gaurav’s rants

FontSwap now on Cydia

by gaurav on Dec.04, 2008, under iPhone

FontSwap 1.0b was made available on Cydia earlier today. you’re all welcome to test the software and report bugs or feature requests if any..
the application is accompanied by a starter font pack that is a dependency and should install on it’s own..

i’ve tried installing the app myself and it works alright.. those of you who had problems, please try to reinstall it..

please put all criticism and suggestions in the comments..
you may also consider donating if you find this application useful.. :)

HOW TO ADD MORE FONTS:
read this tutorial

http://blog.gauravgiri.com/2008/12/fontswap-icon-and-package-details/

IMPORTANT:
this application *does not* cause endless reboots. if you think you’re iPhone is rebooting endlessly, it’s most definitely having a SWOD [spinning wheel of death].
if that happens or if your springboard crashes or if applications fail to start then you must restore to iPhone’s stock fonts before trying to restoring the iPhone itself [which will not be required in any case].
for this you must be able to login into the device over SSH. you may not see the SpringBoard, just the endlessly spinning wheel or the boot logo, but if you left WiFi and SSH on, you’re not in trouble and can still connect to the device.

to restore default fonts you need to run this command as root from a terminal over SSH

/Applications/FontSwap.app/restore

PS: if you got the “unmet dependencies” error.. try reinstalling now. i couldn’t see the “FontSwap Starter” package in the available list but it installs along with the app. it’s basically a pack of all the custom fonts i’ve released on this blog to get you started with the app.. more packages can be added to the app and i’ll detail the expected package format shortly. as i haven’t built any security checks in the app yet [for absolute lack of time] i suggest you carry on with the started pack or only add fonts that you trust.

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32 comments for this entry:
  1. mk

    Great Job!

    What kind of Fonts are compatible?

  2. Samuel

    Figured out how to add more fonts.
    THANKS, this is the Greatest app ………. :)

  3. Wesley

    I’m not gonna suggest a font preview cause I’m sure it’s already on your plans… hehe

    I got a problem that somehow fixed itself. I’ve installed Myriad Pro, selected “Install & Relaunch Fontswap”, but after then FontSwap crashed after the load screen. Rebooting the iPod made some text disappear, like all the lockscreen, some dialogs, most non-bold text. I’ve changed back to another font and again to Myriad Pro and it still didn’t work, and when I was making this post I redid the steps and it worked… so I don’t know what is causing this, but I tried all fonts and this was the only misbehaving.

  4. rich

    Yes. Helvetica be gone.

  5. angrybanana5000

    Great job. It works without a flaw…..so far. :p

  6. Oelli

    Hi there,
    installed FontSwap an hour ago and tried changing system fonts…
    Since 30 minutes I am on the way to restore my iPhone completely new.
    This app crashed the whole configuration of my 2G.
    Holy Moses! :-)
    It’s still beta, so probably wait some time to try this app.

    Cheers,
    Oelli

  7. rich

    it worked just fine for me, although i’m not able to install the dial pad font (clicking on install and restart doesn’t seem to do anything).

  8. Sakurina

    Anyone who runs into an issue where apps no longer want to launch should go in via SSH and run the following commands:

    cd /Applications/FontSwap.app/StockFonts
    cp Helvetica.ttf /System/Library/Fonts/Cache/
    cp HelveticaBold.ttf /System/Library/Fonts/Cache/

    This only applies to the system font, but yeah. Fixed all my issues. :)

  9. _grip_

    it totally crashed my itouch but right now im on the way to fix it without restoring(if its possible.) if someone can tell me how to fix my itouch email me at rlcasm@yahoo.com

  10. _grip_

    DONT RESTORE YOUR IPOD TOUCH/IPHONE IF IT WONT BOOT UNTIL YOU TRY THIS.
    if you try to install a font then you reboot your iphone and it wont boot up, get either iphone tunnel suite or putty and you need to type:

    cd /Applications/FontSwap.app

    ./restore

    and then watch the fun happen… :)

  11. matt

    It crashed my iphone 2g, too. I’ll probably go back with changing the font through winscp.

  12. Jtarrio

    Hey, great app, thanks! Been waiting for this for a long time. I had already changed to Papyrus font via ssh but having the ability to change so easily in the future is great.

    I’d like to see American Typewriter available as system font if possible, and also Papyrus as Lock Clock font…

    Thanks for your great work!

