When you pull your iPhone out of the box for the first time, everything looks clean, crisp, and identical to every other iPhone out there. The standard out-of-the-box fonts Apple includes are highly legible, but lack originality.
This is where font apps come in—allowing you to inject visual individuality and self-expression into your device.
Font apps empower you to:
- Showcase your style: With stylized scripts, fun display fonts and custom keyboard themes
- Boost productivity: Through optimized reading fonts proven to increase reading speed and comprehension
- Enhance accessibility: Via specialty fonts that improve readings for those with learning disabilities
And studies back up the personalization trend, with 72% of consumers desiring products that uniquely reflect their personality and style (Source: Deloitte).
In this definitive guide, we will:
- Explore the 10 best font apps for iOS in 2023
- Compare features and capabilities side-by-side
- Learn font design principles for informed picking
- Handle installations and troubleshooting like a pro
- Preview the future of fonts on iPhones
So whether you wish to revamp your messaging, design visually-appealing documents or simply give your home screen some flair—unlocking the font possibilities of your iPhone awaits.
Why Bother Tweaking iPhone Fonts?
Before jumping into the best font apps available, let‘s address the question on every uncustomized iPhone user‘s mind: why bother changing up my fonts?
Here are 5 motivating reasons to take the font app plunge:
1. Express Your Creativity
Think about every desk, bedroom and locker you customized growing up—it‘s human nature to want to transform blank spaces into something personal. iPhone fonts feed the same desire for self-expression and owning your space.
2. Improve Readability
Staring at the same old fonts can tax your eyes over time. Activating new fonts literally brings fresh perspective to your screen. Certain fonts also improve reading speed: sans serif fonts boosted reading comprehension 7-15% over default options (Source: Wichita State University).
3. Boost Accessibility
Fonts specially designed for conditions like dyslexia feature characteristics making letters 30% easier to read for those impacted (Source: University of Illinois). Font apps expand access to these inclusive typefaces.
4. Align With Your Brand
94% of the world‘s top brands use custom fonts and styling to drive instant recognition (Source: Fonts.com). While building your personal brand through fonts sounds silly—it subconsciously occurs every time someone glances at your distinctively-formatted phone.
5. Increase Engagement
Fun, lively display fonts garner 126% higher content engagement on social posts compared to standard typed posts (Source: Socialinsider). Font apps place endless options at your fingertips.
Convinced on the advantages? Let‘s explore the top font apps for iOS delivering on these benefits.
11 Best Font Apps for iPhone Personalization
With thousands of font apps on the market, narrowing down the very best for your iPhone feels daunting. That‘s why I researched and curated a list of 11 all-star iOS apps guaranteed to transform your screen.
For each app, you‘ll find:
- Price: Free or paid
- Key Features: Quick blurb noting standouts
- Ideal For: Target user group
- Rating: My 1-5 star review
Let‘s customize!
1. Creative Cloud (Free Trial)
★★★★✩
Price: Free Trial then $9.99+/month subscription
Key Features: 1,300 fonts, cloud storage & access
Ideal For: Design professionals
Adobe CC sits atop the font app hierarchy—granting full access to over 1,300 typefaces for just $9.99 a month. This design industry standard launches fonts seamlessly across 100+ iOS apps through cloud syncing—no more searching for missing fonts!
while costly for casual users, the expenses justify themselves for continually creating visually-appealing graphics and documents professionally.
2. Cool Fonts (Free)
★★★★☆
Price: Free
Key Features: 100+ trendy/stylish fonts
Ideal For: Social media & messaging
As the name suggests—loads of legit cool fonts here! The hipster-inspired styles like Rocket Type and Sungshine Suit IG captions and texts.
I appreciate how the keyboard instantly adapts selected fonts as you type anywhere. Less hunting for the ideal aesthetic.
3. Fonteer ($3.99)
★★★★☆
Price: $3.99 one-time
Key Features: 25,000 fonts catalog
Ideal For: Font collectors
The biggest bang for buck for font quantity—Fonteer impressively delivers a vault filled with over 25,000 font files spanning every classification like serif, display and pictogram.
Advanced filters help graze the mega-library. Sort of like a font streaming service! Made for font lovers seeking variety and depth in one iOS app.
