1865238 - Urgent Report: Font Issue in Firefox on Samsung Galaxy S23 Post Android 14 (One UI 6) Upgrade

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Core :: Graphics: Text, defect)

Description

[gfmshj6ww]

Steps to reproduce:

Actual results:

Hello, I've read posts from Samsung Galaxy S23 users in South-Korea who are experiencing a bug where the font in Firefox changes to 'Myeongjo' after upgrading to Android 14 (One UI 6). Although I'm not a Galaxy S23 user myself, I've seen numerous complaints about this Firefox font issue in various Korean communities since last month. Surprisingly, there hasn't been a single report about this on Bugzilla, which prompted me to report it.

For your reference, 'Myeongjo' is considered one of the worst fonts from the perspective of Korean users due to its poor readability, and it's rarely used. Therefore, we earnestly request that the font be reverted to its original state. I believe this issue is very serious and needs to be fixed urgently. With the S23 upgrade complete, other models will soon be updated to Android 14, and I'm concerned that the Firefox font issue will spread to these models as well. Thank you for reading my report.

Expected results:

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Core::Graphics: Text' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[Ashley Hale [:ahale]]

NI jnicol: Can you take a look at this font selection bug on Android? I've also cc'd jfkthame.

Comment 3

[Jamie Nicol [:jnicol]]

Hi gfmshj6ww, thanks for the bug report. Could you please explain in really simple steps how I could test this change? Is this referring to the fonts used by the Firefox UI, such as the menus, settings, etc. Or do you mean the fonts used by webpages? Do you know what font Chrome or other browsers use on these devices?

Comment 4

[Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame]]

We'd need to see what fonts are actually available on the device to confirm this, but I suspect it's about the default font prefs. What I see currently in modules/libpref/init/all.js is

  pref("font.name-list.serif.ko", "Charis SIL Compact, Noto Serif CJK KR, Noto Serif, Droid Serif, HYSerif");
  pref("font.name-list.sans-serif.ko", "Roboto, Google Sans, SmartGothic, NanumGothic, Noto Sans KR, Noto Sans CJK KR, SamsungKorean_v2.0, SEC CJK KR, DroidSansFallback, Droid Sans Fallback");
  pref("font.name-list.monospace.ko", "Droid Sans Mono, Noto Sans Mono CJK KR, SEC Mono CJK KR");

but if the device fonts have been updated such that none of the named fonts here are available, then we're going to get whatever fallback happens to find that has the required characters.

In particular, I notice that our current font.name-list.sans-serif.ko pref includes a font named SamsungKorean_v2.0. I wonder if that's been updated and the version number (which is part of the name, it seems) has been revised, so that we no longer find it by this name.

If someone with access to an affected device can confirm what fonts are actually present, we can update default prefs accordingly.

Comment 5

[gfmshj6ww]

(In reply to Jamie Nicol [:jnicol] from comment #3)

Hi gfmshj6ww, thanks for the bug report. Could you please explain in really simple steps how I could test this change? Is this referring to the fonts used by the Firefox UI, such as the menus, settings, etc. Or do you mean the fonts used by webpages? Do you know what font Chrome or other browsers use on these devices?

The font used on the webpage seems to have changed. I'm not exactly sure what font it has been changed to.

Comment 6

[gfmshj6ww]

(In reply to Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame] from comment #4)

https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=galaxy&no=1038201
https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=galaxy&no=1094410
https://gall.dcinside.com/mgallery/board/view/?id=galaxy&no=1096152

The link is to a post by Koreans complaining about a bug. The complainants are all Galaxy S23 users who started experiencing this bug after upgrading to Android 14. As you mentioned, the default font for Samsung Galaxy's One UI 6.0 in Korea has changed, and I'm curious if this might be related. And I'm not sure what the name of the default font used in Android Firefox originally is. I've been curious about it myself, but couldn't find it even after searching...

It appears that Galaxy S23 users in Korea are currently experiencing this bug, and I'm concerned that other models like the S22 and S21, which will be upgraded to Android 14 starting next month in Korea, might face the same issue, so I'm reporting this. For your information, I'm not a Galaxy S23 user and am not experiencing this problem. Thanks a lot for your reply.

Regarding Android Firefox, the original default Korean font had excellent readability. I would prefer if the original default font were maintained.

Comment 7

[gfmshj6ww]

(In reply to Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame] from comment #4)

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1674683

I just stumbled upon this post while searching, and I wonder if it might be related to this bug. My guess is, with the upgrade to Galaxy One UI 6.0, the original default Samsung font, SamsungKorean_v2.0, became unavailable. This might have triggered a bug, changing the setting of 'font.name-list.sans-serif.ko' to the next in line, 'SEC CJK KR'. However, I'm not sure if this is correct since I lack technical knowledge. I'm also uncertain if the font name changed by the bug is indeed 'SEC CJK KR'...

