iOS 4 & fonts

iOS is Apple’s operating system for mobile devices, such as the iPad, iPhone, and iPod. Even though it is derived from OS X, there are some major differences, including the way fonts are handled.

How to install fonts on iOS 4

You cannot install additional fonts yourself on an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Apps can include their own fonts but these are only accessible to that app itself.

There is an iPad app called Font Book which can be used to install fonts but these will only be accessible within that app itself. The idea is that it allows designers to see what a particular typeface looks like on the iPad screen.

Fonts that are included in iOS 4

Below is the list of fonts that are included in Apple’s iOS.

  • Oddly enough the iPad comes with more typefaces than the iPhone and iPod Touch.
  • Another oddity is that this list is fairly different from that of Mac OS X, even though there are many fonts that are shared by both operating systems.

Fonts on the iPad

For the iPad Apple added quite a lot of fonts in the upgrade from iOS 3.2 to iOS 4.2. In the list below these new fonts are marked in italics.

  • Academy Engraved LET
  • American Typewriter
  • American Typewriter Bold
  • American Typewriter Condensed
  • American Typewriter Condensed Bold
  • American Typewriter Condensed Light
  • American Typewriter Light
  • Apple Color Emoji
  • Apple Gothic
  • Arial
  • Arial Bold
  • Arial Bold Italic
  • Arial Italic
  • Arial Hebrew
  • Arial Hebrew Bold
  • Arial Rounded MT Bold
  • Bangla Sangam MN
  • Bangla Sangam MN Bold
  • Baskerville
  • Baskerville Bold
  • Baskerville Bold Italic
  • Baskerville SemiBold
  • Baskerville SemiBold Italic
  • Baskerville Italic
  • Bodoni 72 Book
  • Bodoni 72 Bold
  • Bodoni 72 Italic
  • Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Book
  • Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Bold
  • Bodoni 72 Oldstyle Italic
  • Bodoni 72 Smallcaps
  • Bodoni Ornaments
  • Bradly Hand Bold
  • Chalkboard SE Light
  • Chalkboard SE Regular
  • Chalkboard SE Bold
  • Chalkduster
  • Cochin
  • Cochin Bold
  • Cochin Bold Italic
  • Cochin Italic
  • Copperplate
  • Copperplate Bold
  • Copperplate Light
  • Courier
  • Courier Bold
  • Courier Bold Oblique
  • Courier Oblique
  • Courier New
  • Courier New Bold
  • Courier New Bold Italic
  • Courier New Italic
  • DB LCD Tem
  • Devanagari Sangam MN
  • Devanagari Sangam MN Bold
  • Didot
  • Didot Bold
  • Didot Italic
  • Futura Medium
  • Futura Medium Italic
  • Futura Condensed ExtraBold
  • Futura Condensed Medium
  • Geeza Pro
  • Geeza Pro Bold
  • Georgia
  • Georgia Bold
  • Georgia Bold Italic
  • Georgia Italic
  • Gill Sans
  • Gill Sans Bold
  • Gill Sans Bold Italic
  • Gill Sans Italic
  • Gill Sans Light
  • Gill Sans Light Italic
  • Gujarati Sangam MN
  • Gujarati Sangam MN Bold
  • Gurmukhi MN
  • Gurmukhi MN Bold
  • Heiti J Light
  • Heiti J Medium
  • Heiti K Light
  • Heiti K Medium
  • Heiti SC Light
  • Heiti SC Medium
  • Heiti TC Light
  • Heiti TC Medium
  • Helvetica
  • Helvetica Bold
  • Helvetica Bold Oblique
  • Helvetica Oblique
  • Helvetica Light
  • Helvetica Light Oblique
  • Helvetica Neue
  • Helvetica Neue Bold
  • Helvetica Neue Bold Italic
  • Helvetica Neue Condensed
  • Helvetica Neue Condensed Black
  • Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold
  • Helvetica Neue Italic
  • Helvetica Neue Light
  • Helvetica Neue Medium
  • Helvetica Neue UltraLight
  • Helvetica Neue UltraLight Italic
  • Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN W3
  • Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN W6
  • Hiragino Mincho ProN W3
  • Hiragino Mincho ProN W6
  • Hoefler Text Regular
  • Hoefler Text Black
  • Hoefler Text Black Italic
  • Hoefler Text Italic
  • Kailasa Regular
  • Kailasa Bold
  • Kannada Sangam MN
  • Kannada Sangam MN Bold
  • Malayalam Sangam MN
  • Malayalam Sangam MN Bold
  • MarkerFelt Thin
  • MarkerFelt Wide
  • Optima Regular
  • Optima Bold
  • Optima Bold Italic
  • Optima ExtraBlack
  • Optima Italic
  • Oriya Sangam MN
  • Oriya Sangam MN Bold
  • Palatino Roman
  • Palatino Bold
  • Palatino Bold Italic
  • Palatino Italic
  • Papyrus
  • Papyrus Condensed
  • Party LET
  • Sinhala Sangam MN
  • Sinhala Sangam MN Bold
  • Snell Roundhand
  • Snell Roundhand Bold
  • Snell Roundhand Black
  • Tamil Sangam MN
  • Tamil Sangam MN Bold
  • Telugu Sangam MN
  • Telugu Sangam Bold
  • Thonbury
  • Thonburi Bold
  • Times New Roman
  • Times New Roman Bold
  • Times New Roman Bold Italic
  • Times New Roman Italic
  • Trebuchet MS
  • Trebuchet MS Bold Italic
  • Trebuchet MS Bold
  • Trebuchet MS Italic
  • Verdana
  • Verdana Bold
  • Verdana Bold Italic
  • Verdana Italic
  • Zapf Dingbats
  • Zapfino

There are also a series of typefaces whose names start with a dot. I assume they are reserved for the OS – any feedback on this would be appreciated.

