How to set kerning in iPhone UILabel

Old question, but you can do it now (easily).

NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString;attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:@"Please get wider"];[attributedString addAttribute:NSKernAttributeName value:@5 range:NSMakeRange(10, 5)];[self.label setAttributedText:attributedString];

For Nov 2013, Just to expand on this great answer, here's some totally typical code. Usually you'd set the font as well. Note in the comments the old-fashioned way using ordinary old .text. Hope it helps someone

NSString *yourText = @"whatever";UILabel* label = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0,0,0,0)];// simple approach with no tracking...// label.text = yourText;// [label setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Light" size:24]];NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString;attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:yourText];[attributedString addAttribute:NSKernAttributeName                         value:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:2.0]                         range:NSMakeRange(0, [yourText length])];[attributedString addAttribute:NSFontAttributeName                         value:[UIFont fontWithName:@"HelveticaNeue-Light" size:24]                         range:NSMakeRange(0, [yourText length])];label.attributedText = attributedString;label.textColor = [UIColor blackColor];label.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];label.textAlignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter;[label sizeToFit];

Before:

After:

Here's a Swift 3 extension that let's you set a UILabel's kerning via code or storyboard:

extension UILabel {    @IBInspectable var kerning: Float {        get {            var range = NSMakeRange(0, (text ?? "").count)            guard let kern = attributedText?.attribute(NSAttributedStringKey.kern, at: 0, effectiveRange: &range),                let value = kern as? NSNumber                else {                    return 0            }            return value.floatValue        }        set {            var attText:NSMutableAttributedString            if let attributedText = attributedText {                attText = NSMutableAttributedString(attributedString: attributedText)            } else if let text = text {                attText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: text)            } else {                attText = NSMutableAttributedString(string: "")            }            let range = NSMakeRange(0, attText.length)            attText.addAttribute(NSAttributedStringKey.kern, value: NSNumber(value: newValue), range: range)            self.attributedText = attText        }    }}

Demo usage:

myLabel.kerning = 3.0

or

The demo uses 3.0 kerning for drama, but I've found 0.1 - 0.8 tends to work well in practice.

Taking DBD's answer, I made a category on UILabel which allows setting the kerning if running on iOS6+ with graceful fall back to just setting text on previous iOS versions. Might be of help to others...

UILabel+TextKerning.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>@interface UILabel (TextKerning)/** * Set the label's text to the given string, using the given kerning value if able. * (i.e., if running on iOS 6.0+). The kerning value specifies the number of points * by which to adjust spacing between characters (positive values increase spacing, * negative values decrease spacing, a value of 0 is default) **/- (void) setText:(NSString *)text withKerning:(CGFloat)kerning;/** * Set the kerning value of the currently-set text.  The kerning value specifies the number of points * by which to adjust spacing between characters (positive values increase spacing, * negative values decrease spacing, a value of 0 is default) **/- (void) setKerning:(CGFloat)kerning;@end

UILabel+TextKerning.m

#import "UILabel+TextKerning.h"@implementation UILabel (TextKerning)-(void) setText:(NSString *)text withKerning:(CGFloat)kerning{    if ([self respondsToSelector:@selector(setAttributedText:)])    {        NSMutableAttributedString *attributedString = [[NSMutableAttributedString alloc] initWithString:text];        [attributedString addAttribute:NSKernAttributeName                                 value:[NSNumber numberWithFloat:kerning]                                 range:NSMakeRange(0, [text length])];        [self setAttributedText:attributedString];    }    else        [self setText:text];}-(void) setKerning:(CGFloat)kerning{    [self setText:self.text withKerning:kerning];}