Comment 8

[gfmshj6ww]

https://r1.community.samsung.com/t5/%EA%B0%A4%EB%9F%AD%EC%8B%9C-s/one-ui-6-0-%EA%B8%B0%EB%B3%B8-%ED%8F%B0%ED%8A%B8/td-p/24296094

I found a post like the above in the Samsung community. Since the original post was in Korean, I translated it into English using DeepL.

Questioner:It's secretly annoying that Instagram and other apps don't unify with the default font that has been changed across the board, so I'd like you to update these parts as well.
Samsung:Hello, customer. Based on your inquiry, we will check with the relevant departments and respond to you. We would like to inform you about the font display policy in One UI 6. 1) Hangul is displayed in One UI Sans font in all areas, except when a different font is specified by the user or a specific app. 2) English/numbers are displayed in One UI Sans in Samsung apps/default apps (we will fix the non-applicable part), but not in third-party apps that are not Samsung apps. Changing the text area displayed in roboto in third-party apps (e.g. Instagram app) to be displayed in One UI Sans is something that needs to be discussed with Android, and we are continuing to cooperate. Thank you.

I'm not sure if it's related to the bug symptoms reported above.

Comment 9

[thenoface303]

(In reply to Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame] from comment #4)

In particular, I notice that our current font.name-list.sans-serif.ko pref includes a font named SamsungKorean_v2.0. I wonder if that's been updated and the version number (which is part of the name, it seems) has been revised, so that we no longer find it by this name.

If someone with access to an affected device can confirm what fonts are actually present, we can update default prefs accordingly.

Samsung's Android 14 (OneUI 6) update introduced system-wide font called One UI Sans and for Korean, Samsung uses One UI Sans KR VF. It also applies on default webview font, so other browsers like Chrome, Samsung Browser uses One UI Sans for displaying Korean.

Since Firefox font preference setting does not have that font family, it uses fallback font 'Myeongjo'.

By adding One UI Sans KR VF in font.name.sans-serif.ko config on Firefox Beta, it properly uses One UI Sans for Korean.

Comment 10

[Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

It does seem like Firefox is explicitly using those SamsungKorean and SEC fonts. https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/12ea2c521cdd071a6d25b0894f31f8f23b18b76a/modules/libpref/init/all.js#2929

Comment 11

[Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

And I can confirm comment #9 fixes the issue.

Comment 12

[Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

Attachment: Bug 1865238 - Use One UI Sans KR VF for Korean sans-serif font on Android r=m_kato,jfkthame

Per /etc/fonts.xml, there are now only two <family lang="ko"> nodes there:

• OneUISansKRVF series
• SECCJK series (but no KR postfix anymore?)

This patch uses One UI Sans KR VF as the replacement as this is newer and is a variable font (tested with https://codepen.io/SaschaNaz/pen/ExrdYXJ)

Comment 13

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/49da661d30c7
Use One UI Sans KR VF for Korean sans-serif font on Android r=jfkthame

Comment 14

[Narcis Beleuzu [:NarcisB]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/49da661d30c7

Comment 15

[Jonathan Kew [:jfkthame]]

It'd be worth nominating this for beta uplift, IMO.

Comment 16

[Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

Comment on attachment 9366237 [details]
Bug 1865238 - Use One UI Sans KR VF for Korean sans-serif font on Android r=m_kato,jfkthame

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Users with Samsung Galaxy One UI 6.0 update will get a serif font where sans-serif font is expected.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: 1. Open https://codepen.io/SaschaNaz/pen/ExrdYXJ

2. See if the resulting font is sans-serif; that is, all lines are straight rather than curved (except the circle)

• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): Only a pref change for a new font
• String changes made/needed:
• Is Android affected?: Yes

Comment 17

[Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

Comment on attachment 9366237 [details]
Bug 1865238 - Use One UI Sans KR VF for Korean sans-serif font on Android r=m_kato,jfkthame

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: See above
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce:
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky):
• String changes made/needed:
• Is Android affected?: Yes

Comment 18

[Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

(I think it's also worth for approval-mozilla-release as we are still in early beta, which ends tomorrow though)

Comment 19

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Comment on attachment 9366237 [details]
Bug 1865238 - Use One UI Sans KR VF for Korean sans-serif font on Android r=m_kato,jfkthame

Approved for 121.0b6.

Comment 20

[Pulsebot]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/f0af2050e7b0

Comment 21

[Dianna Smith [:diannaS]]

Comment on attachment 9366237 [details]
Bug 1865238 - Use One UI Sans KR VF for Korean sans-serif font on Android r=m_kato,jfkthame

Approved for Mobile 120.1.1 (this will ride the 121 train for Desktop)

Comment 22

[Pulsebot]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-release/rev/53cf91d9424d

Comment 23

[Delia Pop (Android QA)]

Attachment: KO_Font.png

Verified as fixed in latest Firefox for Android versions:

• Nightly 122.0a1 from 12/11
• Beta 121.0b9
• RC 120.1.1

Tested with:

• Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (Android 14)
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Android 14)