One UI 7 is a customization beast, but it somehow still lacks this 1990s-era feature TechTricks365

Samsung’s One UI 7 has brought some much-needed pep to my phone. The new Android 15-based skin packs plenty of customization options, allowing me to craft the mobile environment of my dreams. However, despite the many, many options on tap, there’s one omission that drives me crazy. One UI 7 still lacks support for custom typefaces.

Samsung makes changing font faces in One UI 7 pretty easy. Jumping into the Settings app, scrolling down to Display, and hitting Font size and style opens up several tools to tweak the typeface. There are four fonts to choose from initially, with Default the, uh…default. Samsung One, Gothic Bold, and Roboto are also available. However, hop on over to the Galaxy Store, and you’ll find five additional free fonts and dozens of premium options. So, in total, there are nine font options readily available.

That may be plenty for most people, but not for me. Annoyingly, none of these fonts really appeals to me, either. I’m running Samsung Sans, but it’s so different from the default font options used by other apps that it makes One UI 7 feel disjointed. I’d much rather have a more broadly integrated font with the apps and services I use.

It’s clear that Samsung allows fonts that aren’t installed on the device at launch, but why are users forced to choose from those listed on its store? There’s no technical limitation that’s prohibiting user-provided fonts. It seems such an odd limitation for an Android skin that’s become synonymous with customization.

Of course, there are perhaps security implications. Perhaps Samsung doesn’t want to risk users installing fonts from untrusted sources, potentially weakening their device’s security. However, it’s safe to say that those who wish to use a particular font face likely tweak other facets of their device, and are therefore aware of the risks. And, if Samsung is truly worried about creating such a predicament for mom and pop, it could offer a Good Lock module that gives experienced users more power.

It could also be a question of compatibility. Naturally, some fonts simply weren’t designed with UI elements in mind. Installing an illegible font could break functionality entirely, leaving users with a device wipe as the only remedy. I’d argue that some of the tools that Samsung provides can already do just this. Setting every UI element in Theme Park as white or black will do the trick. It’s a great prank to play on others, too.

To be fair to Samsung, at least the company lets users tinker with the fonts in any capacity. You can’t even access a font style option on a Google Pixel. However, it’s not as generous with its font selections as Xiaomi (albeit only in some regions). It’s simply not enough.

I really enjoy using a device that feels cohesive. It’s a big reason why Android 16’s incoming Expressive changes appeal to me so much. Font faces are a big part of a user interface, and Samsung limiting users’ options is short-sighted and anti-accessibility.

I know that workarounds for installing custom fonts exist, and I’ve tried a few myself. #mono_ is perhaps the most famous, and effectively masks custom fonts (.tff files) as Samsung Sans, fooling One UI into accepting it and using it once it’s installed. However, I couldn’t get it to work reliably on my Galaxy S24 FE, and eventually gave up. I’ve seen other users mention that the app no longer works for them. zFont3 is another recommended option, but this isn’t a problem that a third-party app should need to solve.

Samsung bills One UI as a skin that lets users “do whatever you want effortlessly,“ but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s a shame that One UI 7, for all its positives, still lacks a feature many of us have enjoyed since the Windows 95 days.