"Native typeface cannot be made" only for some people

Question

I have an app that changes the font typeface for some elements. It works well for most of the people, but maybe a 0.5% get an exception when trying to change the font. The significant part of the stack trace is this:

Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: native typeface cannot be made
at android.graphics.Typeface.<init>(Typeface.java:147)
at android.graphics.Typeface.createFromAsset(Typeface.java:121)

As I say, it works for most of the people, so I don't think it is a problem with the font file or my code. Any suggestions about how to solve this?

Edit: This is my code:

Typeface phoneticFont = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(),
                                                 "fonts/CharisSILR.ttf");
TextView tv;
tv = ((TextView) findViewById(R.id.searchPronunciationTitle));
tv.setTypeface(phoneticFont);

Answer 1

This bug of Android OS could be the reason of your issue:

Typeface.createFromAsset leaks asset stream

Where are also a workaround in this bugreport:

I altered HTH's workaround so that the method does not assume the font path or format. The full path of the font asset must be submitted as a parameter. I also wrapped the call to createFromAsset() in a try-catch block so that the get() method will return null if the asset is not found.

public class Typefaces {
    private static final String TAG = "Typefaces";

    private static final Hashtable<String, Typeface> cache = new Hashtable<String, Typeface>();

    public static Typeface get(Context c, String assetPath) {
        synchronized (cache) {
            if (!cache.containsKey(assetPath)) {
                try {
                    Typeface t = Typeface.createFromAsset(c.getAssets(),
                            assetPath);
                    cache.put(assetPath, t);
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    Log.e(TAG, "Could not get typeface '" + assetPath
                            + "' because " + e.getMessage());
                    return null;
                }
            }
            return cache.get(assetPath);
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

I followed some of the solutions found here, with no success. I thought it was something really obscure, as programmers often do. Then somewhere I read it could be related to the font path, gotcha:

Instead of:

Typeface phoneticFont = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(),
                                             "blanch_caps.ttf");   

I changed to:

Typeface phoneticFont = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(),
                                             "fonts/blanch_caps.ttf");   

And my file is in assets/fonts/blanch_caps.ttf. Not it works like a charm!

Answer 3

This error came up when the font was in the library asset folder. When I copied it into assets of the application which was using this library, the error disappeared.

It seems assets cannot be imported: Android Library assets folder doesn't get copied

And here are some other cases: Issue when using a custom font - "native typeface cannot be made"