can’t change Apple’s system fonts, updated font features represent progress.

You can install custom fonts and apply them to compatible apps on your Apple mobile devices. To control those 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.

Yet, even now, there still aren’t a ton of resources for installing and managing iOS fonts, and there’s not much momentum for any radical changes in that area. So far, vendors like Monotype and Morisawa are offering downloadable apps on the App Store, and additional vendors Apple has partnered with, like DynaComware and Founder, are still expected to produce apps eventually. If you want to install third-party fonts on your device right now, we detail the apps available. Our detailed article on how to install fonts 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. New fonts from these foundries are now included: Filmotype, Sideshow, Tart Workshop, Retype, Bold Monday, CSTM Fonts, Greg Thompson, Type-Ø-Tones, DX Korea, Capitalics, Adobe Originals, Cadson Demak, Design210, Paratype, Mark Simonson Studio, Resistenza, Outras Fontes, psType, Signal Type Foundry, supertype, Dalton Maag, Rosetta Type Foundry, Mostardesign, Canada Type, OH no Type Co., NohType, TipoType, Typefolio, Fontworks, Visual Design Laboratory, FONT1000, and Type-Labo.

iOS

Font Diner

The free Font Diner is a hugely 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 sources 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. iFont can now parse fonts and determine which characters glyphs are mapped to, save glyph appearances, and search glyphs.

iOS

Fonteer

Fonteer lets you 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 to make them accessible to 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. 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. Fonteer does not let you alter the font on your home screen, in messages, or in emails.

iOS