turbineseaplane
macrumors Penryn
They've been abusive for years and finally the battered spouses are having enough and leaving.
It's honestly refreshing to see.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Blender iPad App Development Halted as Android Tablets Get Priority
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
They've been abusive for years and finally the battered spouses are having enough and leaving.
It's honestly refreshing to see.
jarman92
macrumors 68020
They also have tiny SSDs and effectively no RAM. And while some/many have touchscreens, they’re not good and aren’t suitable for using heavily touch-based apps.
Wait, then there must be more than 4🙂 We have 5 of the S series at home (3 iPads, too).
Zdigital2015
macrumors 601
I own a Samsung Galaxy A9+ 11” w/8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. I don’t use it as much as I could and should. I wonder if I will ever get Android 16 on this tablet and whether or not Desktop Mode will extend to tablets as well as phones?
Not sure which owner number I am here…😂
Aichon
macrumors member
There are all sorts of reasons for a change like this, whether we like it or not:
1. Maybe they're seeing Android as a desktop OS providing them with more long-term value, so they decided to shift their efforts.
2. Maybe the person(s) leading or involved with iOS development got tied up but they have resources available to help with Android, so they've shifted out of necessity, not because it's their first choice.
3. Maybe Blender's userbase is more price sensitive than the market as a whole. After all, someone who uses a freely available tool like Blender is more likely to be price sensitive in other areas too, which would skew them toward Android.
4. Maybe their regional usage skews towards countries where Android is more popular than in my home country. Open source has been more readily embraced in some parts of the world, particularly in areas where iOS underperforms compared to Android (e.g. most of Europe).
5. Maybe they're ideologically at-odds with some of Apple's stances, either in the world-at-large or specifically within the context of open source, so it doesn't make sense to give Apple's platforms priority treatment.
The list goes on.
Just because a change like this doesn't make any sense from my perspective—an iPad user in a country with widespread iOS adoption who enjoys Apple devices and is happy to pay for premium devices and apps—doesn't mean it doesn't make sense for them.
1. Maybe they're seeing Android as a desktop OS providing them with more long-term value, so they decided to shift their efforts.
2. Maybe the person(s) leading or involved with iOS development got tied up but they have resources available to help with Android, so they've shifted out of necessity, not because it's their first choice.
3. Maybe Blender's userbase is more price sensitive than the market as a whole. After all, someone who uses a freely available tool like Blender is more likely to be price sensitive in other areas too, which would skew them toward Android.
4. Maybe their regional usage skews towards countries where Android is more popular than in my home country. Open source has been more readily embraced in some parts of the world, particularly in areas where iOS underperforms compared to Android (e.g. most of Europe).
5. Maybe they're ideologically at-odds with some of Apple's stances, either in the world-at-large or specifically within the context of open source, so it doesn't make sense to give Apple's platforms priority treatment.
The list goes on.
Just because a change like this doesn't make any sense from my perspective—an iPad user in a country with widespread iOS adoption who enjoys Apple devices and is happy to pay for premium devices and apps—doesn't mean it doesn't make sense for them.
code-m
macrumors 601
It’s just an echo chamber of cognitive dissonance sapping up the marketing and influencers tripe. Android tablet users are generally less vocal when compared to iPad users. I know many people in their early 30’s who use an iPad for just email and browsing tasks, I guess that age group is not a senior or child but this is also my anecdotal observation so who knows. 😝
I bet you anything this hold-up has something to do with the macOS menu bar and title bar. If you use Blender on the Mac, you will know how weird the whole menu bar and title bar appearance and functionality is, and if you know about the development process you might also know about devtalk.blender.org AND know that Apple joined the development team. Something is changing in this arena, I have no idea specifically what it would be but it may have something to do with aligning new macOS and iPadOS menu bar and title bar methodologies. Especially since the iPad recently gained new menu bar (and title bar/windowing) functionalities.
M4irmidnight
macrumors regular
Ib
If only iPad Pro ran macOS or at least let us download safari apps.
Disappointing.
Been wondering about this for months. Gut punch .
Blender's work on a native iPad version of its open source 3D creation suite has been shelved, according to the development team.
Back in July, Blender revealed that it was developing for iPad, with an iPad Pro version of its desktop software coming first, complete with a fully-featured multitouch interface and support for Apple Pencil Pro. No release date was announced at the time.
Now it doesn't look like that's about to happen anytime soon. In January, a status update appeared on Blender's GitHub page for iPad development saying that the project is on hold until further notice.
No reason for the halt in development was given in the notice. However, as spotted by YouTuber Brad Colbow, in a response to a comment offering help on the project, Blender developer Dalai Felinto said that the team was now focusing on Android tablets first instead.
During the fall at SIGGRAPH in Vancouver, Blender showed a live tech demo of the software running on iPad, so there's still hope that the project isn't completely dead and will resume at some point. We'll update this story if we learn anything more about a development timeline.
The latest Blender build for Apple silicon Macs can be downloaded for free from the Blender website.
Article Link: Blender iPad App Development Halted as Android Tablets Get Priority
If only iPad Pro ran macOS or at least let us download safari apps.
Disappointing.
Suggestion for other commenters
« Don't value anyone with a Memoji profile pic's opinions »
Ulfric
macrumors regular
Why would a foundation making an Open-source free 3D DCC software would think about customers?
Mr_Ed
macrumors 65816
Yeah, many of the comments here seem completely oblivious to this fact. What they do listen to is the feedback from highly engaged community of users and developers of Blender, as they should.
WilliApple
macrumors 68000
bustaa
macrumors newbie
well well ...
"Wacom and Blender forge a strategic partnership to advance pen and touch experiences for 3D creators on all platforms" - 8/12/2025
estore.wacom.com
^-- runs android 😉
"Wacom and Blender forge a strategic partnership to advance pen and touch experiences for 3D creators on all platforms" - 8/12/2025
Wacom MovinkPad 11
No cords, no setup, no computer - just pick up the pen and start sketching. This lightweight all-in-one tablet delivers Wacom's legendary pen experience for spontaneous creativity, whether you're doodling on the couch or capturing an idea on the go. Running Android 14, an 11.45" anti-glare...
^-- runs android 😉
Haiku_Oezu
macrumors 6502a
jeremyw013
macrumors member
why in the world would they prioritize a significantly weaker market???
Lenovo Chromebook Plus Gen 10 (14″ MediaTek) | 14″ AI Chromebook
Learn more about the Lenovo Chromebook Plus Gen 10 (14'' MediaTek), an AI Chromebook with a 50 TOPS NPU and a MediaTek Kompanio Ultra processor.
www.lenovo.com
...available with 16GB RAM, 256GB storage, 14" touchscreen... Remember, we're comparing with iPad here.
You could run Blender on a 30 year old computer with a fraction of that spec (and it's open source so you probably still can). OK, People aren't going to be rendering full-length 4k feature films on this, but they're not gonna be doing that on an iPad, either. This is going to be students learning to make their first spinning teapot.
So what if they did?
Apple can throw cash at people too (I think they did fund Blender development for Apple Silicon).
Bodhitree
macrumors 68030
jarman92
macrumors 68020
256GB SSD is tiny, and 16GB RAM on Windows is far from ideal...Blender says the minimum is 8GB, but that's with a dedicated GPU, which that Chromebook (or any other?) does not have; they recommend 32GB RAM.
But most importantly, whether or not Chromebooks support Android apps, nobody in their right mind is going to use a touch-based app on a vertical touchscreen. The very idea is absurd.
I'll introduce myself to you. Now you know 2 people with an Android tablet 😀
Isn’t the iPad more performant than what Android offers? I would think that would be the biggest factor for development.
