Email Signature Font Problem: iPhone Mail Messes Up Font on Gmail Web

Other Questions Gmail
1

I’m having trouble with my email signature font. When I send an email from my iPhone using Apple Mail to someone using Gmail on their computer, the font in my signature changes. It’s supposed to be a nice sans-serif font, but it ends up looking like an old-fashioned serif font instead.

Here’s a bit of my code:

<table style="font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: #f9f9f9; padding: 15px;">
  <tr>
    <td style="max-width: 200px; padding-right: 10px;">
      <p style="font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0 0 4px 0;">
        John Smith
      </p>
      <p style="color: #666; font-size: 11px; margin: 0 0 30px 0;">
        Marketing Manager
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

I’ve tried putting the font-family style everywhere, using !important, and even some weird tricks with CSS counters. Nothing seems to work. The iPhone keeps adding its own font face, which messes everything up.

Is there any way to fix this? Or is it just impossible to have a nice-looking signature when sending from an iPhone to Gmail? Help!

2

ugh, this is such a pain! i’ve dealt with this too. have u tried using inline CSS? like, put the font-family right in the

tags. sometimes that helps override the iphone’s stubborn defaults. also, maybe ditch roboto and stick with arial or helvetica. they’re boring but they work. good luck!

3

As someone who’s spent years grappling with email signature issues, I can tell you that the iPhone-to-Gmail font problem is notoriously tricky. One approach that’s yielded decent results for me is using image-based signatures. By converting your signature text to an image, you can bypass most font rendering issues across different email clients.

Here’s how to do it: Create your signature in a design tool, save it as a PNG with a transparent background, and host it on a reliable server. Then, in your HTML, use an tag to display the signature. Remember to include appropriate alt text for accessibility.

While not perfect (some email clients may block images), this method generally preserves your intended design. Just keep the file size small to avoid delivery issues, and consider including a text-based fallback beneath the image for clients that don’t load images by default.

4

I’ve faced this exact issue before, and it can be incredibly frustrating.

The problem lies in how different email clients handle HTML and CSS in signatures. After much trial and error, I found a workaround that mostly solved the issue.

Instead of relying on web fonts or system fonts, I switched to using web-safe fonts that are pre-installed on most devices and added multiple fallback options. For example, using the rule:

font-family: Arial, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Helvetica, sans-serif;

This combination helps ensure that a sans-serif font displays consistently across various email clients. Embedding the font styles inline for each element, rather than applying a style to the whole table, proved more effective in overriding the iPhone’s default settings.

While this method may not guarantee your exact chosen font, it maintains a professional appearance. Be sure to test your signature on multiple devices and email clients to confirm its consistency.