What font is used on Windows 8 or Windows Phone 7?

Question

What font is used for the interface in Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 Dev Preview? Is this font free to use?

Answer 1

Windows 8 Developer Preview uses Segoe WP in some places (mostly Metro styled apps and settings) and the Windows 7 default font Segoe UI on the desktop.

The Consumer Preview of Windows 8 will use Segoe WP everywhere.

The fonts are free to use. You get them if you install Visual Studio 2010 or other free developer tools from Microsoft for creating Windows Phone apps.

Answer 2

What font is used for the interface in Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 Dev Preview?

For their Metro design language, Microsoft use fonts from the Segoe family. Windows Phone 7 uses Segoe WP.

Is this font free to use?

Segoe WP is bundled with Visual Studio 2010, but (I'm guessing here) you are probably only allowed to use it in your developed software and related materials.

A very similar Segoe UI is free for personal use, but must be licensed from Microsoft for commercial usage or for web development. Segoe UI is also closely related to Frutiger, which is sold commercially.

Answer 3

You can identify fonts by making a screenshot, cropping a sample of text and posting it at web-sites such as WhatTheFont! « MyFonts.

Some say it is a version of Monotype's Segoe which has been alleged to be a rip-off of Linotype's Frutiger.

Both are commercial fonts, to use them on another computer you'll need to buy the font (licence) for that computer or install commercial software that has the font bundled with it.

^{(Dang, that grawity is fast on the draw)}

Answer 4

The Segoe WP font used in Windows Phone 7 and in much of Windows 8. It is free to use under the Apache license when obtained via the LightSwitch Metro Theme Extension Sample for Visual Studio 11. The fonts are stored in the folder C#\MetroThemeExtension\MetroThemeExtension.Client\Presentation\Fonts.

Update: The 6/19/2012 update to the sample removed the Fonts folder.