With mobile devices, especially tablets, getting more and more powerful by the day, people have been crying out for a version of the free and open-source Blender application that works on tablets. Thankfully those requests are finally being granted, as Blender have officially launched a project to bring Blender to touch screen devices, starting with the iPad. Details of the project are described on the Blender developer blog:
Multi-touch interfaces like tablets have been common for years, but only recently thanks to increased processing power, have they started to serve as primary computing devices. To support Blender’s mission of making 3D technology accessible to everyone, it’s important to fully embrace these platforms.
Some of these devices include Apple iPad, Microsoft Surface, Huawei MatePad, and the Wacom MovinkPad, among others.
The idea is to bring the full power of Blender to these devices. This requires adapting to platform-specific paradigms, but also to offer more task-oriented user interfaces with reduced information density. This will be achieved by extending existing input methods, and improving workspaces and application templates, running on top of a regular Blender build.
The initial platform where this idea will be tested is the Apple iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, followed by Android and other graphic tablets in the future.
While standalone tablets are the primary target, the core design principles apply across all platforms. This means that any UI/UX improvements will immediately benefit regular tablet users, even as Blender is being ported to run natively on the targeted devices.
The initial (very early) release may not be that far off, as they intend to demonstrate their prototype in August:
A tech demo will be available at the Blender booth at SIGGRAPH 2025 in Vancouver, showing Blender running on iPad Pro.
Shortly after, a workshop will be held at Blender HQ in Amsterdam to revisit the current design and workflows. The outcome of the workshop will be shared here, on the development channels.
You may also find live demos during Blender Conference 2025.
In addition to the official Blender Foundation efforts to bring Blender to mobile devices, there is also an unofficial Android Port (of Blender 3.6) that you can download and install. The source code and binaries are available here. This of course is NOT and official Blender project and as such caution should be exercised before installing an unknown APK on your device! The developer thread discussing the process of porting Blender to Android is available here.
You can learn more about Blender coming to tablets and touch devices in the video below.