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Apple’s modern operating-system interfaces use San Francisco, with SF Pro as the primary system font on most platforms. It isn’t one font used everywhere: watchOS uses SF Compact, coding contexts use SF Mono, and New York is Apple’s serif companion. Apple’s logo and marketing typography are separate matters.
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San Francisco is the family; SF Pro is the main interface font
San Francisco is Apple’s broader type family, while SF Pro is its principal general-purpose sans serif. Apple describes SF Pro as a flexible system font, with nine weights, four widths, variable optical sizes and a rounded variant. It supports more than 150 languages across Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. Apple’s font page and its typography guidelines explain the family and its use.
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Which fonts appear on Apple platforms?
| Platform or context | Typeface | How it is used |
|---|---|---|
| iOS and iPadOS | SF Pro | Standard system interface font. |
| macOS and tvOS | SF Pro | Primary system sans serif; New York is also available for appropriate uses. |
| watchOS | SF Compact | Designed for small sizes and narrow columns. |
| visionOS | SF Pro | Default system design; New York can be selected when appropriate. |
| Xcode and coding contexts | SF Mono | Monospaced family for code and aligned numerical content. |
| Reading and editorial-style uses | New York or another reading face | Apple’s serif option may suit contexts where a serif is wanted; it is not the default interface font. |
Apple’s UIKit system-design documentation describes the platform mapping, including SF Pro on iOS and SF Compact on watchOS. For broader typography guidance, see Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.
How the San Francisco family differs by task
SF Pro
SF Pro is the everyday system sans serif for most Apple-platform interfaces. It is available in multiple weights and widths, with variable-font behavior that can adapt the design to different sizes.
SF Compact
SF Compact is tuned for constrained layouts, especially watchOS, where text often has little horizontal room. It is related to SF Pro but should not be treated as merely a smaller setting of the same file.
SF Mono
SF Mono uses fixed-width characters, making it useful where alignment matters, such as code. It is not the usual choice for general interface prose.
SF Pro Rounded and script extensions
SF Pro Rounded offers a softer alternative. Apple also provides language-specific extensions—including Arabic, Armenian, Georgian and Hebrew—to harmonize with the wider system while accommodating each script’s proportions and vertical metrics. Apple lists available families and downloads on its font page and design resources page.
New York
New York is Apple’s serif companion to San Francisco, intended for reading and display roles where a serif is suitable. It is an alternative design, not another name for SF Pro or a universal Apple reading font.
Why Apple text changes with size
Apple’s typography is more than a fixed set of letter outlines. Variable optical sizing lets glyph details adapt to point size; weight and width choices also affect the result. System text styles and platform rendering shape spacing and metrics, while Dynamic Type lets people enlarge text to match their accessibility preferences. Apple’s guidelines emphasize legibility as text scales and caution against very light weights at small sizes.
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In older design workflows, SF Pro Text and SF Pro Display were commonly encountered as separate optical-size cuts. Apple’s current guidance describes variable fonts and dynamic optical sizing, so the distinction should not be reduced to two universally separate current font files. A screenshot that resembles SF Pro cannot, by appearance alone, establish the exact font instance, weight, tracking or rendering settings. Apple discussed the expanded family and optical sizing at WWDC 2022.
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Apple’s interface font is not necessarily its website font
Apple’s documented system font does not establish that every Apple.com page uses the same font file. Product pages, regional sites, campaigns and embedded graphics may differ, and a headline that looks like text may instead be an image or video asset. Treat each web page as its own implementation rather than assuming its typeface from the operating system.
To identify a particular page’s web typography, inspect its live CSS and record the exact URL, date, region and browser. Check whether the words are live HTML or an asset, and note the full declared font fallback stack; the first family named in CSS does not prove which font actually rendered.
Helvetica and Myriad are historical answers, not today’s general one
Older Apple interfaces used Helvetica and Helvetica Neue, which is why older screenshots and articles may identify either as Apple’s font. That history does not make them the current default interface family. Apple still lists Helvetica Neue among available system fonts, but an installed option is not the same as the default. Apple’s system-font catalog distinguishes what is available.
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The Apple logo is not set in SF Pro
The Apple logo is a graphic trademark, not ordinary text typed in a standard font. Its lettering cannot identify Apple’s interface typeface. Product wordmarks, campaign graphics, platform interfaces and the company logo are distinct typographic contexts.
Can you download and use Apple’s fonts?
Apple offers SF Pro, SF Compact, SF Mono, New York and script extensions through its official font downloads. Use Apple’s source rather than third-party mirrors. Download availability is not unrestricted permission: Apple’s published license describes specific permitted uses, primarily interface mockups for software products running on covered Apple operating systems. Read the current license supplied with the download before using the files.
- A mockup for an Apple-platform app is different from a general-purpose brand identity or advertising campaign.
- Do not assume the license permits using SF Pro as a website font or in a non-Apple product.
- Do not casually redistribute the font files or use them to imply Apple endorsement or affiliation.
- For a company-wide brand system, choose a font with a license that explicitly covers the intended uses.
How to use system typography in an Apple-platform app
For production interfaces, request the system font through the platform framework instead of bundling downloaded font files. Native APIs let the operating system apply its platform-appropriate design and make it easier to support Dynamic Type.
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SwiftUI
Text("Hello, world!")
.font(.system(size: 17))
Text("Body text")
.font(.body)
Text("Serif text")
.font(.system(size: 17, design: .serif))
Text("Code")
.font(.system(size: 17, design: .monospaced))
Text("Rounded")
.font(.system(size: 17, design: .rounded))For ordinary content, a semantic style such as .body is generally preferable to a fixed size because it follows the platform’s text-style behavior.
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UIKit
let font = UIFont.preferredFont(forTextStyle: .body)
let fixedSizeFont = UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 17)Use semantic text styles when content should respond to user text-size settings. Apple documents system font designs and their platform mappings in UIFontDescriptor.SystemDesign.
Using SF fonts in Figma
Figma’s Apple UI kit workflow can provide SF Pro and SF Compact after the applicable Apple license agreement is accepted. Figma notes that SF Mono and New York may require downloading the fonts from Apple, with platform limitations for some users. See Figma’s Apple UI kit instructions and its guide to adding fonts to Figma.
- Open Apple’s official font-download page and review the license.
- Use the Apple UI kit workflow or install fonts through the operating system where your workflow permits.
- If a family does not appear, refresh or restart the design application.
- Confirm that the work and any font-file use fall within the license before sharing or shipping it.
Choosing a typeface for a non-Apple project
If the goal is an Apple-like degree of clarity rather than use of Apple’s actual font, select a family whose license explicitly fits the product. None of the following is an exact SF Pro substitute; compare actual glyphs, language support and rights for the intended use.
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|---|---|
| Inter | Modern UI-oriented sans serif for software and web interfaces. |
| IBM Plex Sans | A more distinctive, editorial character while remaining suitable for interfaces. |
| Source Sans 3 | Readable sans serif for interfaces and longer content. |
| Helvetica Neue or Neue Haas Grotesk | Traditional Swiss grotesque character; check the applicable commercial license. |
| Avenir Next | A warmer, geometric-humanist tone. |
For brand work, check webfont and app-embedding rights, weights and italics, variable-font support, optical sizes, script coverage, numerals, small-size legibility, and permission for logos, advertising and client work. When reproducing an Apple screenshot, font choice alone will not be enough: match the platform and OS version, text size, weight, tracking, layout and rendering context.
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