6

This is for an app displaying rows of numbers that change dynamically. A monospace font would be ideal to prevent distracting alignment jumps as digits change.

I really only care about digits, so does anyone know of built-in iOS fonts (other than Courier) that are monospace as far as the characters 0 to 9 are concerned?

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2
  • 1
    Why not simply embed a monospace font?
    – KMSTR
    Commented May 6, 2015 at 20:04
  • I haven't considered that, font licensing issues could be a concern.
    – Clafou
    Commented May 6, 2015 at 20:12

3 Answers 3

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4

Several iOS built-in fonts have monospaced digit characters, including the system default Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Verdana, American Typewriter, Chalkboard SE, Copperplate, Gill Sans, Marker Felt, Trebuchet MS (and probably more)

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3
  • Thanks! I tried Helvetica (on a Mac) and the digits are not monospace. But you're right about Helvetica Neue and Verdana.
    – Clafou
    Commented May 6, 2015 at 21:06
  • Thank you for the correction! I found a nice site for previewing all iOS fonts at once: iosfonts.com
    – szulat
    Commented May 6, 2015 at 21:50
  • 2
    I can't believe I never knew half of these fonts had monospaced numerals. I feel a bit stupid.
    – Cai
    Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 21:35
1

Verdana is the best and is free. Numbers are clear and line up perfectly. Everything will be neetly aligned. There are others but I prefer Verdana.

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3
  • Well, verdana has been mentioned in the acepted answer. I see no addidional information here. One way to make it an good answer would be to add a screenshot with numbers and compare verdana with other fonts you didn't name ...
    – Mensch
    Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 16:08
  • Also I hate Verdana, but that's just opinion.
    – Cai
    Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 21:33
  • I agree that Verdana is the best font for numbers in iOS. 2:1.
    – kelin
    Commented Jun 29, 2017 at 20:28
1

Helvetica has a variant with monospaced digits. Use

.your_class {
   font-variant-numeric: tabular-nums
}

in CSS or this in Swift.

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