iPhone App Review: WhatTheFont

March 6, 2009 by Jason Kaneshiro

WhatTheFont performs font recognition on text that appears in your iPhone camera photographs.

whatthefont

The Good

WhatTheFont’s utility should be clear to anyone who works with fonts on a regular basis. I’ve often seen unusual typefaces in print or out in the real world and wondered what fonts were used.
A straightforward procedure: take a photograph with the iPhone camera or select a photo from your camera roll. Then draw a box around some letters to identify - more letters is better. You’ll then be presented with the letters WhatTheFont identifies that you can delete or change to help the identification process. After the information is sent to the MyFonts website, you’re presented with a list of fonts and font names, links to the MyFont website, and an email option to save the results.
I tested WhatTheFont with five different typefaces in increasing difficulty, first the word “Apple” on a mouse pad, second a font directly on my Mac screen, two from a magazine, and one sign from a public place. It did a decent job with four out of five. One of the fonts appeared over a grid of colored lines, and WhatTheFont was still able to get within the ballpark.

whatthefont

whatthefont in use

The Bad

Works much better with text photographed head-on so the type fits in a rectangle. There’s no allowance for unusual angles, type placed on a curve, or rotating the image.
The last photograph I tried was from the “real world,” and WhatTheFont wasn’t remotely close. I re-submitted it several times, and received different results, probably because the rectangle was positioned in slighty different places.
Doesn’t work with very small type.

Conclusion

As long as you stay within the picture-taking guidelines, WhatTheFont does a decent job of font recognition. That first caveat means it works best on photographs taken with the intent of using the program, which may seem obvious but does limit its use - don’t expect to go back through old photos. But ultimately, at the low, low, price of free, I can see myself using WhatTheFont from time to time, even if the results aren’t always spot on.

whatthefont tips
click to enlarge