Key word here is “can.” The app can approximate a good amount of the fonts you give it to search for, but at best it’s results are more often than not just that: approximations. It rarely ever finds the exact font, and then sometimes it seems to not even know what it’s doing in the first place and gives back a host of completely irrelevant fonts that don’t even look in the slightest bit similar. Issues with getting an error message when searching fonts is becoming more and more common as well, and some days I can’t even get it to give me ANY results - good, bad or ugly. For simple font enthusiasts or creatives, it’s a fun “hobby” app, but if you’re really jonesing to find out the exact fonts you’re looking for, you should go elsewhere because you won’t ever find it on this app.
The fonts identified often look quite close to your source image, but it overlooks commonly available font matches in favor of ones you’d have to buy from a developer. Case in point: I couldn’t remember which font I’d used for a particular project from several years ago, but knew it was on my system. The app gave me a dozen close matches I’d never heard of and didn’t have. I finally tracked down an old electronic file, which showed me I’d used Haettenschweiler. It’s available on most Windows machines, but was nowhere on the list the app gave me. It earns a second star for a clean interface, as well as for actually finding some close matches, but no higher because I suspect the developers are purposely skipping over commonly available fonts due to some kind of licensing agreement with font merchants.
It’s not that easy to use. I scanned a picture and after 10 times of trying to get the app to read it it finally read it. Then when I went back with the same picture that worked last time it couldn’t read. I’ve tried with different fonts on the computer, on paper, screen shot pictures, with my camera, and it just takes more than 5 or 6 times for each method and it just doesn’t read good.
When I first got this app, I thought the 1k+ of five star reviews were fake. NOPE. When you open the app, you can chose to get a tutorial or just wing it. The starter pack animations are GREAT, despite the fact that they may be considered “un-original.” You can buy more animation packs (with real money), but they are very cheap! They get down to $0.99, and the average is only $2.99-$3.99. Not bad! There are also plenty of FREE packs. I definitely recommend. (My one issue is whenever I try and get a free animation pack, it says “Store Notice: Store unavailable - user is not authorized to make payments.” I can’t figure out how to get a free pack!)
I have used this app on and off for years. It has worked in the past amazingly well yet not always giving me the correct response. It has saved me hours and hours of trouble but recently it comes up, saying it cannot contact the servers or something like that giving me no results over and over again, please try again later, it tells me. I have to go online and do it on my computer which I can do but is not as simple as the app I don’t know what has changed, but I do wish this was fixed
Gave it a 5 stars because it works well for me and saves me hours searching for a specific font. Of course, there will be fonts not recognized due to being a custom perhaps, bit if you are working with generally known fonts it will identify and even provide others that are similar you can go and download/purchase. Excellent job guys, thanks!!
It works decently well and has saved me hours of searching through fonts. That said, sometimes what is shows isn’t remotely close. It might that the database is limited considering how many fonts are out there. It’s not a deal breaker but it’s annoying that I have to delete the pictures I take using the app from my other photos. It would be nice if there was at least the option to only allow the pictures to exist while using the app.
What The Font is an intriguing concept for those who are interested or have a passion for font design but the overall execution seems to be lacking for me. While the app is simple in design and easy to use I feel it needs to be much more from an educational viewpoint. I would like it if the app had a database of the most common or popular fonts and how/where they are most likely to be used. Rather than just relying on the app as a snap and analyze tool it could be used as a reference guide as well.
As a font geek, this app has been great for me. It correctly identifies the font among reputable and popular fonts and not just among a limited database with “similar” or “copies” of fonts, as other apps do. The only feature I would like added is the ability to save fonts to favorites or something, just like in Shazam, so I don’t have to remember the name of every font that once drew my attention.
This app is infinitely better since their fall 2017 update! Some things are still a little finicky, such as trying to draw the boxes around the text you want to identify. But boy am I glad we got this update! Much more useful and effective now. (Original Review Below) I love What The Font... on desktop. Seriously: do not bothering trying the iOS version. It is barely functional, and it seems that the developers forgot about it years ago anyway.
