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floral

macrumors 65816
Jan 12, 2023
1,011
1,234
Earth
I have a small collection of .ttf files in my iCloud Drive that I use for creative and business purposes.

HOW THE HELL DO I INSTALL THEM ON MY iPAD?!

Apple's utterly useless support page says "visit the app store to download an app to install fonts."

But all I can find is apps that force you to use their collection.

How the HELL do I install my own fonts?

AND WHY IS THIS SO CONVOLUTED?! What happened to "It Just Works"?
I just use iFont to install them as settings profiles. Download a font file you want to use, then insert it into the app and download the profile. You'll have to install a profile for every font you want to add, but you can also bulk install them in a single profile.

(It doesn't tamper with any of your other settings, it just installs a font to the system.)
 

Spaceboi Scaphandre

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2022
3,414
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Last edited:

rappr

macrumors regular
Jul 8, 2007
134
264
Since many fonts needs to be licensed and/or purchased, the idea was that the font owners would create apps in the App Store to provide their fonts. This didn't really happen (although I think there's an Adobe app that lets you install some of their fonts).
 

Isamilis

macrumors 68020
Apr 3, 2012
2,191
1,074
Sorry to ask slightly unrelated question. Does anyone succeed installing fonts and use them in Books app (Apple owned book reader)? I used App: Fonteer and anyFont without success.
 

MacOSExustio

macrumors member
Sep 7, 2010
40
8
It is NOT ridiculously easy, it's a UX disaster.

Product development basics: Who's your target audience, and what do they need your product to do?
I agree. I got here by Googling "ios why the h*ll can't i install a font from a webpage?" (and the star word isn't 'hall'..)

That's seems to be how fonts are distributed everywhere else - either as a ttf/otf else, or as a zip file that contains such. So - why can't I go to a webpage, download the file to the Downloads folder in the Files app, go to it, and have a nice item in the popup that say's "install font" if it's a ttf/otf file (or even a zip file - the system would have to be smart enough to look into the archive to see a TTF file there, but that's simple enough. Or better, from within Safari itself, when you press-hold on the file link?

I'm tempted to (learn a bunch of ios coding first), jail break my iPod 7th generation (the last that can Apple is guaranteed to not be able to make un-jailbreakable as checkm8te uses the bootrom), write a tweak to do exactly that, then send it to Apple as a "suggestion" in the Bug Reporter application, with a message "Your Welcome for something that should be in the OS to begin with."

Can you install tweaks *without* jailbreaking with a custom app side-loaded through xCode? (Why the #$@ won't Apple just give us a "jailKit" with security-out-the-wazoo and be done with the cat-and-mouse - as a way to feed the "jailbreakers-as-innovators" phenomenon? At least they might get a few more developers - hell, make a "Jailbreak Tier" with a dev fee of $200 a year instead of $100)
 
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MacOSExustio

macrumors member
Sep 7, 2010
40
8
I‘d probably say Apple has focused more on enabling content consumption than content creation.

And the pencil sure is nifty…
Exactly - Apple deices today are build as content consumption devices, not creation. Some part of Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave, given that the Mac basically invented desktop publishing. (Although he was the one who came up with that model in the first place). If I remember from a skim a long time ago, the "iDevice-as-media-consumption-device" was one of the reasons "Why HyperCard Had To Die".

As for the pencil, what would have happened if Steve Jobs had realized and embraced the idea that while a stylus may be a horrible device for *text/button* input (I'd argue otherwise, because fingers are rather fat - but the anti-stylus argument is the same as the anti-arrow-key argument when the Mac first came out, which makes sense). But a stylus isn't a good text input device, it is a perfect graphic input device - because that's what a stylus is *in the real world*!

What if he had truly embraced that, and we'd have had the Apple Pencil be given the attention to integration with the core apps, instead of what it is now - which seems to be "just another API" that isn't really used. (And indeed, InkWell is GONE from the macOS, right?)
 

rappr

macrumors regular
Jul 8, 2007
134
264
Exactly - Apple deices today are build as content consumption devices, not creation. Some part of Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave, given that the Mac basically invented desktop publishing. (Although he was the one who came up with that model in the first place). If I remember from a skim a long time ago, the "iDevice-as-media-consumption-device" was one of the reasons "Why HyperCard Had To Die".

