Ownhand OpenSoftLabs

Handwriting to font · iPhone and iPad

Your handwriting, as a real font.

Write eight short lines with a finger or an Apple Pencil. Ownhand turns them into a TrueType file you can install and then use in Notes, Pages, GoodNotes, Canva and Word. About five minutes, no printer, no scanner, nothing uploaded.

In development. Not in the App Store yet.

A font built from handwriting, showing the pangram 'the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog', the sentence 'Hello, my name is Mira. Happy birthday!', uppercase letters with digits, and repeated letters e, a, o and t each drawn slightly differently.
A font built from the bundled sample handwriting. The last line is the point: every e, a, o and t is a different shape.

How it works

Eight lines, and about five minutes.

You are not tracing a template or filling in a grid of boxes. You write the way you write, on ruled guides, and the engine does the rest on the device.

  1. Write eight guided lines

    Two lowercase pangrams, two uppercase, digits, punctuation, accent marks and one sentence. Finger or Apple Pencil, on ruled guides.

  2. The engine builds a font

    It splits each line into letters, traces the strokes into TrueType outlines, spaces them optically, measures kerning and composes the accents.

  3. Preview the real file

    Not a mock-up. Every slider change rebuilds the actual font in about a fifth of a second and renders it with CoreText.

  4. Install it

    Through an iOS configuration profile, or share the TTF to a Mac, a PC, Canva or Cricut and use it there.

Written, not stamped

The same letter, never twice the same.

A font made of one drawing per letter reads as a stamp: every e on the page is identical, and the eye notices. Ownhand keeps every version you wrote.

  • Each letter you wrote two or three times becomes a variant that cycles as you type.
  • Spacing is measured from your own strokes rather than assumed.
  • Kerning pairs are measured, so awkward gaps close up.
  • Accents are composed, so café and naïve come out right.
  • A Neat–Natural dial keeps the wobble or tidies it up.
The preview screen rendering the rebuilt font live.

Where your handwriting goes

Nowhere.

Capture and build never touch the network. Your handwriting is on your phone, the font is built on your phone, and it leaves only if you export it yourself.

  • No account, no upload, no server round trip to make a font.
  • Analytics is opt-in, and carries no handwriting, strokes, font names or free text.
  • If the store cannot be reached, install still proceeds.

Pricing

Pay once, or not at all.

The price is on the first screen, before the first stroke. No ads, no weekly plans, no trial that quietly renews.

Make and preview Free

Write a font and use it inside the app, for as long as you like.

Install and export $9.99 once

Install the font on your device, export TTF and OTF, and make as many fonts as you want.

One payment, not a subscription.

Questions

Before you write anything.

How long does it actually take? About five minutes. Eight short lines: two lowercase pangrams, two uppercase, digits, punctuation, accents and one sentence.
Do I need an Apple Pencil? No. A finger works. The Pencil gives you finer strokes if you have one, but the guides and the engine are the same either way.
Does my handwriting get uploaded anywhere? No. Capture and build never touch the network, so the strokes and the font stay on your device unless you export the file yourself.
Where can I use the font once it is made? Anywhere a font works. Install it on iPhone or iPad through a configuration profile and it appears in Notes, Pages, GoodNotes and Word, or share the TTF to a Mac, a PC, Canva or Cricut.
Why does it not look like a computer wrote it? Because every letter you wrote more than once is kept. Up to three variants of each letter cycle as you type, and the spacing is measured from your own strokes rather than assumed.
What does it cost? Making a font and previewing it is free. Installing it, exporting TTF or OTF, and making unlimited fonts is $9.99 once. There is no subscription and there are no ads.
Is it out yet? Not yet. Ownhand is still being built and is not in the App Store. There is no waiting list to join and nothing to sign up for.