This WTFont used to be super finicky, but at least I could get it to work (when I first read about it more than a year ago), now it gives no errors if it can’t find something, it just searches forever - I was in the middle of some design work and let it go for a half hour last night (just to see...) Cropping/selecting the text seems unnecessarily weird considering how many native language API’s have this built in - image constantly re-sizes, re-centers, and re-sizes the crop/selection box in a way that doesn’t seem to have ANY correlation to what I’m doing to it, if you have text near the edge of the image, don’t even bother. I’ll get the selection box just right with my fingers, let go, and it snaps to something completely different, and drops (at best) the character at the end of the string I was trying to select. Take aways: -Fix text selector -Maybe a better loading modal -Give errors on timeout or empty result set
Perfect for when I see a font on TV that I like. I use the website all the time at work, just wish I could save fonts. I’m not trying to download them onto my phone, so being able to save fonts for later to download when I get to my computer would be a rad addition.
One thing I'm never going to be able to understand is how an app can work almost flawlessly and all of the sudden after an update (updates only purpose is to make things better) the app stops working. Maybe the auto selection sounded like a good thing to add, but it is really a nightmare, where before I was able to draw a box where the font was located in the picture, no worries I have to go through deleting endlessly boxes that show out of nowhere without even the possibility to get rid of the auto selection option.
I’ve been using this app for several months and this app is useful! The chances of getting the exact same font is about 80-90%. Lower quality photos might impact your experience. The average rating is a 2.6, but I think it is a great app for me!
What the Font is simply perfect. It is so intuitive, so easy to use, and so flexible it has saved me countless hours! I am constantly amazed at how quickly I’m able to help clients recreate logos when they didn’t have the original in a decent resolution. If only every app could live up to its promises as well as What The Font!
I first got this app and I was frustrated because it seemed it couldn’t even identify the simplest of fonts. I finally tried it after the update and it’s done SO WELL. It also shows you a ton of similar fonts, some I end up liking even more than the one I originally tried to identify, lol. Thanks for this app ☻
I do trophy engraving, so I downloaded this app for work to match fonts with previous jobs or customer requests. For a little while it worked okay, bringing up maybe one or two approximate matches and a whole lot of for-purchase options. Not perfect, but worked well enough most of the time. Recently, however, it simply doesn’t work. Either I’ll get an error message, or the entire area of the screen goes black
Yes!!! My dreams have come true! I've been waiting 6 WHOLE YEARS for an update. Now then, I've still regularly used the old version, mind you...except now I don't have to shamefully hide my screen due to legacy-app-embarrassment syndrome. Seeeriously excited to finally have this fonting update.
I’ve always wanted to know what fonts they were on everyday objects, and this app, literally helped!!! Im extremely happy of how this app helped me make videos, pictures, even helped me download the right font with ease.
This app is extremely useful however there’s only one thing missing which is the ability to save (or bookmark) the fonts. If this feature happens to be added in the near future, I will happily re-rate this application to reflect a five star rating!
Great font identifying; frustrating that it doesn’t always work
Great font identifying tool. Only recently came across it not working and I can’t identify who to reach out to with the issue as the quick link to the help desk won’t work with my phone.
As a type designer, I love this app. It’s not so great at determining the exact right typeface every time, but it gets pretty darn close. I really wish that they could add a “my fonts” tab or something so that I could save certain fonts that I have found. It would be great for reference. Great app!!
A lot of font options are not ones I have downloaded already and have to purchase. BUT it has been a huge time saver in helping me find ones that I already have as options!!!!
Works fine if you’re looking for a simple font that comes installed on basically every single device ever made. Does not work like the “magical” font finder it claims to be. I have looked for several different fonts with no results. It just “searches” forever. I’ve deleted and redownloaded several times to see if it was just a bug but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s faster to scroll through every font.
I guess I know why it’s free- don’t waste your data
I can’t tell you how well this works… because in the last 10 times I’ve attempted searching (using their suggestions of course) it gives me an error that the server isn’t available (and yes it’s fully updated and my internet and other apps are working just fine). I’ve tried different fonts and images as well. Delete.
I work in a print shop and I use this app all the time. It used to always give me a list of similar fonts but now all I get is “Sorry, we couldn’t reach the server.” What happened?
This app would be better if it at least have an option of who to buy fonts from or better yet, give options for free fonts! I don’t mind paying most of the time, but I also use reputable free sites when I need a font just for a special project.
First, the camera usage is awful. There is no “landscape” support, forcing you to rotate pictures of longer single-line text and then you automatically lose characters due to cropping. You can draw selection boxes only for “portrait” oriented photos. Worse, none of the font recommendations are even close to the sample text. This app was not useful to me at all.
