Font weight issue on React Native 0.83 when using custom font #54934
Description
Description
I'm currently working on an app that's using a custom font, and am noticing a weird issue that has to do with font weight. Note that this issue only occurs on iOS; it looks fine when running on Android.
On React Native 0.82.1, when rendering a Text component with the style
sampleText: { fontFamily: [custom font, regular font weight], fontWeight: '200', fontSize: 30 },
our text looked good. (It's the first screenshot posted below)
However, on React Native 0.83, when rendering text with the exact same style, I noticed that the font weight was much thicker than I expected it to be. (See the second screenshot). I noticed that if I removed "fontWeight: 200" from the associated style, then it looked better, and it rendered as I expected it to.
Is this an intentional change?
This reddit post might be related to this issue
Steps to reproduce
- Create a Text component
- In its associated style in the stylesheet, add custom font and set a font weight
- if you’re running on React Native 0.83, the font weight should be thicker than expected
React Native Version
0.83.0
Affected Platforms
Runtime - iOS
Output of npx @react-native-community/cli info
info Fetching system and libraries information...
System:
OS: macOS 26.1
CPU: (12) arm64 Apple M2 Max
Memory: 130.11 MB / 32.00 GB
Shell:
version: "5.9"
path: /bin/zsh
Binaries:
Node:
version: 22.20.0
path: /Users/jkozar/.nvm/versions/node/v22.20.0/bin/node
Yarn:
version: 4.6.0
path: /Users/jkozar/.nvm/versions/node/v22.20.0/bin/yarn
npm:
version: 10.9.3
path: /Users/jkozar/.nvm/versions/node/v22.20.0/bin/npm
Watchman: Not Found
Managers:
CocoaPods:
version: 1.16.2
path: /opt/homebrew/bin/pod
SDKs:
iOS SDK:
Platforms:
- DriverKit 25.1
- iOS 26.1
- macOS 26.1
- tvOS 26.1
- visionOS 26.1
- watchOS 26.1
Android SDK: Not Found
IDEs:
Android Studio: 2025.1 AI-251.26094.121.2512.13840223
Xcode:
version: 26.1/17B55
path: /usr/bin/xcodebuild
Languages:
Java:
version: 17.0.8
path: /usr/bin/javac
Ruby:
version: 2.6.10
path: /usr/bin/ruby
npmPackages:
"@react-native-community/cli":
installed: 20.0.0
wanted: 20.0.0
react:
installed: 19.2.0
wanted: 19.2.0
react-native:
installed: 0.83.0
wanted: patch:react-native@npm%3A0.83.0#~/.yarn/patches/react-native-npm-0.83.0-577d0f2d83.patch
react-native-macos: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
"*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
hermesEnabled: true
newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
hermesEnabled: true
newArchEnabled: true
Stacktrace or Logs
This isn’t a crash - it’s an issue with a custom font.
MANDATORY Reproducer
None
Screenshots and Videos
Here’s what this issue looks like on React Native 0.82.1
Here’s what it looks like on React Native 0.83
