Press

For journalists, editors, podcast hosts, and conference organizers covering Fold Commons or the apps we build. Press contact: press@foldcommons.org.

Fact sheet

• Organisation: Fold Commons (non-profit; legal status: incorporation + fiscal sponsorship in progress).
• Founded: 2026.
• Mission: Build free, open-source, Apple-platform apps that make the AlphaFold era of structural biology beautifully usable.
• Funding posture: Grants, foundation support, individual donations. No ads. No paid tiers. No data brokerage.
• License posture: Apache 2.0 for code at v1.0; CC BY 4.0 for content.

Apps

• FoldLens (in TestFlight; v1.0 target 2026 Q4) — iPad-first AlphaFold Database browser. Honest pLDDT confidence display + on-device Apple Intelligence.
• FoldLens Junior (in development; v1.0 target 2027 Q1) — K-12 sibling for ages 9-14. NGSS-aligned, COPPA-compliant, distributed via HHMI BioInteractive + LabXchange.
• ResearchAtlas (in development; v1.0 target 2026 Q4) — FoundationModels-driven explorer over the Fold Commons 158-report research archive. Quote-faithful grounding.
• FoldCompare, FoldVision, EnsembleViewer, PocketScout, CASPTracker (planned 2027+).

All apps share FoldKit, an open-source Swift library housing the AlphaFold Database client, Metal rendering pipeline, and reusable SwiftUI chrome.

Peer ecosystem

AlphaFold Database (EMBL-EBI + Google DeepMind), OpenFold Consortium, Mol*, RCSB PDB, EMBL-EBI training, Boltz consortium, BioViewer, CellWalk. We sit alongside, not in competition.

Talking points

• The AlphaFold Database holds 241 million predicted protein structures — the largest scientific public resource of its kind, recognized by the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• iPad-first access doesn't exist yet. The AFDB web app is excellent on desktop, functional on iPad. We build the consumption layer Apple platforms deserve.
• Honest confidence display. Every prediction has a per-residue confidence number (pLDDT). FoldLens renders low-confidence regions at reduced opacity by default — matching the AFDB website's honesty pattern. Misleading software pretends predictions are measurements.
• On-device Apple Intelligence. Residue Q&A runs entirely on the iPad via FoundationModels. Nothing leaves the device.
• Non-profit. Free forever. Open source. No paid tiers, no ads, no analytics, no in-app purchases. This isn't a marketing posture — it's encoded in the org's foundational documents (ADR-002).

Press kit assets

Coming when v1.0 nears launch:

• App icon (1024×1024 PNG) + alternate sizes.
• App screenshots (iPad Pro 13", iPad Pro 11", iPhone 16 Pro Max, Mac).
• 30-second preview video.
• Brand assets (Fold Commons wordmark, lockup, folded-ribbon glyph) in SVG.
• Founder photo + bio.
• One-page printable summary.

For a specific request before launch, email press@foldcommons.org.

Quotable lines

Available for direct quotation:

• "The AlphaFold era, beautifully."
• "Browse 241 million predicted proteins on iPad."
• "Honest about confidence. Free forever."
• "Apple Intelligence meets the AlphaFold Database."
• "Built by a non-profit. Run by no one."

Boilerplate

Fold Commons is a non-profit organisation building free, open-source Apple-platform apps for the AlphaFold era of structural biology. Its first app, FoldLens, brings the 241-million-structure AlphaFold Database — the resource recognized by the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry — to iPad with honest confidence display and on-device Apple Intelligence. Fold Commons sits alongside the open structural-biology ecosystem (Mol*, OpenFold, RCSB PDB, EMBL-EBI) as a peer, not a competitor. The organisation is funded by grants and individual donors; it does not sell user data, run ads, or charge for its apps. foldcommons.org.