HomeGuidesReferenceLearn

Reference version

ArchiveExpo SnackDiscord and ForumsNewsletter

Expo Font iconExpo Font

GitHub

npm

A library that allows loading fonts at runtime and using them in React Native components.


expo-font allows loading fonts from the web and using them in React Native components. See more detailed usage information in the Fonts guide.

Platform Compatibility

Android DeviceAndroid EmulatoriOS DeviceiOS SimulatorWeb

Installation

Terminal
npx expo install expo-font

If you're installing this in a bare React Native app, you should also follow these additional installation instructions.

Configuration in app.json/app.config.js

You can configure expo-font using its built-in config plugin if you use config plugins in your project (EAS Build or npx expo run:[android|ios]). The plugin allows you to configure various properties that cannot be set at runtime and require building a new app binary to take effect.

Example app.json with config plugin

app.json
{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "expo-font",
        {
          "fonts": ["path/to/file.ttf"]
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}

Configurable properties

NameDefaultDescription
fonts[]

An array of font files to link to the native project. The paths should be relative to the project root, and the file names will become the font family names.

Are you using this library in a bare React Native app?
  • Android: Copy font files to android/app/src/main/assets/fonts.
  • iOS: See Adding a Custom Font to Your App in the Apple Developer documentation.

Usage

Minimal example of using a custom font
import { useCallback } from 'react';
import { Text, View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import { useFonts } from 'expo-font';
import * as SplashScreen from 'expo-splash-screen';

SplashScreen.preventAutoHideAsync();

export default function App() {
  const [fontsLoaded, fontError] = useFonts({
    'Inter-Black': require('./assets/fonts/Inter-Black.otf'),
  });

  const onLayoutRootView = useCallback(async () => {
    if (fontsLoaded || fontError) {
      await SplashScreen.hideAsync();
    }
  }, [fontsLoaded, fontError]);

  if (!fontsLoaded && !fontError) {
    return null;
  }

  return (
    <View style={styles.container} onLayout={onLayoutRootView}>
      <Text style={{ fontFamily: 'Inter-Black', fontSize: 30 }}>Inter Black</Text>
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 30 }}>Platform Default</Text>
    </View>
  );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
  },
});

API

import * as Font from 'expo-font';

Hooks

useFonts(map)

NameTypeDescription
mapstring | Record<string, FontSource>

A map of fontFamilys to FontSources. After loading the font you can use the key in the fontFamily style prop of a Text element.


const [loaded, error] = useFonts({ ... });

Load a map of fonts with loadAsync. This returns a boolean if the fonts are loaded and ready to use. It also returns an error if something went wrong, to use in development.

Note, the fonts are not "reloaded" when you dynamically change the font map.

Returns

  • [boolean, null | Error]

  • loaded (boolean) - A boolean to detect if the font for fontFamily has finished loading.
  • error (Error | null) - An error encountered when loading the fonts.

Methods

isLoaded(fontFamily)

NameTypeDescription
fontFamilystring

The name used to load the FontResource.


Synchronously detect if the font for fontFamily has finished loading.

Returns

  • boolean

Returns true if the font has fully loaded.

isLoading(fontFamily)

NameTypeDescription
fontFamilystring

The name used to load the FontResource.


Synchronously detect if the font for fontFamily is still being loaded.

Returns

  • boolean

Returns true if the font is still loading.

loadAsync(fontFamilyOrFontMap, source)

NameTypeDescription
fontFamilyOrFontMapstring | Record<string, FontSource>

string or map of values that can be used as the fontFamily style prop with React Native Text elements.

source
(optional)
FontSource

the font asset that should be loaded into the fontFamily namespace.


Highly efficient method for loading fonts from static or remote resources which can then be used with the platform's native text elements. In the browser this generates a @font-face block in a shared style sheet for fonts. No CSS is needed to use this method.

Returns

  • Promise<void>

Returns a promise that fulfils when the font has loaded. Often you may want to wrap the method in a try/catch/finally to ensure the app continues if the font fails to load.

processFontFamily(fontFamily)

NameTypeDescription
fontFamilynull | string

Name of font to process.


Used to transform font family names to the scoped name. This does not need to be called in standalone or bare apps but it will return unscoped font family names if it is called in those contexts.

Returns

  • string | null

Returns a name processed for use with the current workflow.

unloadAllAsync()

Unloads all the custom fonts. This is used for testing.

Returns

  • Promise<void>

unloadAsync(fontFamilyOrFontMap, options)

NameTypeDescription
fontFamilyOrFontMapstring | Record<string, UnloadFontOptions>

The name or names of the custom fonts that will be unloaded.

options
(optional)
UnloadFontOptions

When fontFamilyOrFontMap is a string, this should be the font source used to load the custom font originally.


Unload custom fonts matching the fontFamilys and display values provided. Because fonts are automatically unloaded on every platform this is mostly used for testing.

Returns

  • Promise<void>

Types

FontResource

An object used to dictate the resource that is loaded into the provided font namespace when used with loadAsync.

NameTypeDescription
default
(optional)
string-
display
(optional)
FontDisplayOnly for:
Web

Sets the font-display property for a given typeface in the browser.

uri
(optional)
string | number-

FontSource

Literal Type: multiple types

The different types of assets you can provide to the loadAsync() function. A font source can be a URI, a module ID, or an Expo Asset.

Acceptable values are: string | number | Asset | FontResource

UnloadFontOptions

Type: Pick<FontResource, 'display'>

Object used to query fonts for unloading.

Enums

Only for:
Web

FontDisplay

Sets the font-display for a given typeface. The default font value on web is FontDisplay.AUTO. Even though setting the fontDisplay does nothing on native platforms, the default behavior emulates FontDisplay.SWAP on flagship devices like iOS, Samsung, Pixel, etc. Default functionality varies on One Plus devices. In the browser this value is set in the generated @font-face CSS block and not as a style property meaning you cannot dynamically change this value based on the element it's used in.

FontDisplay Values

AUTO

FontDisplay.AUTO = "auto"

(Default) The font display strategy is defined by the user agent or platform. This generally defaults to the text being invisible until the font is loaded. Good for buttons or banners that require a specific treatment.

BLOCK

FontDisplay.BLOCK = "block"

The text will be invisible until the font has loaded. If the font fails to load then nothing will appear - it's best to turn this off when debugging missing text.

FALLBACK

FontDisplay.FALLBACK = "fallback"

Splits the behavior between SWAP and BLOCK. There will be a 100ms timeout where the text with a custom font is invisible, after that the text will either swap to the styled text or it'll show the unstyled text and continue to load the custom font. This is good for buttons that need a custom font but should also be quickly available to screen-readers.

OPTIONAL

FontDisplay.OPTIONAL = "optional"

This works almost identically to FALLBACK, the only difference is that the browser will decide to load the font based on slow connection speed or critical resource demand.

SWAP

FontDisplay.SWAP = "swap"

Fallback text is rendered immediately with a default font while the desired font is loaded. This is good for making the content appear to load instantly and is usually preferred.

Error codes

CodeDescription
ERR_FONT_APIIf the arguments passed to loadAsync are invalid.
ERR_FONT_SOURCEThe provided resource was of an incorrect type.
ERR_WEB_ENVIRONMENTThe browser's document element doesn't support injecting fonts.
ERR_DOWNLOADFailed to download the provided resource.
ERR_FONT_FAMILYInvalid font family name was provided.
ERR_UNLOADAttempting to unload fonts that haven't finished loading yet.