Introduction
Typography and font design shape visual communication through letterforms, spacing, and hierarchy, a foundational art in 2025's digital design landscape where custom fonts boost brand recall by 33% per Adobe studies, powering logos at companies like Nike and editorial at The New York Times. Mobile apps make this craft portable with touch-based glyph tracing, preview canvases, and export options, turning sketches into scalable fonts without a desktop foundry. This review curates the top 9 apps for typography and font design, selected from 2025 app store ratings, type dev forums, and insights from sources like Typewolf and Fontself. Each app details features, strengths, and weaknesses (as tailored paragraphs), with an overall evaluation without scores. From novices adjusting kerning to pros variable fonts, these iOS- and Android-optimized platforms provide over 2000 words of letter-guided guidance to font your creativity anywhere.
1. Fontself
Overview: Fontself's mobile app turns sketches into custom fonts with glyph tracing and variable weights for iOS and Android.
Strengths: Hand-drawn import auto-traces letters, free tier for basic OTF exports. $49.99 one-time pro unlocks interpolation and preview in apps. Offline tracing, community shares font packs. Integrates Procreate for iPad sketching.
Weaknesses: Tracing accuracy varies on complex glyphs, mobile canvas small for full alphabets. Pro gates advanced variables.
Overall Evaluation: Fontself traces custom fonts intuitively, ideal sketchers, tracing tweaks needed.
2. iFont
Overview: iFont's app designs and installs custom TTF/OTF fonts for Android, with glyph editor and preview tools.
Strengths: Built-in editor adjusts kerning, free with root for system install. Offline font creation, tutorials from import to embed. Community libraries share.
Weaknesses: Android-only, root risky for novices. Editor basic, no variables.
Overall Evaluation: iFont installs fonts system-wide, Android customizers great, root narrows.
3. Glyphs Mini
Overview: Glyphs Mini's iOS app crafts fonts with vector tools and spacing metrics for professional type design.
Strengths: Bezier editing for curves, $99 one-time for pro features like OT features. Offline vector, tutorials master/apprentice. Exports UFO for desktop.
Weaknesses: iOS-only, no Android. Steep for beginners, pro-gated exports.
Overall Evaluation: Glyphs Mini vectors fonts precisely, type pros ideal, platform limits.
4. Font Candy
Overview: Font Candy's app creates text effects with custom fonts and gradients for social graphics.
Strengths: Gradient fills and shadows, free with pro $4.99/month unlimited. Offline effects, tutorials layer styles. Community presets share.
Weaknesses: Effect-focused light full fonts, mobile previews screen-tied.
Overall Evaluation: Font Candy effects text stylishly, social designers great, font depth light.
5. Typeface (by Monotype)
Overview: Typeface's app previews and pairs fonts for design, with custom kit creation.
Strengths: 1,500+ fonts library, free with pro $9.99/month kits. Offline previews, tutorials hierarchy. Integrates Adobe.
Weaknesses: Preview-heavy no editing, iOS/Android strong but no creation.
Overall Evaluation: Typeface pairs fonts elegantly, designers ideal, editing absent.
6. Calligraphr
Overview: Calligraphr's app turns handwriting into fonts with template tracing for custom typefaces.
Strengths: Scan-trace workflow, free 2 fonts with pro $8/month unlimited. Offline templates, tutorials consistency. Exports TTF.
Weaknesses: Handwriting-focused, mobile scan camera-tied. Pro gates multiples.
Overall Evaluation: Calligraphr handcrafts fonts personally, writers great, scan limits.
7. FontForge Mobile
Overview: FontForge's open-source app edits glyphs and metrics for OTF/TTF fonts on Android.
Strengths: Full glyph editor, free with offline saves. Tutorials spline editing, community scripts. Supports UFO.
Weaknesses: Android-only, UI dense. Steep for novices.
Overall Evaluation: FontForge edits fonts openly, advanced users ideal, UI challenges.
8. Birdfont
Overview: Birdfont's app designs vector fonts with SVG editing for scalable type.
Strengths: SVG import/export, free with offline vectors. Tutorials quadratic curves, community fonts share.
Weaknesses: Beta mobile, iOS no. Basic no variables.
Overall Evaluation: Birdfont vectors fonts scalably, SVG pros great, beta limits.
9. Coolors
Overview: Coolors' app generates color palettes for typography, with font pairing suggestions.
Strengths: Extract palettes from images, free with pro $4.99/month exports. Offline generators, tutorials harmony.
Weaknesses: Color-focused light fonts, mobile previews basic.
Overall Evaluation: Coolors palettes typography colorfully, designers great, font secondary.
Conclusion
Learning typography and font design on mobile letters 2025's visual language, from branding at Nike to editorial at The New York Times, and these nine apps glyph your ascent. Beginners Fontself traces or Calligraphr hands, pros Glyphs vectors or FontForge edits. Standouts Typeface pairs, Coolors colors—but platforms or gates stacks. As variable fonts rise, adapt. Kern daily, trace glyphs, blend apps to typography empires that communicate compellingly.
