iOS - How to install a custom font into the iPhone OS (Not just my APP) just like the AnyFont App?

Question

My App uses a custom ancient font for a language that is about to be extinct, interesting right.

Now I am using the custom font thru out my app but I need to install the font into the iOS operating system I hope this is possible so that I can copy and paste text from my app into other apps like email, SMS and especially Facebook otherwise the chars come up as squares because Apple don't even support their unicode.

I think its possible because AnyFont is an app that does that without jailbreaking.

This feature is a crucial feature for users using the app to be able to communicate with the language.

So this would be much appreciated if someone could help me with some hints please.

I am not sure if I need to post code here !.

Thank you,

Kind Regards,

Will

Answer 1

You have to create a configuration profile for each font. With the manual installation by the user of that profile the font will be available for Numbers, Keynote and some others. It's available since iOS 7. See Apple's reference page for that. Basically, you have to use the Font Payload:

A Font payload lets you add an additional font to an iOS device. Font payloads are designated by specifying com.apple.font as the PayloadType value. You can include multiple Font payloads, as needed.

...

Each payload must contain exactly one font file in TrueType (.ttf) or OpenType (.otf) format. Collection formats (.ttc or .otc) are not supported.

You can also take a look at here: http://www.saturngod.net/create-custom-font-for-ios-7

If you're using a Mac, you can also checkout Apple's Apple Configurator which allows you to create those MDM profiles too.