5th pillar · Together

Play side-by-side. Pass the device.

Together is the engagement modality where two-or-more humans share one device. Pass-and-play modes, family-cooperative rounds, dyadic co-regulation pairs, aggregator hubs. Couch-coop, dinner table, classroom group, rainy Saturday afternoon.

The research is clear — Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, Tronick's dyadic co-regulation, Hirsh-Pasek's Social Interaction pillar, and Johnson & Johnson's cooperative-learning meta-analyses (d ≈ 0.42-0.47 on K-12 academic outcomes) all converge on co-located play as a productive learning context. More for parents →

Spark & Anvil cartoon mark
11 Together-primary apps 32 Together-secondary apps 6 shipping pass-and-play today ~111 ceiling (~80% of portfolio) 1 device per game (no extra hardware)

Together-pillar apps

43 apps where co-located play is part of the proposition — 11 where partnership IS the curriculum (the gameplay only works with two-or-more humans together) plus 32 with strong Together-mode surfaces alongside their primary modality. The 6 with the "Shipping today" badge ship pass-and-play modes right now.

AdventureHub

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Cross-subject Hub app that aggregates contributions from 20+ portfolio source apps into 5 thematic adventure zones (Math Mountains, Word Woods, Science Labs, History Ruins, Creative Studio)

Together-primary
CardForge

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Learn card games from basics to mastery, then amaze friends with step-by-step magic trick tutorials — a complete card skills academy with AI coaching for ages 9-14. The only app that combines interactive card game teaching with magic trick instruction for children.

👥 Together-secondary

Run a spy agency, learning cryptography from Caesar ciphers to RSA basics through narrative-driven missions — crack codes, build ciphers, compete in code-breaking duels, and escape timed puzzle rooms.

👥 Together-secondary
CubeSensei

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Learn the Rubik's Cube with a patient mentor and bite-sized practice.

👥 Together-secondary
DebateForge

ACADEMICS

Competitive Speech & Debate Arena for ages 10-14 — master argumentation by researching evidence, building cases, delivering speeches, and competing in AI-judged debate tournaments where steelmanning, civil disagreement, and concession craft determine the strongest debater. Aligned to CCSS Speaking & Listening standards.

👥 Together-secondary

Gamified cooperative creative projects that build social skills incrementally through a progressive social ladder: Solo, then Pair, then Group, then Perform. Music and art creation serve as the vehicle for structured social interaction, with explicit visual scaffolding for every social step -- visual turn timers, role cards, social scripts, and a communication toolkit.

Together-primary
EscapeForge

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Single-player escape room iOS game for ages 9–14

👥 Together-secondary Shipping today
EthosForge

ACADEMICS

Navigate ethical dilemmas across science, technology, history, and daily life with an AI Socratic tutor. Build ethical reasoning through structured debate, perspective-taking, and case analysis.

👥 Together-secondary
FitQuest

SPECIAL-INTEREST

A fitness RPG adventure where physical exercise (tracked via HealthKit) AND knowledge quiz performance jointly determine your character's progression. Complete real workouts to gain Strength/Stamina, answer questions correctly to gain Wisdom/Intelligence.

👥 Together-secondary
FocusForge

DIR-FEDC

A gamified executive function training adventure for students ages 9-14, with specific design for ADHD and other neurodivergent learners. Players build study skills through six EF domains: working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, planning/organization, task initiation, and time awareness.

👥 Together-secondary
Forgearena

SPECIAL-INTEREST

A competitive multiplayer educational game where up to 30 students on any device battle in real-time quiz arenas, team challenges, and subject-specific tournaments — bridging iOS, Android, and web players in the same match.

Together-primary
F
ForgeClassroom

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Teacher-facing classroom management for K-12 — assign Forge app lessons, monitor student progress, generate standards-aligned reports (TEKS/NGSS/CCSS), host live quizzes, and author custom question kits with AI assistance that supports teacher autonomy.

Together-primary
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ForgePortal

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Universal launcher and discovery hub for the Forge educational app portfolio — browse apps by subject and age, unified profile with cross-platform sync, cross-app learning pathway recommendations, and family management with per-child controls that empower parents without shame.

Together-primary

Frame-by-frame animation creation that turns neurodivergent preferences for precision and sequencing — drawing especially on autistic pattern-recognition strengths — into creative storytelling. Players build stop-motion animations that practice social scenarios -- setting up characters, capturing frames, sequencing timelines, and narrating stories. The animation process itself builds fine motor skills, sequential thinking, and emotional understanding.