  • .Helvetica Light
  • .Helvetica Light Oblique
  • .Helvetica LT MM
  • . Helvetica Neue ATV
  • . Helvetica NeueUI
  • . Helvetica NeueUI Bold
  • . Helvetica NeueUI Bold Italic
  • . Helvetica NeueUI Italic
  • .HKGPW3UI
  • .LastResort
  • .Lock Clock
  • .PhoneFallBack
  • .PhoneKeyCaps
  • .PhoneKeyCapsTwo
  • .PhonepadTwo
  • .Times LT MM

In total iOS 4.2.1 for the iPad ships with 174 fonts from 69 families.

Click the image below to see a 500K PDF poster of all the fonts that shipped with iOS 3.2. It was created using Typefaces, a now-defunct app that listed all the fonts on an iPad and used a customizable text to show off each typeface.

Not all iPad apps provide full access to the installed typefaces. This is particularly true for apps for reading ebooks or other documents.

  • Within the Apple iBook 1.1 app, users can select Baskerville, Cochin, Garamond, Palatino, Times New Roman, and Verdana.
  • In the Barnes & Noble eReader 2.1.3 app, the choice is limited to Arial, Courier, Georgia, Helvetica, Marker Felt, Times New Roman, Trebuchet and Verdana.
  • The Amazon Kindle 2.2 app uses a fixed typeface and only allows users to customize its size.

Fonts on the iPhone and iPod Touch

  • American Typewriter
  • AmericanTypewriter Bold
  • AppleGothic
  • Arial
  • Arial Bold
  • Arial Bold Italic
  • Arial Italic
  • Arial Hebrew
  • Arial Hebrew Bold
  • Arial Rounded Bold
  • Bangla Sangam MN
  • Bangla Sangam MN Bold
  • Baskerville
  • Baskerville Bold
  • Baskerville Bold Italic
  • Baskerville Italic
  • Cochin
  • Cochin Bold
  • Cochin Bold Italic
  • Cochin Italic
  • Courier
  • Courier Bold
  • Courier Bold Oblique
  • Courier Oblique
  • Courier New
  • Courier New Bold
  • Courier New Bold Italic
  • Courier New Italic
  • Devanagari Sangam MN
  • Devanagari Sangam MN Bold
  • DB LCD Tem
  • Geeza Pro
  • Geeza Pro Bold
  • Georgia
  • Georgia Bold
  • Georgia Bold Italic
  • Georgia Italic
  • Gujarati Sangam MN
  • Gujarati Sangam MN Bold
  • Gurmukhi MN
  • Gurmukhi MN Bold
  • Heiti J Light
  • Heiti J Medium
  • Heiti K Light
  • Heiti K Medium
  • Heiti SC Light
  • Heiti SC Medium
  • Heiti TC Light
  • Heiti TC Medium
  • Helvetica
  • Helvetica Bold
  • Helvetica Bold Oblique
  • Helvetica Oblique
  • Helvetica Neue
  • Helvetica Neue Bold
  • Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN W3
  • Hiragino Kaku Gothic ProN W6
  • Kannada Sangam MN
  • Kannada Sangam MN Bold
  • Malayalam Sangam MN
  • Malayalam Sangam MN Bold
  • MarkerFelt Thin
  • MarkerFelt Wide
  • Oriya Sangam MN
  • Oriya Sangam MN Bold
  • Palatino Roman
  • Palatino Bold
  • Palatino Bold Italic
  • Palatino Italic
  • Sinhala Sangam MN
  • Sinhala Sangam MN Bold
  • Tamil Sangam MN
  • Tamil Sangam MN Bold
  • Telugu Sangam MN
  • Telugu Sangam MN Bold
  • Thonbury
  • Thonburi Bold
  • Times New Roman
  • Times New Roman Bold
  • Times New Roman Bold Italic
  • Times New Roman Italic
  • Trebuchet MS
  • Trebuchet MS Bold Italic
  • Trebuchet MS Bold
  • Trebuchet MS Italic
  • Verdana
  • Verdana Bold
  • Verdana Bold Italic
  • Verdana Italic
  • Zapfino

Other sources of information

None available any longer

6 thoughts on “iOS 4 & fonts

  1. Dot Files – .Filename

    In all Mac operating systems, files beginning with a dot are hidden. Pre OS X, every file had a Resource fork & a Data fork. These 2 files had identical names but the Resource fork began with a dot so it was always hidden. Postscript fonts were also comprised of 2 files, same filenames, 1 starts with a dot, so it was hidden. Keeps things orderly, I presume. Resource & Data forks no longer exist, though the dot files are still used in OS X by both the OS & apps to hide files

    Cheers !

  2. I cannot read BENGALI Book in iBook soft which contain Sutonny MJ font in my iPhone 3GS…!!!

  3. Thanx for the font list.

    Now I can use Suitcase to create an iPad and iPod compatible font list for cross-device compatibility.

  4. There’s a small typo. It currently reads “Fonts on the iPhone and iPad Touch” when it should really be “iPod Touch”
    Anyway, thanks for the lists. Exactly what developers need!

Comments are closed.