 | |
| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Neo-grotesque |
| Designer | Christian Robertson |
| Commissioned by | |
| Foundry | |
| Date created | 2011 |
| Date released | 2011; 14 years ago (2011) |
| License | Apache License |
| Design based on | Normal-Grotesk |
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| Sample | |
| Latest release version | v3.009 |
| Latest release date | January 8, 2025 |
| Metrically compatible with | Crique Grotesk Helvetica (before redesign)[1] |
Roboto (/roʊˈbɒt.oʊ/)[2] is atypeface family developed byGoogle. The first typeface was created as the system font for itsAndroid operating system, and released in 2011 forAndroid 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich".[3]
The entire font family has been licensed under theApache license.[4] In 2014, Roboto was redesigned forAndroid 5.0 "Lollipop". Most variants of Roboto have been licensed or re-licensed under theOFL: Roboto (the defaultsans serif font),[5] Roboto Condensed,[6] Roboto Flex,[7] Roboto Mono,[8] and Roboto Serif.[9]
Roboto is the default system font onAndroid, and since 2013, other Google services such asGoogle Play,YouTube,Google Maps,[10]Google Images, and more.
In 2017, Roboto was used on theLCD countdown clocks of theNew York City Subway'sB Division lines.
Roboto Bold is the default font inUnreal Engine 4, and inKodi.[11] Roboto Condensed is used to display Information on European versions ofNintendo Switch packaging, including physical releases of games.
Utsav Network uses Roboto for its wordmark.[12] The Indonesian news TV channeliNews also uses Roboto on its logo.
Since October 2022,Global News has also used Roboto in its on-air presentation, however the font is not used in main network presentation.
TheUnited Nations uses Roboto on its website and in official documents.[13] One potential source of confusion in Arial is a visiblehomoglyph, a pair of easily confused characters: the lowercase letter L and the uppercase letter i (l and I) of theLatin script are effectively indistinguishable. This is also true of many other common fonts likeCalibri,Open Sans,Segoe,Arial andHelvetica.
Android's previous system typeface,Droid Sans, was designed for the low-resolution displays of the very early Android devices, and did not display well in larger, higher-resolution screens of later models.[14][15] It was decided that a more modern typeface, designed from scratch, was needed for the newer displays.
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The new typeface, Roboto, was designed entirely in-house by Christian Robertson who previously had released an expandedUbuntu Titling font through his personal type foundry Betatype.[16][17] The font was officially made available for free download on January 12, 2012, on the newly launched Android Design website.
Compared to the humanist sans-serif Droid Sans, Roboto belongs to theneo-grotesque genre of sans-serif typefaces. It includes Thin, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Blackweights with matchingoblique styles rather than true italics. It also includescondensed styles in Light, Regular and Bold, also with matchingoblique designs.
In 2014,Matias Duarte announced atGoogle I/O that Roboto was significantly redesigned forAndroid 5.0 "Lollipop".[16][18] Punctuation marks and thetittles in the lowercase "i" and "j" were changed from square to rounded, the leg part of the uppercase "R" were changed to curved to straight, the bottom surface of the top part of the number "1" points downwards instead of horizontal, the tail part of the numbers "6" and "9" have been slightly shortened (in resemblance to "Trebuchet MS"), the stem part of the number "7" becomes curved to straight, and the entire typeface was made “slightly wider and rounder” with many changes in details.[16][18] The newly-redesigned version of Roboto is also offered in a wider range offont weights, adding Thin (100), Medium (500), and Black (900) alongside Light (300), Regular (400), and Bold (700).
Roboto supportsLatin,Greek (partial) andCyrillic scripts.[19]
On Android, theNoto fonts are used for languages not supported by Roboto, includingChinese (simplified and traditional),Japanese,Korean,Thai andHindi (as of January 2014),[20] andDroid fonts as of 2008.
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| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Monospaced |
| Designer | Christian Robertson |
| Commissioned by | |
| Foundry | |
| Date released | 2015 |
 | |
| Sample | |
Roboto Mono is amonospace font based on Roboto. It is available in seven weights: thin, extra-light, light, regular, medium, semi-bold and bold, with oblique stylings for each weight.[21]
Roboto Serif is a companion typeface with serifs designed by Greg Gazdowicz ofCommercial Type. It was debuted in 2022 to fill the serif niche.[22] It is a readable retro-styled typeface whose letters have been redrawn from scratch, with the same vertical height as Roboto.[23] Roboto Serif has both a regular and a true italic form.[24] Roboto Serif is a variable font with four axes: Weight, width, optical size, and a "grade" axis which can make the font thinner or thicker without affecting its metrics.[25]
 | |
| Category | Serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Slab serif |
| Designer | Christian Robertson |
| Commissioned by | |
| Date released | March 2013 |
| Latest release version | 1.100263 |
Roboto Slab is aslab serif font based on Roboto. It was introduced in March 2013, as the default font in Google's note-taking serviceGoogle Keep.[26] (The font was changed to the sans-serif Roboto in 2018.)[27] It is available in four weights: thin, light, regular and bold. However, no oblique versions were released for it.