👥 Together-secondary Shipping today

Interactive geometry exploration app for ages 9-14 covering the complete CCSS Geometry curriculum — transformations, coordinate geometry, similarity, proof, and 3D solids — using hands-on RealityKit 3D visualization, visual theorem discovery, and progressive spatial reasoning challenges. Companion app to CubeSensei (which focuses on Rubik's Cube mastery and magic tricks).

👥 Together-secondary Shipping today
GrammarForge

ACADEMICS

Master grammar, sentence structure, and language conventions through interactive sentence diagramming puzzles, error detective investigations, and style editing challenges — turning grammar rules into engaging game mechanics. Ages 9-14.

👥 Together-secondary

A music creation app that leverages neurodivergent (especially autistic) pattern-thinking strengths by translating visual patterns into music. Players arrange colors, shapes, and positions on a grid -- the pattern IS the music. Includes sensory-safe environments, emotion vocabulary tools, and therapist observer mode.

👥 Together-secondary

Play improv comedy games with friends and AI scene partners — say "yes, and..." to adventure

Together-primary

Experience daily life through different abilities, explore the history of disability rights, then design solutions that work for everyone — using Universal Design principles to build a more accessible world. Ages 9-14.

👥 Together-secondary
JestForge

ACADEMICS

Learn to write jokes, riddles, and puns — then battle friends to see who's funniest

Together-primary Shipping today

Design, prototype, and virtually fabricate objects using 3D printing simulation, Arduino circuit building, and materials science — mastering the full engineering design process through constrained challenges.

👥 Together-secondary

Pass-and-play multipeer math circle for 2 to 4 kids on a single iPad. Rotating Scribe / Checker / Proposers table operationalizes cooperative math problem solving. 60 hand-curated circle problems. Ages 9-14.

Together-primary
MindForge

DIR-FEDC

Adventure RPG where players navigate social scenarios, manage stress through mini-games, and build emotional intelligence by helping NPCs resolve conflicts. Combines CASEL's 5 core competencies with SHAPE America's National Health Education Standards in a quest-based format. AI-driven NPCs respond to player choices with realistic emotional reactions.

👥 Together-secondary

Kids ages 10-14 construct and explore a living world using math

Together-primary Shipping today

Master ratios, proportions, and percentages through real-world simulation contexts — recipe scaling in kitchens, blueprint ratios in construction, and map scales in cartography — with visual models and AI-driven difficulty adaptation. Ages 10-14.

👥 Together-secondary
SafetyForge

ACADEMICS

Navigate the digital world safely through interactive scenarios about privacy, cyberbullying, digital footprint, phishing detection, and responsible technology use — with a safe social media simulator that teaches real consequences without real risk. Ages 9-14.

👥 Together-secondary
SpeakForge

ACADEMICS

Speaking and listening skills platform for ages 10-14 covering presentations, discussions, debate, active listening, and media analysis

👥 Together-secondary
StrategyForge

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Master chess, Go, checkers, backgammon, mancala, and Connect 4 through AI-coached lessons, puzzle challenges, and online play — with a unified strategy thinking curriculum for ages 9-14. The only app that teaches strategic thinking as a transferable skill across multiple classical games.

👥 Together-secondary
TaleForge

ACADEMICS

A multiplayer collaborative world-building and storytelling game where players co-create fantasy/sci-fi worlds in real-time using a tile-based map editor, then explore them as characters with AI-generated narrative events, NPC dialogue, and emergent storylines. Think "Dawn of Worlds meets Minecraft meets AI Dungeon" -- but native iOS with spatial computing support.

Together-primary
WellnessForge

ACADEMICS

Build health literacy through nutrition analysis, evidence-based substance abuse prevention, first aid simulations, and social-emotional learning — using the research-proven Life Skills Training model rather than fear-based approaches. Ages 9-14.

👥 Together-secondary
WonderForge

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Become a science magician — watch "impossible" demonstrations, form hypotheses, reveal the physics and chemistry behind each trick, then perform your own science shows.

👥 Together-secondary
CoRegRealm

DIR-FEDC

Co-Regulation Role-Reversal RPG — kid co-regulates a smaller creature companion through dysregulation cycles, learning the regulation primitive through the teacher role (Cyan).

👥 Together-secondary

Misattunement → Repair Cycle as the Curriculum — two-player relational-craft scaffolding the 5-step repair protocol (Mend). Trauma-informed; no scoring; off-ramps every scenario.

