S23-Font used in text messages

[OhioGuy59]

I just started using the S23. I was able to change the font style and size used on my phone but those changes didn't affect the font style in my text messages. Texts still show up in the default Samsung font. Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

[ocnbrze]

fonts only apply to anything system related. the samsung message app, though part of the system and like other apps, does not apply when you change font styles. the font size may apply to most things but not all as well.

so sorry, there is no way to change the font settings as far as i know.

 

[Dannydet]

Only way to change font size is to use a different messaging app, such as Textra, in the play store. I've used it for years and never a problem. You can't change the font, just the size, BTW...

 

[OhioGuy59]

Thanks for your answers. This must be a newer thing cause on my S21, I was able to change the font in the Samsung message app. As far as I know I'm using the same message app on both the S21 and S23.

 

[AugieTN]

With the Google Text App you can use to two fingers to enlarge the text message which gives you bigger fonts. Not sure if it works on Samsung

 

[OhioGuy59]

With the Google Text App you can use to two fingers to enlarge the text message which gives you bigger fonts. Not sure if it works on Samsung

Yes, you can change the size of the text in the Samsung message app, but I'm more interested in changing the font type.

 

[Hadron]

Samsung are usually consistent between devices like the s21 and s23 when they are on the same software version. I just checked and the Samsung Messages app on my s21 uses the system font, so if I change that via the "font size and style" option in the display settings the font in Messages changes. And as my phone is on the July 2023 update, so I would expect it to be running the same version of that app.

I actually use Textra myself, which has an option to use the system font rather than its own, so changing the system font changes the message font in that app too. If you don't use RCS (sometimes called "Chat features"), which I think the Samsung app supports but few others apart from Google's Messages do, you could try that. Actually if you do use RCS you could see whether the font changes in Google's app, which is probably pre-installed on your phone (I have it disabled, so don't particularly want to re-enable it to test).

 

[IOWA]

Samsung are usually consistent between devices like the s21 and s23 when they are on the same software version. I just checked and the Samsung Messages app on my s21 uses the system font, so if I change that via the "font size and style" option in the display settings the font in Messages changes. And as my phone is on the July 2023 update, so I would expect it to be running the same version of that app.

I actually use Textra myself, which has an option to use the system font rather than its own, so changing the system font changes the message font in that app too. If you don't use RCS (sometimes called "Chat features"), which I think the Samsung app supports but few others apart from Google's Messages do, you could try that. Actually if you do use RCS you could see whether the font changes in Google's app, which is probably pre-installed on your phone (I have it disabled, so don't particularly want to re-enable it to test).

Does textra have RCS yet

 

[Clementine_3]

Does textra have RCS yet

Nope

 

[Hadron]

I think very few 3rd party apps support RCS.

I actually know nobody at all who has ever used it. If you don't live in an android-only silo it's of limited use, and for a long time it also depended on who your service provider was, so at least here in the UK it never took off. I don't know whether it's technically more difficult for 3rd party apps to implement, but I suspect that the limited support from 3rd party apps is because it's not used by many people. I know Google like to boast about the number of people who have access to it or use an app with the capability, and I've seen Android fan sites run polls on RCS usage that gloss over the massive selection bias involved in a poll on their site, but in all honestly apart from a few news items some years back and occasional mentions on this site I literally have never heard anyone in real life even mention it, and would not be surprised if the majority of android users don't know it exists.

 

[OhioGuy59]

I just noticed my S23 has 2 Messages apps. The one I'm not using does have the capability to change the font. So now I know I can use that one instead.

 

[AugieTN]

Wow, I've had RCS for a while and thought everyone had it now

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, one of those will be Google's app called "Messages", the other will be Samsung's app with the same name. It is confusing! I suspect you were using the Google app, and that the Samsung one is the one that does change font (because we've both seen it change on the s21).

 

[ocnbrze]

Yeah, one of those will be Google's app called "Messages", the other will be Samsung's app with the same name. It is confusing! I suspect you were using the Google app, and that the Samsung one is the one that does change font (because we've both seen it change on the s21).

I can confirm this on my z fold 4.

Google..... no font change.
Samsung...... the font has been changed.

 

[Hadron]

Wow, I've had RCS for a while and thought everyone had it now

Most providers in most countries support it now, though it took a couple of years to roll out. The question is what fraction of people use it?

I've never enabled it (or "registered" as the settings call it). That's partly because literally nobody has ever mentioned it to me, or mentioned it at all within my earshot. Partly because by the time it first appeared I, like pretty much everyone I know, was already using other apps for multimedia chats which worked across platforms and across networks, so adding another system to the 3 or 4 I already had, that many people could not even in principle access, wasn't really a priority. And partly because with only a couple of rather uncustomisable apps supporting it I would have to give something up to use it, when the benefits were unclear.

But to be honest, the case for using it didn't seem strong to me. If I want to just send someone a text, SMS is fine (unless they have a non-UK number, when it will be expensive, especially since regular SMS have been free in the UK for so long that it just feels wrong to pay for one ). If I want to set up a group chat I'm going to use a cross-platform system, because almost certainly the group will include both Android and iPhone users so there's no choice (MMS is universal, but in the UK MMS cost £0.30 - £0.65 per message sent, so nobody uses them for group chats). So the only real use case is if I want to send a picture to one person, but since RCS isn't available on iPhones, or with most 3rd party message apps, or if you haven't taken the extra step of registering with the service, there's a very good chance that the person I want to send it to can't receive it. Hence I'm actually going to check whether they are on WhatsApp first, because it's more likely to succeed, and if they are I'm not then going to check whether they can receive RCS (and I definitely don't want to use an RCS capable app if it will fall back to MMS if RCS isn't available - I don't know whether they do, but I can imagine an app developer thinking that was being helpful...). So put all of that together and it's never really seemed worth the effort of registering and using a (to my mind) otherwise lesser message app on the off chance that RCS was ever useful.

 

[nickdalzell]

Hehe I'm still using the infamous Rosemary font on mine! (Hey it was the default when I got my SIII years ago and it just looks so personal and fits me). I also use Samsung Messages and it definitely changes. It also changes on my Watch.