One of the things that have made the iPhone so popular is that it is highly customizable. There are all sorts of features that you can learn how to adjust. For instance, did you know that you can change the font on your phone? There are several different ones to which you can change it if you don’t like the typical font that comes standard. Let’s look at how you could change the font and some of the ones that are available on the different iPhone models.
For What Aspects of the iPhone Might You Want to Change the Font?
Before we get into how you can change the font on your iPhone, let’s talk about which particular aspects of the device you might want to focus on for your font changes. You might wish to change the font for your emails. You may want to change it for your apps. iMessage would be another possibility. You can change the font for any of those if you just know how to do it.
Which Fonts Come with Different iPhone Versions?
You might have thought that the same font came standard with any version of the iPhone, but if you look at several of the models, you’ll see that’s not actually the case. For instance, the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and the 3GS all came with Helvetica standard. The iPhone 4 and some of the models that came after were issued with something that Apple named Helvetica Neue. It was similar to the original, yet subtly different.
When iPhones started using iOS version 7 and 8, the standard font was Helvetica-Light or Ultra-Light. iOS version 9 brought with it a font called San Francisco. The Apple Watch uses it too. With iOS 10, 11, and 12, the font is SF Pro. iPads that were released before the iPhone came out used Myriad, Chicago, or Espy Sans. After the iPhone came out, the iPad started using Helvetica.
How Can You Change the Font Style on Your iPhone?
The way you can have the most freedom to change the font style on your iPhone is by jailbreaking it. For those of you who have never heard of the term, jailbreaking is when you attach your iPhone to a laptop or PC via the USB cable. Then, you or someone else can use a program to fundamentally alter the phone’s software. Altering the font in many different ways is then possible, as well as all kinds of other changes that you can make.
This seems like an appealing option in some ways. However, we don’t recommend that you ever jailbreak an iPhone. Yes, you can set it up with apps that didn’t come from the App Store and weren’t designed for use on Apple products. If you jailbreak the phone, though, you leave the device open to many more system vulnerabilities than would otherwise be the case. It is much easier for your iPhone to contract a virus and for your sensitive information to get stolen if you jailbreak the phone. Also, doing so will void the standard warranty or AppleCare+ if you paid for it.
BytaFont Can Change the Font on Your iPhone
If you decide to jailbreak the phone anyway, then BytaFont is probably the best program that will allow you to alter the font for the iPhone itself, rather than for programs that you might use through it. To get it, open Cydia, then search for BytaFont. Install it on the phone, and you will see it on the springboard.
To install some new fonts, open the app, and tap Browse Fonts on the button of the menu. Select the one of your choices and then download it. When you tap Download, you’ll be directed to the Cydia package for that font. Tap Install, and it will download.
Once the font has downloaded, you can close Cydia and open BytaFont again to activate the font that you chose. The bottom of the menu will show an option that says Basic. Tap it. Select the font, and then it should be displayed throughout your phone.
What Other Ways Can You Change Font on an iPhone?
Jailbreaking is not the only way to change some of the fonts on an iPhone, though. You can manage to change the font through certain apps that are available. There’s one called AnyFont. Through it, you have unlimited access to various fonts.
The bad news is that it doesn’t allow you to actually change the system font on your iPhone. The good news is that you may use it to add fonts to the phone that you can then use for things like Keynotes, Pages, Excel, Word, and other third-party apps. If you decide to go that route, you can purchase AnyFont for $1.99 in the App Store or through iTunes.
When you have downloaded AnyFont, type the font you are trying to find into the search engine that’s part of the app. You might choose something like OTF, TCC, or OTC. Type in the one that you want, and the app will locate it for you if it’s available.
Add this font by using the Open In feature on the iPhone. Email the font file to yourself as an attachment. When you tap on it, select Open In, and then pick AnyFont as the file destination. Once the font is downloaded into AnyFont, it should be in the font list. Tap on Install the Font, and hit Accept and Confirm as many times as is required, which will vary according to which iPhone model you have.
Close the application you want to use the new font in, and then restart it. You should see the new font featured now for that app.
What Else Can You do to Change the Font on the iPhone Itself?
If you’re intent on changing the font of the iPhone itself rather than the apps, then the only way is to jailbreak it if you want a new font entirely. The one other thing that you can do without jailbreaking is to change the font’s size. You’ll need to be running iOS 11 or later.
You can open Settings, then Display and Brightness. Go to Text Size. By moving the slider, you can make the text larger or smaller. If you have iOS 10 or below, then you would need to head to Settings, General, and then Text Size.
If you want even bigger text, then you can also go to Settings, then General. Go to Accessibility, then Larger Text.
Admittedly, it is a little bit frustrating that you essentially have to jailbreak an iPhone if you want to have an entirely different font on it than what came with it initially. You can adjust the font in some of the apps or change the size of the font in the rest of the phone, but that’s about it unless you take the risky step of jailbreaking the device.
That’s a decision that you’ll have to make for yourself. Probably it is advisable to just live with the font you have. The risks inherent with jailbreaking the phone likely aren’t going to seem worth it to most iPhone owners.