👥 Together-secondary
TempCheck

DIR-FEDC

Daily Attunement Temp-Checks — 15-second bidirectional affect check-in with caregiver; surfaces overlaps + differences; growth chart over weeks (Pulse).

👥 Together-secondary

Narrative-Driven Backgammon + Dice-Strategy for Tweens — voyage IS the curriculum (Fruitlandia → Sunrise Cliffs → Storm Bay → Icelandia). Peg dice-cup mascot + Peglegra / Chompus NPCs.

👥 Together-secondary
DealTales

ACADEMICS

Narrative-Driven Bridge + Partnership Trick-Taking for Tweens — bidding-as-conversation between Whisp + Bram. Highest CASEL fit in the Distributed-Narrative cluster (partnership IS the curriculum). Whisp wisp-of-cloud mascot.

Together-primary
TinyLetters

ACADEMICS

Emergent Phonics + Alphabet for Ages 5-7 — letter-sound mapping, sight words, decodable storyboarding. Pip Jr (younger-sibling sparrow to LyricForge's Pip) guides daily 15-min phonics routines.

👥 Together-secondary

Number Sense + Early Addition for Ages 5-7 — subitizing, counting, comparing, one-digit addition. Calc Jr (younger calculator-monster) guides daily 15-min math routines.

👥 Together-secondary
TaleTrail

ACADEMICS

Interactive Picture-Book Composition for Ages 5-8 — picture-book sequencing, optional dictation, character creation, story-arc scaffolds. Page (folded-paper mascot) guides early narrative composition.

👥 Together-secondary
HuggyHabits

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Daily Wellness Routines for Ages 5-7 — sleep, brush, eat, move habits via gentle scaffolds. Hug (cuddly bear-hug mascot) anchors morning + bedtime routines.

👥 Together-secondary
BugsCamp

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Early Life Science Naturalism for Ages 5-8 — bug + leaf + weather identification + observation journaling. Beetle (ladybug-naturalist mascot) guides backyard discovery.

👥 Together-secondary

Early Music + Rhythm for Ages 5-7 — rhythm patterns, instrument identification, call-and-response melody. Squeak (mouse-musician mascot) guides early music exposure.

👥 Together-secondary
WitQuest

SPECIAL-INTEREST

Comedy RPG adventure for ages 9-14 — explore the kingdom of Laughtonia where humor is the combat mechanic, defeat villains with puns and riddles, collect comedy gear, and interact with AI-driven NPCs who remember your joke style.

👥 Together-secondary Shipping today

Why the Together pillar matters

Modern educational apps default to solo play. A kid sits alone with the device. Even when apps add multiplayer, it's usually networked — two devices, two rooms.

Together is different. It collapses the device-as-isolator into a shared object. You're on the couch. You hand the device back and forth. You watch your kid think. They watch you think. You laugh together. You argue. You restart the round.

The learning science converges on co-located play as a productive context:

  • Vygotsky's zone of proximal development — the child's emerging abilities are activated specifically through the More Knowledgeable Other (parent, sibling, peer) in co-play settings.
  • Tronick's still-face research — 70% of caregiver-infant interactions are mismatched; repair through dyadic co-regulation is "the key developmental force."
  • Hirsh-Pasek's 4 Pillars of Learning — Social Interaction is one of the four canonical pillars of educational-app quality.
  • Johnson & Johnson / Slavin cooperative-learning meta-analyses — cooperative-learning interventions show d ≈ 0.42-0.47 on K-12 academic outcomes; Learning Together (LT) produces the strongest effect across methods.
  • K-State 2024 family-cohesion research — families with weekly co-play show 30% higher cohesion scores and 25% less reported loneliness after six months.
  • AAP 2026 screen-time guidance — pivoted from hour-based limits to quality-over-time, with co-viewing-with-active-participation explicitly named as a quality marker for ages 2-5+.

Our Together-pillar apps use Apple's MultipeerConnectivity and our own ForgePassAndPlay framework to make the handoff feel natural: privacy curtain between turns, no peeking at hidden hands, gentle round-end cues, no leaderboards that embarrass anyone.

On the roadmap

~111 of our 143 apps are good fits for pass-and-play modes — sentence games, role-play scenes, cooperative rounds, family co-regulation pairs. We're retrofitting wave by wave. The next four pilots already have implementation handoffs in flight:

Make it a family thing

We design pass-and-play modes for the couch, the dinner table, the long car ride, the rainy Saturday afternoon. One device. Two or more humans. No subscription. No ads. Just the round, and the laugh, and the moment of shared attention.

Browse pass-and-play apps →