# Forgn: Prior Art Search — Find it before you build it > Find it before you build it (iPhone/iPad app by BERKE KAHRAMAN.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/forgn-prior-art-search/id6761314575 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [BERKE KAHRAMAN](https://appshunter.io/developer/1843240615) - Category: Productivity, Education - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 15.1 · 52 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-08-13 - Data updated: 2026-09-07 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/forgn-prior-art-search/id6761314575/reviews.md ## What is Forgn? Forgn is a workshop for inventors. It runs entirely on your iPhone: no account, no sign-up. Your notes stay on this device — the only thing that ever goes out is a search you start yourself, and only the words you typed. PRIOR ART FIRST The cheapest way an idea can die is by already existing. Forgn recognises 146 established arrangements by name — if what you are describing is reverse osmosis, it says so. It also searches Crossref and arXiv live from your device, and builds ready-made queries for Google Patents, Espacenet and Lens so you can check the patent record yourself. An empty result means those sources found nothing — which is not the same as nothing exists, and the app says so on the result screen. CROSS-POLLINATION Most inventions are not two ideas glued together. They are a known mechanism plus something specific carried in from somewhere else. Forgn does exactly that move: it takes a distinctive term from one of your notes and applies it to a real mechanism in another — but only when the two share genuine common ground. Every suggestion tells you what moved, where it came from, and what connects them. RISK-ORDERED PLANS Not a build manual. Forgn turns an idea into the order in which it could die: prior art first, then each known failure mode, most fatal and cheapest-to-test first. Every step says what to measure, with real bench procedures for fifteen mechanisms — and it asks you to write down the number you need BEFORE you run the test. A threshold chosen after seeing the result is not a test. REALITY WALLS Thirty-eight documented failure modes, each triggered by an actual design choice, each with alternatives and a reason. Warnings are free, always: charging for bad news would turn your not knowing into our revenue. TOWN A map of your own thinking. Buildings are the mechanisms your archive already uses; the figures walking between them are your notes. When two meet, you get a real transfer candidate — not an animation. WHY IT IS DIFFERENT Forgn does not generate text. It counts, compares and cites. Ask the same question tomorrow and you get the same answer, because the engine is deterministic — and every claim points back either to something in your archive or to a paper you can open. When it does not know, it says so: "no failure mode matched" means the catalogue was silent, not that your design is safe. PRIVACY, PLAINLY Your archive, your notes and your plans never leave this device. The only thing that goes out is a literature search you start yourself, and only the words you typed, and only to public research databases. There is no account, no analytics, and no server of ours anywhere. Scanning a page uses your iPhone's own text recognition — the photo is never saved and never sent. FREE AND PRO Free: your archive up to 25 entries, prior-art checks, reality walls, and the coverage map. Pro: cross-pollination, risk-ordered plans, unlimited archive, and export. Forgn Pro is an auto-renewable subscription, monthly or yearly; the price for your region is shown in the app before you buy. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm. The subscription renews automatically unless you cancel at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; manage or cancel it any time in your App Store account settings. Export keeps working even after a subscription ends. Your notes are yours. Privacy Policy: https://berkemd.github.io/wristsuite/forgn/privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Forgn screens for prior art. It does not give legal advice, and no result here is a legal opinion on patentability — for that, talk to a patent attorney. ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Forgn Inventor | $9.99 | per month | | Forgn Inventor Yearly | $59.99 | per year | ## Version history (last 3 releases) ### 1.2 — 2026-09-04 An empty search result used to look like good news. It is not — it only means the sources Forgn searched found nothing, and Forgn searches a stated, finite set: live queries to Crossref and arXiv, plus prepared patent links for Google Patents, Espacenet and Lens. New in 1.2: every result screen and every report now states exactly which sources were searched and which were not. "Nothing found" now says what it actually means — nothing found in these sources, which is not the same as nothing exists. Forgn screens for prior art; it does not give legal advice. ### 1.1 — 2026-08-23 Forgn used to open empty — and an empty archive gives the engine nothing to work on, so the app could not show you what it does. New: a worked example. Eight real techniques from eight different fields load with one tap. Everything you see after that — the name of the prior art, the coverage map, the reality walls — is computed on your device from those eight notes. Nothing is pre-written. Remove the notes and the results go with them. Cross-pollination now runs free on the worked example, so you can see what it is before deciding whether you want it on your own archive. ### 1.0 — 2026-08-13 No release notes. ## More apps by BERKE KAHRAMAN - [POYWX: Signal Cascade](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/poywx-signal-cascade/id6777477818) - [Skry: Sky Readings & Journal](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/skry-sky-readings-and-journal/id6790419436) - [Daylume: Golden Hour & Sun](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/daylume-golden-hour-and-sun/id6796813768) - [Trailhome: GPS Return](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/trailhome-gps-return/id6796813984) - [Rodewatch: Anchor & Race](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/rodewatch-anchor-and-race/id6796814335) All apps by BERKE KAHRAMAN: https://appshunter.io/developer/1843240615 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-07.*