Maxon has officially announced that it’s pulling the plug on Forger, its 3D sculpting app for iPadOS. After over a decade of existence, the app will be entering “limited maintenance mode” on September 10, 2025, and will be removed from the App Store entirely on that date.

A Quick History

Forger is one of, if not the earliest digital sculpting app on iPad. Initially released in 2011, Forger earned a loyal user base by providing a quality, touch-first sculpting experience, eventually adding Apple Pencil support.

Maxon bought Forger in 2021, making changes like tighter integration with Cinema 4D and adding a freemium option. But updates slowed in recent years and once Maxon released ZBrush for iPad, it was clear where things were heading.

What’s Happens Now

Maxon says it will officially stop selling Forger and providing updates after September 10, 2025. What that means is:

• If you’re a subscriber, your subscription will continue to work until it expires, won’t be renewable after September 10th.
• If you previously bought the Forger Classic outright, it should in theory continue to work, but it won’t be updated, supported, or guaranteed to run on newer versions of iPadOS.
  
  In their FAQ page, Maxon also noted they’ll be combining the development team from Forger with the ZBrush for iPad team.
  

ZBrush Is The Way Forward

Going forward, ZBrush is Maxon’s recommended solution for mobile sculpting on iPadOS. It’s more in line with the ZBrush experience from Mac or Windows, providing familiarity for those coming from a laptop OS, or using it in tandem with their laptop.

ZBrush for iPad offers a limited free version, as well as subscriptions unlock all of its capabilities starting at $9.99/month or $89.99/year. It can be installed from the App Store.