Sideloading iPad & iPhone apps is back on Apple Silicon Macs, but probably not for long
Owners of M1-equipped Macs are once again able to sideload iPhone and iPad apps, with Apple lifting server-side blocks preventing such activity for reasons unknown.
On Friday, Apple enabled server-side protections that stopped users from sideloading iOSand iPadOS apps, a process that allowed users to put apps they bought on their mobile devices onto the Apple Silicon Macs. By adding the blocks, this prevented users from getting around restrictions that developers can use to prevent the iPhone and iPad versions of apps from being offered in the Mac App Store.
Apps that developers allow to run on macOS as well as the mobile operating systems are not affected by the changes at all. The back-and-forth service-side change only applies to IPA files extracted from an iPhone or iPad that a user owns, that are then executed on the Mac.
Users soon discovered the server-side change was lifted again on Tuesday, with users able to sideload apps once more. This may only be a temporary state, as there is some incentive on Apple's side to reinstate the blocks and to force users to download Mac App Store-sanctioned versions instead of the mobile-designed editions.
The change was spotted by 9to5Mac, on Tuesday morning. AppleInsider has separately confirmed that the procedure works again -- but we don't expect it to stay active for long.
When the server-side change occurred the first time, it was found that users were prevented from any further new app installations, but doesn't affect apps that have already been downloaded or installed. For users, this is a brief opportunity to install iOS and iPadOS versions of apps that are not currently available in the Mac App Store on their Mac.
So far, sideloaded apps continue to function normally. It isn't clear if they will remain so after either the server-side blocks are reinstated, or Apple updates macOS again.
On Friday, Apple enabled server-side protections that stopped users from sideloading iOSand iPadOS apps, a process that allowed users to put apps they bought on their mobile devices onto the Apple Silicon Macs. By adding the blocks, this prevented users from getting around restrictions that developers can use to prevent the iPhone and iPad versions of apps from being offered in the Mac App Store.
Apps that developers allow to run on macOS as well as the mobile operating systems are not affected by the changes at all. The back-and-forth service-side change only applies to IPA files extracted from an iPhone or iPad that a user owns, that are then executed on the Mac.
Users soon discovered the server-side change was lifted again on Tuesday, with users able to sideload apps once more. This may only be a temporary state, as there is some incentive on Apple's side to reinstate the blocks and to force users to download Mac App Store-sanctioned versions instead of the mobile-designed editions.
The change was spotted by 9to5Mac, on Tuesday morning. AppleInsider has separately confirmed that the procedure works again -- but we don't expect it to stay active for long.
When the server-side change occurred the first time, it was found that users were prevented from any further new app installations, but doesn't affect apps that have already been downloaded or installed. For users, this is a brief opportunity to install iOS and iPadOS versions of apps that are not currently available in the Mac App Store on their Mac.
So far, sideloaded apps continue to function normally. It isn't clear if they will remain so after either the server-side blocks are reinstated, or Apple updates macOS again.
Comments
Such as? And I don't know....I find Apple's approach unsettling here. If you have a machine capable of running mobile apps, and those apps are already approved for the mobile device (they are), why the need to control their distribution through the Mac App store? Could there be some legitimate security or technical/performance concerns? Or, is what I think it is...Apple demanding total authority to decide what runs on Macs? Even that doesn't make much sense, as users can install Mac software outside the App store constraints. The only legitimate reason I can think of is Apple is concerned about jailbroken phones (difficult to do these days, I hear) side-loading apps.
Developers can choose whether to allow iOS apps on a Mac. If the developer did not intend an iOS app to be used on a Mac, then there's probably a good reason. And if Apple permitted sideloading then the developer's ability to choose is meaningless.
Let's hope Apple's not testing the waters with regards to iOS levels of restrictions. But with their current trajectory I wouldn't put it past them. That's what's weird about this, these aren't stolen apps, they're legitimately purchased.
Being technical people, we understand that if we extract an app from one device and make it work on an unsupported device, and we encounter problems, we can't going to go crying to the developer/tech support about it. However, the vast majority of people don't understand this. Especially if some opportunistic developer makes the process of extracting the app and installing it on your Mac easy to do for those people.
Someone who has sideloaded an app isn't going to go crying to the dev when it doesn't work. They're quite aware what they did was a hack.
They've made the choice to disallow their software on macOS for a reason, generally related to something not working right. That's not stopping the support requests.
My first reaction to that is.....who cares what the developers want in this case? If an app will run on my Mac and I want to do so, who are they to restrict me. What is Apple's interest in it?
That talk is merely a defense of what Apple did.
I for one am glad side-loading is back even though I don't own an M1 and even though it may be temporary. It's early days with the M1. Let the M1 people have fun with the thing, for crying out loud.
Developers can just fire off a copy/pasted email reply to the nuts asking for support by saying, "Sorry, Charlie. No support."
All the developer talk about rights, authority and defensive reasoning amounts to little more than party pooper talk. Take a few deep breaths and then let the M1 people have some enjoyment while it lasts. For goodness sake, with all the fun being quenched over the last year due to the pandemic, people need a little enjoyment right now.
I prefer the iOS Discord to the Intel one running under Rosetta.
Now OmniGroup has lost revenue on selling both licenses.
I suspect the loss of revenue has at least as much to do with why a developer would not want their iPadOS/iOS app running on MacOS.
But how do you export the ipa to your mac?