UITabBar ignores font in iOS 26.2

Thanks for your post.

Do you have a focused sample project where we can see the fonts in the bundle but the iOS 26.2 is ignoring but working on previous versions?

To ensure your custom font is applied to UITabBar items on iOS 26.2, consider the following steps:

• Double-Check Font Availability: Ensure that the custom font "AvenirNext-DemiBold" is included in your app's bundle. Check your Info.plist to confirm that the font is properly listed under the UIAppFonts key.
• Use configureWithOpaqueBackground: Try setting the appearance configuration using configureWithOpaqueBackground, which might provide better consistency across different iOS versions.
• Debug Using Runtime: Use Xcode's debugger to inspect the titleTextAttributes at runtime on iOS 26.2 to verify if your attributes are being overwritten or ignored.

I would be delighted to assist you if you could provide a focus sample that I can analyze against iOS 26.2.

If you're not familiar with preparing a test project, take a look at Creating a test project.

Albert Pascual
  Worldwide Developer Relations.

Hi Albert,

thanks for the response. The Avenir Next font is included in iOS since forever (iOS 6?), so no need to declare it using the UIAppFonts key.

I tried configureWithOpaqueBackground, it didn't make a difference.

I've file FB21291879 and have attached a small demo project and screenshots there. It's pretty simple: use a default UITabBar and in viewDidLoad, change the appearance:

self.tabBar.standardAppearance.compactInlineLayoutAppearance.normal.titleTextAttributes = [
   .font: UIFont(name: "AvenirNext-DemiBold", size: 28.0)!
]

Run it on iOS 26.0. or 26.1 and the tab bar renders with a large font. Run it on iOS 26.2 and the font is a small San Francisco.

Thank you for your response and for bringing the bug to our attention. It appears that you have included a focused sample, which has been routed to the appropriate team for analysis.

Please allow the team some time to review the sample. They will provide you with an answer through the feedback assistant or suggest a workaround.

You can see the status of your feedback in Feedback Assistant. There, you can track if the report is still being investigated, has a potential identifiable fix, or has been resolved in another way. The status appears beside the label "Resolution." We're unable to share any updates on specific reports on the forums.

For more details on when you'll see updates to your report, please see What to expect after submission.

Albert Pascual
  Worldwide Developer Relations.