A font installer for iOS

Latest Release: 1.2.2

 

About Fontismo

Fontismo is an iOS app that provides access to 50 open-licence fonts that are readily available on other platforms but not the iPad or iPhone.

Typefaces installed by Fontismo can be used in a wide variety of apps, including Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote, and others. Once a typeface has been installed using Fontismo, it’s ready to be used in your documents.

Please see the licence section, below, for information on the licences that these fonts are made available under, and the non-commercial nature of Fontismo.


How to Use Fontismo

The first time you run Fontismo, it will provide you with a brief introduction to its functionality:

Welcome to Fontismo

Fontismo lists the 50 typefaces that you can install on your iPad or iPhone. Each typeface is presented by its name and an alphabet sample. To install any single typeface, swipe right to left over its name to get the Add control:

Add a new typeface

Fontismo will download the typeface — look for the progress indicator to the right of the typeface’s name — and then iOS will ask you to confirm you wish to install it:

Confirm the installation for iOS

Tap Install to proceed. Fontismo ticks the typeface when it has been installed on your device, and the menu bar shows the number of typefaces you have installed so far:

The tick shows the typeface is installed on your device

Tapping the typeface in the list will take you to a preview screen. If the typeface is not yet installed, Fontismo will ask if you’d like to that now:

Add a new typeface before previewing it

When the typeface is installed, you can preview it at a range of sizes between 10pt and 288pt. To change the size of the sample, you can either use the standard pinch-to-zoom gesture, or drag the slider at the bottom of the screen:

The font size slider

Tap on the sample itself to key in alternative text of your own, and then scale it in the usual way:

Enter your own sample text

Many typefaces come in only one form, called a Variation. Some have multiple variations you can choose from — those that do will activate the Variations button at the top right of the preview screen. Tap it to preview any of the typeface’s variations:

View a typeface’s variations

The alternative variation, now selected

Tap Font List to return to the list of available typefaces.

You can now install more typefaces, one by one or all together: tap Add All at the top, or swipe right on any single typeface to reveal another Add All control:

Add or remove typefaces

As you can see you can also remove all of the typefaces you may have installed up to now. Swiping left on an installed typeface presents a control that allows you to removed that typeface only.

If you need further assistance, tap the menu icon above the list of typefaces:

The menu

In addition to selecting Fontismo’s online help, you can also jump to the app’s settings, submit a bug report or other feedback, review the app on the App Store, or visit this website.

Settings

You can also see the list of typefaces installed on your iPad or iPhone by looking in the Settings app under General > Fonts. This list will also include typefaces installed by other apps too.

Fontismo’s entry in the Settings app allows you to restore the introductory guidance screen, if you need it, and to learn who created the 50 fonts that the app provides access to:

Fontismo settings


Licence Information

All the of fonts made accessible through Fontismo are offered under open licences, details of which you can view in Fontismo’s section of the iPad’s Settings app — which also lists the typefaces’ creators.

Fontismo provides — and will always provide — these fonts free of charge, either directly as in-app purchases, or indirectly through app subscriptions, as a paid app, or through advertising. Fontismo was written to allow me to make use on my iPad of the same fonts I already use on my laptop computer, and I hope it will benefit others in the same way.

Pages, Numbers and Keynote are copyright 2020, Apple, and their icons are registered trademarks of Apple. Use of these apps’ icons in no way indicates that Apple endorses Fontismo.


Source Code

You can view Fontismo’s source code at GitHub.


Release Notes

  • 1.2.2 2 November 2023
    • Fixed a bug in the feedback system preventing feedback being sent.
  • 1.2.1 20 January 2023
    • Update dates.
    • Internal tweaks.
  • 1.2.0 5 June 2022
    • Ten bonus new fonts.
    • Optionally highlight the app’s new fonts. Default: true.
    • Separate help for iPhone and iPad versions.
    • Added a donations screen.
  • 1.1.2 21 February 2021
    • Ten bonus new fonts.
    • Replace Help button with a menu to support addition of future features.
    • Allow the user to submit bug reports and feedback.
    • Make Settings text elements more stylistically consistent.
  • 1.1.1 1 October 2020
    • Prevent scaling down of custom preview text from reverting to the alphabet and improve scaling code.
    • Add further usage advice to main window.
    • Add occasional App Store review prompts.
  • 1.1.0 21 September 2020
    • iPhone support added.
    • Improved control over font preview scaling.
    • Allow the font sample to be edited.
    • Bug fixes.
  • 1.0.0 1 May 2020
    • Initial public release.

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