As for the pencil, what would have happened if Steve Jobs had realized and embraced the idea that while a stylus may be a horrible device for *text/button* input (I'd argue otherwise, because fingers are rather fat - but the anti-stylus argument is the same as the anti-arrow-key argument when the Mac first came out, which makes sense). But a stylus isn't a good text input device, it is a perfect graphic input device - because that's what a stylus is *in the real world*!

What if he had truly embraced that, and we'd have had the Apple Pencil be given the attention to integration with the core apps, instead of what it is now - which seems to be "just another API" that isn't really used. (And indeed, InkWell is GONE from the macOS, right?)
Jobs also was a big proponent of appliance computing, which is why he hated allowing people to open up their own computers and perform their own upgrades. I think he’d be pretty pleased with where Apple devices are from a profit generating perspective.
 
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ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
7,618
13,030
It’s ridiculously easy to install fonts in an iPad. You need an app for it, but that’s hardly a surprise in an app first OS.
If an iPad Pro (a device Apple has marketed as a Mac replacement for creatives) requires an app to install a font, then Apple should make that app. Full stop. If I spent north of $1K on an iPad Pro and needed to install fonts to do work on it, I'd be pretty pissed to find an Apple support page telling me, in essence: "Go out and find and perhaps pay extra for an app on the App Store that does this. Good luck to you!"
 

rappr

macrumors regular
Jul 8, 2007
134
264
If an iPad Pro (a device Apple has marketed as a Mac replacement for creatives) requires an app to install a font, then Apple should make that app. Full stop. If I spent north of $1K on an iPad Pro and needed to install fonts to do work on it, I'd be pretty pissed to find an Apple support page telling me, in essence: "Go out and find and perhaps pay extra for an app on the App Store that does this. Good luck to you!"
if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a font provider questioning your license and throwing a huge bill at you, you could understand why Apple might want to wash their hands of the whole thing.
 

ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
7,618
13,030
if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a font provider questioning your license and throwing a huge bill at you, you could understand why Apple might want to wash their hands of the whole thing.
That has nothing to do with Apple, though. After all, you can install any font file you like on MacOS and have been able to for decades. Also, by that logic, you wouldn't be able to place photos or illustrations into a layout without inserting them directly from a stock photo provider.
 

grimtadin

macrumors newbie
Oct 19, 2023
3
0
There are 4 ttf indigenous language font files (that we created) saved on my iCloud Drive. I am new to Apple products. I am trying to figure out how to install the fonts on my iPadOS 16. I’ve tried 2 font installers, but they automatically go to the App Store and don’t show my font files. How can I install these fonts from my iCloud Drive?
 

Slartibart

macrumors 68040
Aug 19, 2020
3,142
2,817
you use „open files“ and navigate to where the fonts (or zip-archive of them) is located, e.g. on iCloud drive. Straight forward.
 

grimtadin

macrumors newbie
Oct 19, 2023
3
0
you use „open files“ and navigate to where the fonts (or zip-archive of them) is located, e.g. on iCloud drive. Straight forward.
Thank you very much! I had struggled with this for hours. Thanks to your simple instructions, I got them working.
 

yabeweb

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2021
814
1,710
I agree, especially if you need to install many fonts at once, it’s a cumberstone system for a creative device.
 

Slartibart

macrumors 68040
Aug 19, 2020
3,142
2,817
I agree, especially if you need to install many fonts at once, it’s a cumberstone system for a creative device.
well, you can easily create a profile which e.g. includes all fonts for a project or of a singular type face/font family, etc.. iFont allows for that. of course if you refer about the installation procedure via profiles… yeah, Apple doesn't cover themselves in glory taking in account that we are at the 17th revision of iOS/iPadOS 🥹😂
 
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