Is there a medium weight font between -systemFontOfSize: and -boldSystemFontOfSize:?

Question

-systemFontOfSize is too thin, and boldSystemFontOfSize too thick. I need something inbetween.

When I create a UIFont like this:

[UIFont boldSystemFontOfSize:14];

then the debugger prints this font info:

font-family: ".Helvetica NeueUI"; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-size: 14px

Sometimes fonts have a medium font weight. How can I create a font of this type but with a medium weight?

do note that on this VERY OLD question, scroll to the correct modern answer @AxelGuilmin which works — Fattie, Jan 29 '20 at 12:55

score 84 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 02 '15 at 16:02

84

Starting with iOS 8.2 you can use:

[UIFont systemFontOfSize:14 weight:UIFontWeightMedium];

answered Sep 02 '15 at 16:02

Andrei

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2

Note that `UIFontWeightMedium` is a CGFloat, not an enum – onmyway133 Sep 01 '16 at 10:42

score 25 · Accepted Answer · answered May 01 '12 at 16:01

25

Calling NSLog(@"%@", [UIFont fontNamesForFamilyName:@"Helvetica Neue"]); prints all available font styles for Helvetica Neue, among them is HelveticaNeue-Medium which sounds like the one you want:

UIFont *font = [UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Medium" size:14.0f];

If you want to make sure that the font also changes when the system font changes (eg. like it did with retina devices from Helvetica to Helvetica Neue) you could first get the system font and then take its familyName and pointSize to retrieve one with medium weight using + fontNamesForFamilyName and then + fontWithName:size:

answered May 01 '12 at 16:01

JustSid

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This is not the exact same font as the UI version. In my experience it differs in at least in vertical spacing attributes and returns a different result when you get the size property from an attributed string. – Yoav Sep 17 '15 at 11:30
1

@Ben-Uri The system font has changed since I wrote that answer. Andrei's answer is more spot on now. – JustSid Sep 17 '15 at 11:31

score 17 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 20 '15 at 16:50

17

Swift 2.0, xcode7.1

if #available(iOS 8.2, *) {
   titleLabel?.font = UIFont.systemFontOfSize(15, weight: UIFontWeightMedium)
} else {
    titleLabel?.font = UIFont(name: "HelveticaNeue-Medium", size: 15)
}

answered Oct 20 '15 at 16:50

Tai Le

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what happens in iOS 8.2 if I don't use the if statement and I just use titleLabel?.font = UIFont(name: "HelveticaNeue-Medium", size: 15) – Jace Dec 01 '16 at 06:31

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 20 '17 at 10:53

8

Swift 3:

UIFont.systemFont(ofSize: 14, weight: UIFontWeightMedium)

answered Jun 20 '17 at 10:53

Anton Plebanovich

1,296
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Axel Guilmin · Answer 5 · 2020-02-10T08:46:29.747

8

With Swift 4 or 5, add this extension :

extension UIFont {
    class func mediumSystemFont(ofSize pointSize: CGFloat) -> UIFont {
        return self.systemFont(ofSize: pointSize, weight: .medium)
    }
}

Then :

myLabel.font = UIFont.mediumSystemFont(ofSize: 16)

Same principle works with .semibold, .black, etc, check UIFont.Weight

edited Feb 10 '20 at 08:46

answered Nov 23 '17 at 10:34

Axel Guilmin

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hashier · Answer 6 · 2016-10-21T09:05:14.673

0

Swift 2.3 and not changing the font size:

extension UIFont {
    var mediumFont: UIFont {
        return UIFont.systemFontOfSize(self.pointSize, weight: UIFontWeightMedium)
    }
}

Use with:

titleLabel.font = titleLabel.font.mediumFont

edited Oct 21 '16 at 09:05

answered Oct 19 '16 at 14:31

hashier

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Is there a medium weight font between -systemFontOfSize: and -boldSystemFontOfSize:?

6 Answers6

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