Will there be a native port of Blender 2.8 for Apple’s 2018 iPad Pro? If not is the source code available to compile Blender for iOS? Will Blender 2.8 support the Apple Pencil 2 to allow customizable gestures? The A12X chip with up to 6GB RAM and 1TB storage with USB-C seem ideal for having Blender 2.8 on the go whether full on support or partial support for sculpting, etc.
There are no current plans for this, and making it work would be a big project. The App Store has restrictions that are incompatible with the GPL license, so it may not even be possible legally.
There is nothing in the Apple Developer License agreement that states FOSS applications (i.e. those that use GPL v3) cannot be built and uploaded to be hosted on Apple’s App Store whether for MacOS or iOS. As long as the source code is available and any changes to the code of Blender is made freely available then it’s fine. https://download.developer.apple.com/Documentation/License_Agreements__Apple_Developer_Program/Apple_Developer_Program_License_Agreement_20181019.pdf I heard that Apple is working on a way to make porting applications from MacOS to iOS easy in 2019 so it will be interesting to see if Blender will jump on board.
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On a related topic, I would be interested in hearing if anybody has looked into an HTML5 port (utilizing WebGL and/or WebAssembly). The performance may not be as great as native, but it could potentially be very handy.
My understanding it’s not that the App Store forbids GPL software, rather that the GPL does not allow you to put it on the App Store with the restrictions it has.
This issue has been discussed many times, including by the FSF who have said in the past that there is a conflict. Which doesn’t necessarily mean there is a problem still, but I doubt the conclusion for this kind of legal thing is obvious from just reading the license agreement.
There is a possibility to compile iOS apps using Xcode’s/Apple’s provisioning profile.
It actually allows developer to compile and test apps before releasing them, which the downside the app will onlybe usable for 7 days.
However, if the AppStore conflicts with the GPL it would be interesting to know how much effort it takes to make Blender compatible with iOS so we can at least compile from source for ourselve.
I wonder about the possibilities of this more and more these days. I use my iPad for so many things now, I’d love at least to be able to grease pencil animate on the iPad as the apple pencil is such a great tool for drawing…
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I’ve also been trying to hunt out the specifics of what prevents blender/gpl code being used in the App Store, I kinda remember a FAQ or post years and years ago but I wonder if it’s still relevant?
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