New App Allows Users to Change System Font on iOS 16 Without Jailbreaking iPhone

Apple’s iOS is notorious for its lack of flexibility and customization. Unlike Android, iOS locks down several features to provide a uniform experience for users. While this leads to consistent performance, it leaves little room for customization. Now, a software developer has come up with an app that allows Apple users to change their iOS system’s font without having to jailbreak their iPhone. The app works on iOS 16.1.2 and earlier on non-jailbroken devices and includes nine different fonts to experiment with, with more being added over time.

Developer Zhuowei Zhang (@zhuowei) post the link to his app on Twitter on December 26 and has since added more fonts to it. The proof-of-concept app overwrites the default iOS system font – San Francisco – using the CVE-2022-46689 security exploit. According to Zhang, the font replacement is only temporary and all changes are rolled back after a reboot. However, he advised users to back up their device before using the app.

Additionally, the exploit only affects certain text in iOS and is not system-wide. So far, Zhang has posted screenshots of iPhone settings menu, Apple Music app, App Store, Messages, Contacts and Weather app with text containing new fonts. Fonts in the app include DejaVu Sans Condensed, DejaVu Serif, DejaVu Sans Mono, Go Regular, Go Mono, Fira Sans, Segoe UI, Comic Sans MS, and Choco Cooky.

Zhang invited other developers to use his code on GitHub and add more fonts to the app if they want. It released the final version of WDBFontOverwrite on Thursday, which also allows users to import custom fonts that have been ported to iOS. The app is not available on iOS 16.2 as the latest update fixed the vulnerability exploited by Zhang’s app.

Apple does not allow users to change default fonts or themes on its iOS devices. The same, however, can be done officially on Android devices by heading into settings. Apple has added some customization options in recent years by introducing widgets on the home screen, but is far behind Android when it comes to the customization options available to users.

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