The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
SF Pro vs SF Compact
Two branches of Apple's San Francisco family, both neo-grotesque sans-serifs drawn in-house for screen UI. SF Pro is the system face for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and tvOS, while SF Compact was built for the Apple Watch, with flatter curves tuned for tiny sizes and narrow columns.
SF Pro is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Inter, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to SF Pro → SF Compact is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Barlow, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to SF Compact →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- SF Compact flattens the round sides of letters like o, c and e, which opens up extra space between glyphs and keeps text legible on the small watchOS screen.
- SF Pro keeps fully rounded curves and ships in four widths plus Text and Display optical sizes, so it stretches from dense settings to large headlines.
- Both families carry nine weights and a Rounded variant, and both switch automatically between Text and Display cuts at the 20-point threshold.
- Neither is an open font: Apple licenses both only to registered developers for mock-ups and software on its own platforms, so using them on a website or a non-Apple product is not permitted at any price.
SF Pro
Reach for SF Pro when you are designing for iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV and want the native system look across every size, from body copy to display headlines.
SF Compact
Reach for SF Compact when the target is watchOS or any very small, narrow layout where its flat-sided letters and looser fit buy real legibility.