FontShop Launches FontShuffle App For iPhone/iPod Touch

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News | Jürgen Siebert | December 5, 2008

Wouldn’t it be great if a whole font catalogue would fit into your shirt pocket? If you could find a typeface without knowing its name, just by comparing its shapes? If it were possible to e-mail the marketing department your desired typeface for a client presentation while still at the airport?

A new application developed by FontShop AG — the German office of FontShop — and Metaquark for the iPhone and iPod Touch could be the answer. FontShuffle 1.0 was released yesterday, and offers a new way of finding and comparing typefaces, and of composing text samples. The software combines the knowledge of the analogue world with new advanced possibilities of the digital mobile world.


First determine to which classification your typeface belongs, then select the sub-category.
FontShuffle 1.0 is the world’s fastest source of typographic inspiration. Hundreds of font families are sorted by visual similarity into a visual family tree. Without any previous knowledge about typography, and using only visual criteria, you can navigate directly to 6 font designs of similar style by tapping your iPhone twice. You can do this without knowing the name or style category of the desired font, but can learn these by playing around with the application.


If the six options suggested by FontShuffle are not to your liking, just shake the device and six new options appear. Shake again and the app links to the FontShop database, downloading more samples. Compose a custom sample to see the font in action.
Shake the results list to throw new alternatives into the mix. Use the default sample text to display your font, or test it dynamically using your own words. Turn the screen to have a look at the glyph chart.

The FontShuffle catalogue is constantly updated. To do this, FontShop selects the best fonts from its huge assortment, consisting of only original designs from the world’s most respected type foundries.

Upcoming FontShuffle-Enhancements:

  • more shuffle-fonts
  • scalable font samples
  • links to font information on www.fontshop.de
  • further localization

FontShuffle 1.0 is free of charge and available in English and German language versions. It is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch, and requires iPhone 2.0 Software-Update.

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17 Comments:

  1. How delightful! Am I correct in my assumption that this allows me to purchase and install the fonts onto an iPhone? It would be nice to read my emails in FF Balance, as I do on my desktop system, and use something other than Helvetica for the Adressbok, which I do not prefer for telephone numbers.

    Posted by Anders on Dec. 5, 2008

  2. It’s a nice application, but the icon is awful – for a design-oriented company, it really is disappointing.

    Posted by mlongg@gmail.com on Dec. 5, 2008

  3. Good god! Stop giving me more reasons to buy an iPhone.

    But really, it looks great!

    Posted by Jeff on Dec. 5, 2008

  4. Anders. No, not yet. I believe the iPhone system doesn’t allow such customization. What FontShuffle does do is let you browse the FontShop collection.

    Posted by Stephen Coles on Dec. 5, 2008

  5. This may be one of the few reasons why I will finally get an iPhone. Thank you, FontShop, for making an amazing app that’s both helpful at type identification and inspiration.

    I can’t help but wonder if it will be ported to the desktop/web?

    Posted by Bram Pitoyo on Dec. 7, 2008

  6. Bram – Something similar to this category browsing is coming to FontShop.com very soon.

    Posted by Stephen Coles on Dec. 7, 2008

  7. Haven’t downloaded it yet, but sounds like a great app and a fantastic way to explore new fonts…

    This is what I love about the iPhone, it has given so many the opportunity to create a specific, tailored experience to a standardised (mobile) platform.

    Posted by George Wiscombe on Dec. 7, 2008

  8. Just installed the app and played around with it for a while. A must-have for fontaholics with an iPhone. I am not so sure about the (loud) shuffle sound, though. Shouldn’t there be an option to turn that off?

    Posted by Bart on Dec. 8, 2008

  9. Great app, loved it from the first run- and great for making iphone wallpapers with your favourite font, can’t wait for the update with more fonts to choose from.

    Posted by Anders Seierøe Mortensen on Dec. 10, 2008

  10. If you wanted to use a nifty font in a phone message, wouldn’t the receiving party have to have that font installed too?

    Posted by BW on Dec. 19, 2008

  11. BW – FontShuffle is a font browser, not a font manager. You can’t use any of the fonts on your iPhone.

    Posted by Stephen Coles on Dec. 19, 2008

  12. i got a friend who has an iphone to download it, and i love it too, i just wish it had a search function for specific names, as i wanted to find particlur fonts, but it took too long to shuffle through all the options, plus i don’t always know the specifics of a fonts category… like what kind of serif is meta serif? it was hard to find…

    but other than that, it’s a great app! i jsut wish i had an iphone!

    Posted by Simon Robertson on Dec. 20, 2008

  13. When someone writes an app that will tell me the name of the typeface when I take a pic of it w/my iPhone, I will install that…

    Posted by Doug on Jan. 8, 2009

  14. Great app. But I’ll second that opinion about the icon…it’s just awful.

    Posted by EnergonCube on Jan. 8, 2009

  15. Do you have the Ariel font to install in iphone for emails? thanks!! Jeanne

    Posted by Jeanne on Jan. 17, 2009

  16. To Doug, they already have – It’s called “What The Font” and it is very good.

    Posted by Joanne on Jul. 16, 2009

  17. Is it possible to share this app again on world apple store?

    Posted by Betoneira on Jun. 6, 2012

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