In November 2019, the typeface was updated, adding five new weights (Extra-Light, Medium, Semi-Bold, Extra-Bold and Black) and a variable font axis ranging from 100 to 900, along with modifications to characters such as "R", "K", "k", "g", "C" and "S" with characteristics from the sans-serif Roboto and similarities to most slab-serif typefaces.
Released in 2022, Roboto Flex is thevariable font version of Roboto.[28] Roboto Flex has 12 adjustable axes, includingoptical size.[29] Notably, the static font version of Roboto does not have weights 200 (Extra Light), 600 (Semi Bold), and 800 (Extra Bold), which can be achieved by Roboto Flex via the weight axis. Roboto Flex supports Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic characters.
Roboto Flex was still not used as the default system font in Android, potentially replacing classic Roboto. Meanwhile, Google started to useGoogle Sans Text as the default system font for Android system apps (e.g. Settings) inGoogle Pixel devices, following other AndroidOEMs who introduce custom fonts to their system apps.
The Android source code has been updated to include the font as part of Android 14, though there are no official plans to switch the default system font from Roboto to Roboto Flex.[30]
Heebo is an extension of Roboto that includesHebrew characters.[31]
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| Category | Sans-serif |
|---|---|
| Classification | Neo-grotesque |
| Designer | Rasmus Andersson |
| Date created | August 2016 |
| Date released | 2017 |
| Latest release version | 4.1 |
| Latest release date | November 16, 2024 |
Inter was designed in 2016 by Rasmus Andersson who wanted a font that was easier to read on computer screens than Roboto while retaining its vertical proportions.[32] Earlier versions of Inter (then "Interface" and "Inter UI") included glyphs and followed the vertical glyph metrics (ascender and descender) from Roboto, while Roboto glyphs were included as a fallback for characters which have not been (re-)designed in Inter. Inter changed its vertical glyph metrics since 2018, making it different from that of Roboto.[33]
Due to this condition, the typeface had to be released in two combined licenses: theSIL Open Font License for original glyph designs for Inter andApache License for the fallback Roboto glyphs and outlines. This exception was removed in 2020 after Roboto was re-licensed from Apache to OFL.[34]
Inter also has an experimental "Display" version, a font which has less letter spacing and has linear endings of letters.[35] Another variant with similar purpose, Inter Tight, is specifically designed forGoogle Workspace and other applications that do not support control overletter spacing.[36] The latter variant shares the same glyph shapes as Inter, while the former contains redesigned glyphs which will be introduced in a future version of Inter.
The Apple system font,San Francisco, is similar to the Inter font. However, the latter features atrue italic whereas the former has anoblique type.[37][38]
GNOME uses Adwaita Sans which is a customized version of Inter.[39]
Piboto is a forked version of Roboto, including the original character styles as used before the 2014 redesign. It is specifically designed for and currently the system font ofRaspberry Pi OS (then Raspbian) as part of their desktop UI redesign.[40]
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Google developed Roboto to be "modern, yet approachable" and "emotional",[41][42] but the initial release (i.e., before the Android 5.0 redesign) received mixed reviews.
Joshua Topolsky, Editor-In-Chief of technology news and media networkThe Verge, describes the typeface as "clean and modern, but not overly futuristic – not a science fiction font".[43]
The 2014 redesign for Android 5.0 Lollipop was largely seen as an improvement, with reviewers noting the font was made "rounder and wider," giving it a more pleasant look, and improving clarity on a spectrum of devices from smartphones to large-format displays.[44][45]
Industry reaction to Roboto's evolution was generally positive, especially regarding its utility in UI and UX contexts. The typeface was widely adopted even outside of the Android ecosystem, serving as a default or recommended font in numerous Google services and third-party applications, and becoming a go-to choice for web designers seeking a modern, legible, and versatile sans-serif font. Quantitative studies have confirmed this ubiquity: by 2024, Roboto—together with Open Sans—was found to account for 51% of all Google Font views,[46] while other analytics reported more than 200 billion views and extensive use on tens of millions of websites[47].
In user and laboratory-based analyses, Roboto has demonstrated good on-screen legibility, typically ranking highly among sans-serif fonts. Studies have shown that Roboto performs comparably to other major screen fonts like Arial and Open Sans in terms of user preference and readability metrics, with slight differences in specific areas such as reading speed and comprehension.[48][49]
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