  13. jonathan

    It crashed my iPhone 3G running firmware 2.2. Right now it’s rebooting infinitely. The frustrating part is that I can’t SSH into the phone because wifi was off when it crashed… Using iPhoneBrowser, which doesn’t require a wifi connection, I manually copied the .ttf files in /Applications/FontSwap.app/restore/StockFonts to /System/Library/Fonts/Cache/. But that still hasn’t fixed my problems. What should I do? Do I have to restore my iPhone?

  14. gaurav

    @jonathan: no, you most definitely do not need to restore your iPhone.
    once you’ve copied the fonts from the StockFonts folder to the /System/Library/Fonts/Cache/ folder try to reboot your iPhone by pressing the home button and sleep/wake button simultaneously for ~8 seconds.
    let me know if this works

  15. Huzz

    Fantastic app. Kudos! you rock dude JAI HIND!

  16. DP

    I have been using this app for just a few hours and haven’t had any problems (fingers crossed). I was just wondering how do I SSH some of my own fonts? Thanks, and great app!

  17. Kass

    Great app, I did run into that endless reboot this morning, I ended up restoring before figureimg out the tricks, ohwell, I needed to clean out most of the glitchs that carried over from 2.1 update to 2.2 :) phone works great now!! Can’t wait to see what you have next!

  18. lyndwode

    No problems here either! Great app!
    Was wondering how to change the size of a custom font I added to the App over SSH, its too small.
    Can I change the color somehow too? thanks!!!!

  19. DP

    OK…no reply as to how to add your own fonts???

  20. lyndwode

    If you have ported them correctly using the tutorial on this page, SSH them to
    “/var/mobile/Library/FontSwap/Packages/Dialer Fonts”
    “/var/mobile/Library/FontSwap/Packages/LockClock Fonts”
    “/var/mobile/Library/FontSwap/Packages/Notes Fonts”
    “/var/mobile/Library/FontSwap/Packages/System Fonts”

  21. Joseph

    The program has been working great for me. I’ve decided to go with Calibri both system-wide and on the LockClock, as it’s such a beautiful font. Now, will future updates add both more fonts and make them more available? I see that NeoSans Intel is only available as a system font, and not as a LockClock font.

  22. jack n' bail

    im on 1st gen iphone with 2.2 jailbreak & unlock via pwnage
    i cant launch this apps. how to solve?

    tq

  23. Dana

    HELP! I was an idiot and left my ssh off. Now I can’t open most of my applications and don’t know how to fix it! I really don’t want to restore AGAIN. I’ve done that so many times that I’ll go crazy if I do it one more time. Please someone help me fix this! What do I do?

  24. gaurav

    @Dana: try to reboot your iPhone by pressing the Home button and sleep/wake button simultaneously for 8 secs.
    if that doesn’t work plug your iPhone your pc or mac and use some file browser to copy all files from /Applications/FontSwap.app/StockFonts/ to /System/Library/Fonts/Cache/ and reboot.

  25. ray

    thanks gaurav,
    copying those files saved the day.
    i used discaid and it worked like a charm :)

  26. Josedo

    I need serios help. I used bossprefs and hid fontswap in its dock. I launched it and changed the font. When I resprung (is that the correct verbe tense?) the springboard, an S. M. S. came in, the iPhone took me to “home” and there were no numbers in the status bar or in my dock. After that, I tried to launch an app (any app) and they try to launch and then close. I tried to launch boss prefs and I had no success. I tried to enter DFU mode to restore it with my iTunes 8.1.1 and I get error 2001. Now I’m in the sad-springboard thingy and my iPhone is just screwed, please tell me what to do!!! Mail me to josedo6991@gmail.com

  27. Josedo

    @ gaurav…
    YOU FUCKING SAVED MY LIFE

  28. Poul

    Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.

  29. Ricky

    Hi i tried twice to install fontswap twice yesterday. i was able to start the download via cydia however both times it stopped my phone and got stuck in reboot mode.

    I was able to get my phone working again so i have no major worries. I just wanted to know why i couldnt install and the reason for the crash.

    I have iBob RS installed and wondered if this would cause the issue.

    thx

    Ricky

  30. liberar samsung sghe950

    This is great. Really nice post. Very Informative and helpful post.

  31. Gordon Sanjose

    I agree. I don’t know whether it’s bad manners or just that young bloggers don’t understand the nature of the conversation.

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