Android smartphones come with a default font that’s responsible for your reading and writing experience. But like with everything else on Android, the font can be changed to suit your particular taste.
Even though the standard setting on your device is made to work well on small screens, sometimes we want to take things into our own hands. Maybe there’s a particular font or style that you’ve come to use on other devices, like computers. If you want to give your phone a new look, you should know that you can always change fonts.
In an attempt to differentiate themselves from the crowd, some Android OEMs have bundled additional fonts and settings with their respective phones. Although not all offer this option, it’s more common today than in the past. The good news is that even if your device doesn’t have this extra setting, you can still change fonts.
In what follows below, we’ll show you how to change the fonts on Android without rooting. There are several methods to employ, and we’ll go through a number of them.
At-a-Glance
- Check your phone’s settings for built-in options
- Install a third party launcher app
- Install a font app
Check your phone’s settings for built-in options
As we mentioned above some phones offer the ability to tweak/change fonts. The quickest and easiest way for most modern phones is to open your Settings app and search for the word “font”. Often it will give you direct access to a configuration or two, including the ability to change font or font size.
OnePlus devices come with two font choices and some extra configuration as well. Here we’ll walk through the steps on a OnePlus 8 Pro.
How to change the font on your OnePlus phone
- Open your phone’s Settings application and scroll to “Customization”
- Tapping on that, the bottom of the next screen you’ll tap on “Font”
- Choose between Roboto and OnePlus Sans
How to change the font size on your OnePlus phone
- Open your phone’s Settings application, scroll to “Display”
- Tapping on that, near the bottom of the next screen you’ll tap on “Font size”
- Choose between one of four font sizes
How to change the font on your Samsung phone
- Open your phone’s Settings application, scroll to “Display”
- Tap on Display and scroll to “Font size and style”
- Under “Font stlye” you select the font you want for your phone from a number of options
- From there you can also tap the “Download fonts” where you’ll be able to install additional fonts. Note that you’ll need to log in with a Samsung account in order to do so.
Install a third party launcher
What if you don’t have any font settings on your Android phone? Not to worry, you can always install a launcher and change fonts from there. For example, you can give the Apex Launcher a try.
In the early days of Android one of the best reasons to install a custom launcher was because it provided so many ways of adjusting the user experience. Although has become more robust over time, it’s still a great way of taking the user interface into your own hands.
Here’s how to change the font using the Apex Launcher
- Tap on Apex Settings (Gear icon at the center)
- Find and tap on Advanced Settings
- Located the Icon Settings menu
- Tap on Icon Font and then choose the font you want to try
- The app will automatically update the icon labels on your phone
Note: the app does not change the font within the apps installed on your phone. It will only affect the home screen and app menu.
Go Launcher is another alternative if you want to change the font while you’re using the launcher.
How to change the font using Go Launcher
- Tap on the three-dot menu located in the lower-right corner.
- Tap on Go Settings.
- Find the Font option and tap on it.
- Click on Select Font.
- Browse through the fonts available.
- If you want more options, tap on the Scan font button.
- Select the font you like and the app will automatically set it.
Note: Not all the fonts will work, and some may cause the launcher to crash.
Install a font app
The Google Play Store is home to countless of apps and plenty of them claim to let you change the font on your phone.
However, in most cases for these apps to work you’ll need your Android device to be rooted. Or, you may need to have a Samsung device. Even here things have changed over the years so a bit of trial and error may be your approach. If you’re using a modern Samsung phone, the aforementioned option might be the way to go.
Apps like iFont or FontFix work on non-rooted Samsung Galaxy devices. Although to be able to take full advantage of them, it’s best to root. If that concerns you, we suggest leaving things where they are right now.
Here’s how to change the font on your older, non-rooted Samsung Galaxy device with FontFix
- Open the app on your Galaxy device.
- Browse through the font options available.
- Choose the one you want to install and tap on it.
- Press the download button.
- Read the instructions that pop up and then tap on “Continue”.
- Another window will pop up, tap on “Install”.
- Once again tap on “Install”.
- Now, go to Settings>Display>Screen zoom and font and search for the font in question.
- Tap on it and click on the Apply button in the right upper corner.
- The font should be applied automatically, no restart required.
Note: Some fonts don’t work with non-rooted Galaxy devices, which will prompt the message “font is not supported”. Bottom line is, you’ll have to search quite a bit to find a supported font.
The second app we mentioned, iFont extends the “without-root” policy to Xioami and Huawei devices, as well. But what if you don’t have a phone from this companies? You might want to consider rooting after all.
Another Option
Some users may not want to change the overall font for their phone, but prefer to use a special font in messaging or social media.
Apps, such as Cool Fonts for Instagram – Stylish Text Fancy Font which lets you type your message and choose from a wide variety of fonts. From there you can copy and paste it wherever any typing might take place, including email, text, or on social media profiles.
Header Image: Photo by Brett Jordan from Pexels