So, you’d think in the age of AI everything that it wouldn’t be that hard to get sophisticated font id from photo’s. You’d be wrong, though. I own a sign shop and have to match fonts all the time. This app is usually less than helpful at taking an example photo and telling me what font it is, or even get me CLOSE. In fact I’d say it’s MORE than less than helpful.
This app saved me hours in one day. I read the reviews and was a little worried to install the app. Good thing I did. This app rocks. Don’t get any other font app, get this one.
Over the past 40 years I’ve and have been in the graphic design field on two continents and had to lean on my visual recognition skills to identify font faces. No more, thanks to What The Font.
I have loved this app for years. But recently I can’t get results for anything. It says it can’t connect to servers or just gives me a blank screen for the results. Please fix it! I’m happy to give it 5 stars once it’s fixed.
Used to like this app but an update has now required me to agree to the new terms and conditions, which is fine. However I’m unable to toggle the accept slider and click accept. If I slide the button, it reverts right back to where it was and won’t accept. I have scrolled up and down to the bottom of the ridiculously long terms list but to no avail. Fix and I will update.
Amazing that an app so useful and well designed should be free - really free, as in you pay nothing and are not blitzed with ads either. I vote that this update deserves to put you on the front page featured apps...
I really enjoyed this app the first time I downloaded it, but since downloading it for a second time around it has never worked. It’s always having trouble connecting to the server or it ask for me to reupload the photo.
I have found that this app is very easy to use. It does find the certain font one may be searching for or similar ones to it. I recommend this app for an easy way to find fonts.
This is a tremendous help to me as a designer. I’m always surprised at its accuracy even in finding obscure fonts. The few fonts it doesn’t identify exactly, at least comes up with very close, similar matches. Thanks for a wonderful and helpful app!
I love the idea behind this app! However, I wish there was an option where you could select which site the results are being pulled from. For example, if I want to see the closest result but only on dafont
UPDATE: this tool ROCKS now. Super fast, hasn’t crashed yet. Love it! This tool is very useful for satisfying curiosity on don't encountered. It's slow though and sometimes crashes. Needs update really bad.
You guys fixed it and now it works the way it supposed to. Thanks dev team for reaching out so I can edit my review Giving you five ⭐️ for your dedication!
I can use my phone to go to the website and use the service and it works great (just make sure you have a good clean picture). But, the iOS version never gives me results. It just sits on “getting results” forever. Make no mistake though...it’s an invaluable tool! And I was super excited that there was a iOS app. But 😒
From the time ive had it it only worked once. When i take a picture to identify a font it doesn’t even load. I left it load from my house to my job which is a 49 minute drive and nothing. Its not even worth it. It was recommended by my professors but I honestly don’t recommend it nor my professors at this point.
Why is it that the “Accept” button is grayed put after reading the terms and conditions. Can’t get past opening the app. There is no way to accept the terms and conditions and it looks like you guys don’t care about this app at all. It was a daily app that I used but slowly losing your brands trust.
I have used this app before but it no longer works. It mostly just shows the picture of the font and the word it thinks it is. Never shows any fonts. This app used to be awesome but now it is useless so I have deleted it. If you ever fix it I will gladly download it again
I have loved and used this app for years. For the last few days (today is 8 November 2023), it’s not working at all. I always get the “cannot connect to server” error message. Changed my 5-star to a 1-star (zero isn’t available). I hope someone fixes this.
I don’t know what is up with this app. I downloaded and used it 2 - which I loved but every time now I try to use it says my file/photo is corrupted. I’m just going to delete this app. I’m over it! Please do something to fix this because I use those same photos on other apps and they are fine.
This rating would be 0 stars if they would let me. Server issues EVERYTIME. It used to work really well and was a very useful tool, but has steadily gotten worse over the past year. I’m in hopes that the issues can be fixed. Until then, I’ll have to go somewhere else.
Identify fonts in a snap! Take a photo of a design you love - WhatTheFont recognizes the fonts and shows font matches. Great for designers, crafters, and anyone who loves typography. Perfect for when you see a great design and want to identify the fonts, or when your client sends you an image but doesn’t know what fonts were used. - Type out words in the fonts you find – enter your own text to try them out on the spot. - Get ideas and inspiration for font options for your own projects. - Learn the names of cool fonts. - Browse fonts similar to the one in your image. WhatTheFont is powered by AI, making it fast and easy to use. Brought to you by the friendly people at MyFonts.