iOS 16: this program allows you to change the font of your iPhone without jailbreak

iPhones and iPads aren’t known for offering a lot of possibilities when it comes to customizing the interface. Apple doesn’t let users “get their hands dirty” with iOS. A hacker has still found a way to use fonts through a program to install on your iPhone, without jailbreak.

A Twitter member named Zhuowei Zhang shared WDBFontOverwrite, a tool to change the font used on your iPhone. While this change is very easy on Android, iOS is known to be a closed system. Other than jailbreaking their iPhone, there are few opportunities to modify their user interface.

The flaw exploited by Me Zhuowei, listed under the code CVE-2022-46689, allowsinstall another font than the one selected by Apple without having to jailbreak it. Once WDBFontOverwrite is installed, you will therefore be able to see what your iPhone looks like with a font such as Comic Sans, for example. If the installation operation is not complicated, it requires a bit of know-how, and above all, it is not not workable on all iPhones.

WDBFontOverwrite allows changing the system font on iOS 16.1.2 or lower

The CVE-2022-46689 flaw exploited by WDBFontOverwrite has been corrected with the transition to iOS 16.2. So this means that you will only be able to redeem Me Zhuowei’s code if your iPhone is running an older version of the operating system (iOS 16.1.2 or older). The programmer took care to install a few fonts to test the functioning of his app, but if you want to use other fonts, you will need convert them to WOFF2 format.

Note that even if the changes applied by WDBFontOverwrite should normally be erased when your iPhone restarts, Me Zhuowei Zhang strongly advises to make a backup of your smartphone before embarking on this experience. Note also that the hack does not change all system fonts, some remaining completely inaccessible in this way.

Source: Github