4. Font Style ($2.99)
★★★✩✩
Price: $2.99
Key Features: 150 original fonts
Ideal For: Publishing designs
The quality over quantity play—Font Style developers focus exclusively on building new from-scratch fonts rather than curating existing ones. Hence their collection feels bespoke.
The app shines when crafting graphics for professional documents or publishing projects warranting that level of attention to detail.
5. Kimera (Free Trial)
★★★✩✩
Price: Free Trial then in-app purchases
Key Features: Themed font bundles
Ideal For: Bold aesthetic
Kimera adopts the artisanal approach of bundling fonts into style-based packs like Handwritten and Vintage. This boutique feel attracts those drawn to carefully selective fonts with personality versus overwhelming generic catalogs.
Plus creative embellishments like textured backgrounds and drop shadows help your words leap off the screen.
6. Easy Fonts (Free)
★★★✩✩
Price: Free
Key Features: 7,000 basic fonts
Ideal For: Simplicity seekers
The "Easy Fonts" name says it all—the creators focused exclusively on simplifying and streamlining font selection and installation. Which proves welcoming if you find most font apps overly complex.
With quick categorized browsing of 7,000+ styles and an uber-simple single tap to install and sync process—you‘ll customize your screen in minutes!
7. Font Keyboard (Free)
★★★✩✩
Price: Free
Key Features: RGB colorful keyboard themes
Ideal For: Young demographics
Font Keyboard tells me they asked, "how can we create the trippiest keyboard ever?" Outcome? Light-up RGB keyboard themes!
Ideal for younger groups wanting to inject quirky personality into device. But I still discovered some quality display and symbol fonts suited to spice up social media profiles beyond the dazzling keyboard base.
8. AnFonts ($3.99)
★★✩✩✩
Price: $3.99
Key Features: Integrates fonts into work apps
Ideal For: Workplace use
The outlier app narrowly targeting installing new fonts into practical iOS work apps like Pages, Numbers and Microsoft Office apps.
If you need to create weekly meeting notes with pizazz or pitch presentation decks with visual style, AnFonts offers the missing workflow bridge to transporting fonts directly into these tools.
9. Fonty (Free Trial)
★★✩✩✩
Price: Free Trial then subscription
Key Features: Specialized Instagram font packs
Ideal For: Instagram content creators
The 1,000+ playful script and display fonts help spark ideas for captions, bios and IG stories. And built-in tools like gradients and drop shadows eliminate app-switching to polish shareable quote graphics.
But the narrow specialty angle towards Instagram means general messaging and emails appear quite gimmicky in the curated fonts.
10. iFonts (Free)
★★✩✩✩
Price: Free
Key Features: Previews custom looks
Ideal For: Visual learners
For visual learners, seeing selected fonts applied to a meaningful sample paragraph before downloading eliminates waste and confusion. Because nothing disappoints like previewing a font in isolation only to have it appear broken or misaligned in context.
iFonts allows this preview-centric experience so you can confidently decide if a test-driven font meets expectations before acquiring it.
Choosing Complimentary Fonts
Beyond browsing for stylistically-interesting display fonts—understanding typography best practices transforms your iPhone into a showcase. Let‘s break down key terms and compatible matches:
Serif Fonts like Times Roman feature small extended strokes, great for long-read content. Pair with simple sans-serif opposites for contrast.
Sans Serif Fonts including Helvetica lack extended strokes, working well digitally. Combine these for clean headers against serif paragraph texts.
Script Fonts mimic cursive handwriting in casual applications. Limit use to avoid overwhelming pages.
When mixing multiple fonts—maintain enough similarity in style to prevent disjointedness. And ensure adequate color contrast between font/background for maximum clarity.
Now equipped with matching knowledge, thoughtfully build font profiles suited to varying iPhone uses cases like messaging, professional emails or social media.
Installing Font Apps Seamlessly
Once you select the ideal fonts app, seamlessly installing it requires following several critical steps for error-free integration:
1️⃣ Close All Apps – Prevent cross-app issues by completely closing out every single open app on your iPhone before attempting to install font app.
2️⃣ Download Over WiFi – Opt for speedy, stable Wifi networks when initially downloading font apps and individual fonts to avoid instances of corruption or failure to fully load all font file components.
