Sideloadly, AltStore or an install link: which to test your own app
· 6 min read
Search for how to install an .ipa without the App Store and you will find three kinds of answer. Desktop sideloading tools such as Sideloadly, helper apps such as AltStore, and install link services such as Diawi, Loadly (loadly.io, run by Pgyer) and AppForShare. They are often listed together, but they solve different problems. This article explains how each one gets an app onto an iPhone, what limits come with it, and which one fits when the app is your own and you want people to test it. AppForShare is the tool we make; it is an install link service.
Two ways to sign an app for one iPhone
Every app on an iPhone must be signed, and the signature decides who can run it and for how long. For testing outside the App Store and TestFlight there are two common routes.
Your own Apple Account, on your own device
Xcode can sign an app with a free Apple Account, without a paid developer membership. The profile it makes covers only devices you connect, and apps signed this way stop opening after seven days, when they must be signed again. There are also limits on how many such apps can be active on a device. This route is meant for a developer trying their own code on their own phone.
Sideloadly and AltStore use this same route for any .ipa. Sideloadly runs on a Windows or Mac computer, takes an .ipa and your Apple Account, signs the app and installs it on a phone connected by cable or on the same network. AltStore does the signing through a helper app on your computer and refreshes the apps before the seven days run out. Both are handy for a single person and a single phone. Neither is a way to send a build to a tester in another city.
A paid developer account and an ad hoc build
With a paid Apple Developer Program membership, you register testers' devices by their UDID, sign the build with an ad hoc profile that lists them, and share the .ipa. Testers install over the air from Safari, with no computer and no Apple Account of their own. Ad hoc profiles are valid for about a year, and Apple allows up to 100 registered devices per device type per membership year. This is how install link services work. See ad hoc device registration and the free UDID finder.
On iOS 16 and later, testers turn on Developer Mode once in Settings, Privacy and Security to run ad hoc and development builds. Enterprise builds need a trust step in Settings instead.
Side by side
| Sideloadly | AltStore | Install link (ad hoc build) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who signs the app | The tool, with your Apple Account | The helper, with your Apple Account | You, with your developer account, before upload |
| Computer needed on the tester side | Yes | Yes, for the helper | No, Safari on the phone |
| How long the app runs | Seven days with a free Apple Account | Refreshed before seven days end | Until the ad hoc profile ends, about a year |
| Who can install | The person with the computer and the Apple Account | Same | Anyone whose device is in the profile |
| Fits | A developer, own phone | A developer, own phone | Testers, clients and a team |
If the tester is you, any of them works, and plain Xcode may be the simplest. If the testers are other people, especially clients who will not install desktop tools or hand over an Apple Account password, an install link is the only one of the three that fits.
A word on installing other people's apps
Many sideloading guides are really about installing store apps from an .ipa found on the web: a banking app, a game or a "modded" version of a popular app. That is a different thing from testing your own app, and it carries real risk.
- You cannot tell what was changed. An .ipa of someone else's store app that you download from a site did not come from its developer. It can be altered, and a finance or messaging app is where an altered copy does the most harm.
- It breaks the app's terms. Store apps are licensed to you through the store. Copying and installing them another way usually breaks that license and the developer's terms.
- Your Apple Account is in the loop. Sideloading tools sign with your account. Treat any tool or site that asks for it with care.
Install link services are meant for builds you made. Diawi's and Loadly's own rules say they are not public app stores, and AppForShare is not one either. AppForShare refuses uploads whose app ID belongs to big companies that never ship test builds here, and known malware IDs, and refuses guest uploads whose app name reads like a hack, mod or cheat. That is an app ID and name check, not a malware scan, so it does not prove a build is safe. For your own builds, see security checks before sharing a build.
Which one to use
You, your own app, your own phone
Run it from Xcode. If you have an .ipa but no Mac, Sideloadly or AltStore can install it with your Apple Account, with the seven day limit.
A few testers you know
Register their iPhones, make an ad hoc build and share an install link. Testers check their device once with the UDID finder and tap Remember this device, and every iOS install page then says whether the build includes that iPhone. See Remember my iPhone.
Clients and a growing team
An install link with a password per build (Free), extra links per client with their own password and stop date (Pro), and tester groups with install status (Team). For a public beta of more than 100 devices, use TestFlight; see TestFlight alternatives for the trade offs.
Android
None of this applies the same way. Android installs any signed APK once the tester allows installs from the browser. An install link is still the easy way to hand it out, and an .aab can be turned into one installable APK. See online APK installer.
When an install link build will not install
The common causes are the device missing from the profile, an ended profile, Developer Mode off, or a build signed for the App Store instead of ad hoc. AppForShare install pages warn about an old iOS version, an ended profile and an App Store signed build before the tester taps Install, and list fixes for the rest (see install help). For the most common error, read "integrity could not be verified".
Common questions
Is Sideloadly an alternative to an install link?
For one person and one phone, yes. For testers elsewhere, no: each tester would need a computer, the tool and their own Apple Account, and the app stops after seven days on a free account.
Do testers need an Apple Account for an install link?
No. Their iPhone must be in the ad hoc profile, and they install from Safari.
Can I install an App Store app through an install link?
No. App Store signed builds cannot be installed from a link, and install link services are for your own test builds, not for store apps.
