Apple - New validation process to use fonts in apps?

Rudy
Rudy Posts: 1
edited 1:24PM in Type Business

Hi all,

You may have noticed a new process announced by Apple at the beginning of October and related to their validation process to embed fonts into apps : https://developer.apple.com/documentation/technotes/tn3214-validating-the-fonts-you-ship-in-your-app

It's mainly about a technical process to check if fonts are compliant with their requirements in terms of encoding, readibility, etc.

There is also a licensing aspect : "If your app bundles or redistributes a font licensed to Apple, the font will fail validation". 

Could this be interpreted to mean that if a third-party foundry has licensed a font to Apple, and that font is made available through Apple’s ecosystem for developers to use, the app publisher would not need to obtain a separate app-embedding licence from the foundry?

Any feedback and interpretation is welcome.

Thanks, Rudy 

Comments

  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,860
    edited 3:54PM
    I think this is a space-saving measure by Apple, avoiding duplicated data in app packages for fonts that are available via system resources. I’d be interested to know if they test they are using also checks the version of the font embedded in the app, which potentially might be different from the one licensed by Apple.
    If the font is not embedded or redistributed with the app, but only calls the system installed app, then no separate app-embedding license would be required anyway: the app would be just like any other piece of software installed on the system that uses system resources.
  • Ben Kiel
    Ben Kiel Posts: 35
    edited 8:25PM
    It’s pretty clear at the end of the doc that this is a check against rebundling fonts availble at the OS level:

    FontValidator identifies a font Apple designs or fonts licensed to Apple by content markers in the file. Sharing a name with one of these fonts, such as your own build of a face you licensed independently, doesn’t trigger this error.

    See: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/technotes/tn3214-validating-the-fonts-you-ship-in-your-app#103-and-104-The-app-redistributes-a-font-Apple-designs-or-licenses

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