Free forever · Mac, iPad & iPhone

Every AI writes markdown. Now it's worth reading.

Forgedown is a free markdown reader for Mac, iPad and iPhone. Open any .md and it just looks right — tables, code, diagrams, images. No account. No analytics. No “Pro”.

Requires macOS 26 or iOS 26 · Nothing to buy, ever

q3-report.md
RAW SOURCE
# Q3 Engineering Report

| Region | Revenue | Δ    |
|--------|---------|------|
| EMEA   | £1.2M   | +18% |
| APAC   | £940K   | +7%  |

- [x] Ship v1.0
- [ ] Localise docs

![chart](images/q3.png)

```swift
let doc = try MD(url)
```
RENDERED
Q3 Engineering Report
RegionRevenueΔ
EMEA£1.2M+18%
APAC£940K+7%
Ship v1.0
Localise docs
images/q3.png — renders here
let doc = try MD(url)
Full-fidelity rendering

If it's in the file, it's on the screen.

gfm
GitHub-Flavored Markdown

Tables with alignment, task lists, strikethrough, and footnotes with two-way jump links.

toc
A table of contents that follows you

Built from your headings, tracking where you are as you scroll. Jump anywhere in a 400-line spec.

⌘F
Find in document

Match highlighting with next and previous, straight from the keyboard.

readme
Remembers your place

Per document — even when every file is called README.md, and even if you rename it.

pdf
Export and print, free

Any file becomes a properly paginated PDF or a self-contained HTML page. No watermark, no paywall.

a11y
Built for everyone

VoiceOver reads your actual document, not a description of it. Dynamic Type and full keyboard control.

img/
Local images and links that actually work

![chart](images/chart.png) renders the image, not a grey box. Links between local markdown files work too — click through a folder of docs like a wiki. Forgedown asks once for folder access, then remembers.

mermaid
Diagrams, drawn natively

Flowcharts, sequence diagrams and pie charts, drawn with native code — entirely offline, with no web view anywhere in the app. Tap one to zoom.

Forgedown on macOS showing a Mermaid sequence diagram and a pie chart rendered natively in the dark theme.
swift
Code that reads like code

Syntax highlighting for Swift, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, JSON, YAML, Bash, SQL, HTML, CSS, C, C++, Go, Rust and Kotlin — with a copy button on every fence.

Forgedown on macOS showing syntax-highlighted code blocks and a formatted GitHub-Flavored Markdown table.
aA
Four themes. Your type, your measure.

System, Light, Dark and Sepia — every colour contrast-tested. Set in San Francisco or New York, at the text size and line width that suit you, once.

Forgedown on macOS in the sepia theme with the reading settings open, showing theme, typeface, text size and line width controls.
Free

Actually free. No asterisk.

No purchase. No subscription. No “free tier”. Export to PDF and HTML, print, everything — free, for everyone, forever.

No purchases No analytics No network
Download on theMac App Store Download on theApp Store

Forgedown is NetSmiths' gift to everyone drowning in AI-generated markdown — and our calling card. Our other apps are pay-once. This one isn't even that.

Private by construction

The privacy label is empty because there's nothing to put in it.

Forgedown never touches the network. Your files are rendered on your device and go nowhere. No analytics, no accounts, no iCloud, no tracking — not “minimal”, none.

There is no web view anywhere in the app, either. On macOS a sandboxed web view would need the network entitlement, so the diagrams are drawn in native code instead. The app simply has no way to reach the internet — and you can check that yourself.

App Privacy
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
network access
— none
analytics
— none
accounts
— none
iCloud
— none
Mac · iPad · iPhone

One reader, all your screens.

Forgedown on macOS with the contents sidebar open, showing a rendered markdown document with native flowchart and sequence diagrams.
Mac — sidebar contents, multi-window, Quick Look
Forgedown on iPad in split view, showing the contents sidebar beside a rendered document with diagrams and highlighted code.
iPad — split view & Files
Forgedown on iPhone showing a rendered markdown document with a natively drawn flowchart.
iPhone — AirDrop & Mail
Opens from Files, Finder, Mail & AirDrop Share sheet everywhere Spacebar Quick Look in Finder Drag a file onto the window One click to make it your default .md app
Questions

Fair questions, straight answers.

Is it really completely free?

Yes. There is nothing to buy in the app — no purchases, no subscription, no locked features. NetSmiths makes pay-once apps; Forgedown is the free one.

Do you collect anything?

No. The app has no network entitlement at all, so it cannot send anything anywhere. The App Store privacy label is genuinely empty.

Can it edit markdown?

No — and that's deliberate. Forgedown is a reader. Your editor already edits.

Which files does it open?

.md, .markdown, .mdown and .mkd — from anywhere on your device, or your own cloud storage via Files.

Which Mermaid diagrams are supported?

Flowcharts, sequence diagrams and pie charts are drawn natively, offline. Any other diagram type is shown as a neatly formatted source block with a note saying so — never a broken image or an error.

Why don't my images show in other apps but show here?

Other readers ignore images referenced by relative paths next to your file. Forgedown resolves them properly — it asks once for folder access, then remembers.

What do I need to run it?

macOS 26 on a Mac, or iOS or iPadOS 26 on an iPhone or iPad. One download covers all three.

Who makes this?

NetSmiths Ltd, a UK software studio. Everything we build is native and private.

The studio

forged by NetSmiths

NetSmiths is a UK software studio. Everything we build is native and private — no subscriptions, no accounts, no tracking. Forgedown is the free one: our calling card, in the studio's own chrome.

netsmiths.com →

Your markdown deserves better than a grey box.

Download on theMac App Store Download on theApp Store

Requires macOS 26 or iOS 26 · Nothing to buy, ever