3️⃣ Review Compatibility – Verify the font app and specific fonts list iPhone model numbers and latest iOS versions officially tested and confirmed for support. Cross-check your device specifics.
4️⃣ Bookmark this Troubleshooting Table:
| Issue | Likely Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| App Crashes Upon Opening | Outdated iOS | Update iOS in Settings App |
| Fonts Fail to Appear in App | Improper Install Location | Reinstall Fonts in Correct Folder Pathway |
| Letters Appear Broken/Overlapping | Font Corruption | Delete and Redownload Problematic Font |
| Keyboard Fails to Pull in New Fonts | Access Permissions Error | Enable Full Keyboard Permissions in Settings |
Following those simple preparatory steps guides you through preparations needed for quickly opening and using your new fonts app minus tech headaches!
Exploring the Font Design Trends of 2023
We just covered the critical aspects of selecting compatible, purpose-built iPhone fonts. But what stylistic font design trends should catch your eye this year?
I researched visual design publications to uncover three rising font trends sparking creative inspiration:
● Organic Imperfection – Hand-drawn brush and pen fonts carry an authentic vibe. Brands like Airbnb leverage this aesthetic across web and mobile to boost approachability.
● Dimensionality – Layered multi-color gradient, outlined and shaded fonts grab attention reminiscent of early-2000s designs. Primary candidate for social posts.
● Retro Revivals – Classic 70s/80s style display fonts feature retro RV stripes, disco-esque funk and digital pixel formats. Playful choices for the young generations.
When installed through font apps, these humanist styles contrast against current minimalism to re-inject personality and character onto sterile mobile interfaces.
Beyond iPhone Fonts: Customized Keyboards
While font apps primarily focus on tweaking style and size of fonts—custom iPhone keyboards offer another avenue for self-expression by replacing the traditional typing input.
Here are 4 game-changing keyboard app categories:
🦄 Themed Keyboards – Choose colorful and graphically-stylized keyboards spanning chic designs to mystical themes.
👽 Emoji Keyboards – Enable instant access to animated emoji, stickers and GIFs from your keyboard to amplify emotional expressiveness.
💬 Predictive Text Keyboards – Added context-aware word predictions increase typing speeds up to 50% for efficiency gains. Great for messaging and emails.
🎤 Dictation Keyboards – Completely hands-free and voice-powered keyboards like Siri dictation offer flexibility handicapped users greatly appreciate.
Venture into the Apple App store to uncover alternative iPhone keyboards aligned to your personal preferences—adding diversity beyond plain system defaults.
The Future of iPhone Font Apps
Trying to predict the next innovations inside the creative font space? Expect the top font app developers to expand in these upcoming directions over 2023-2025:
❇️ TEMPLATE BUNDLES: Apps like Fonty now pair popular IG fonts with complementary post templates—a trend of wrapping complementary design assets around core fonts that will continue flourishing across apps.
❇️ ADVANCED SEARCH: Leverage of AI trains models understanding qualities like “vintage” “happy” or “hipster” to return target font recommendations. Eliminating vague browsing.
❇️ NEW FONT NICHES: Growing demand for niche-specific font packs catering to subcultures like e-sports, anime fans and music groups who wish to boldly display cultural pride.
No matter the innovation—iPhone font apps fixate on empowering self-expression by constantly pushing possibilities.
Closing Thoughts on iPhone Font Apps
When first read about font apps, I wrongly brushed them off as rather unimportant tools with limited capabilities.
But after researching the present offerings—I changed perspectives realizing font apps redefine how we interface with mobile devices in unexpectedly empowering ways.
They transform sterile system default appearances into extensions of self. They increase accessibility for those struggling with reading. And they can massively amplify content engagement when strategically used.
My advice? Don‘t overlook font apps as silly novelty acts. Approach them as gateways for exercising creative freedoms and showcasing your individualism!
I hope detailing my 11 top font app picks for iOS pointed you to Ideal choices matching aesthetics and features suiting your iPhone endeavors—especially as design-forward options only continue expanding.
Here‘s to personalizing your mobile life through the simple act of display typeface adjustments and becoming your own font master!
