No jailbreak needed
The no-nonsense guide to sideloading on iPhone — from setting up SideStore to installing your first tweaked app. Step by step.
by shash
The App Store is Apple's official store — it's the only way to normally install apps on iPhone. Apple reviews every app before it goes live, which means some apps never make it on there (emulators, custom app stores, certain tweaks, etc.).
Sideloading means installing an app directly onto your phone, bypassing the App Store. Think of it like installing an .exe on Windows instead of going through Microsoft's store.
SideStore is a special app that makes this easy and ongoing — once it's set up, you can use it to install and manage other sideloaded apps right from your phone.
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SideStore uses a VPN A VPN (Virtual Private Network) creates a secure tunnel for data. SideStore uses one internally so your device can talk to itself — it's not for internet privacy here. running on your phone to communicate with its own services. It needs to be connected any time you use SideStore.
iloader is the tool that does all the heavy lifting on your computer — it handles the signing certificate A signing certificate is like a digital signature that tells Apple "this app is from a real developer". iloader generates one using your Apple Account so your phone trusts SideStore. and pairing file A pairing file links your computer to your specific iPhone/iPad. It's what lets them securely communicate without you needing to unlock your phone each time. automatically.
Now plug in your phone and let iloader do its thing.
Almost there! A few things to set up on your phone so it trusts the app.
Your computer might not be recognising your iPhone yet.
Make sure iTunes is installed and open. Unplug and replug your cable. When prompted on your iPhone, tap Trust This Computer and enter your passcode. If you're on Windows, try a different USB port.
Free Apple Accounts can only have a limited number of active app certificates. If you see a specific "Maximum number of App IDs" error, App IDs renew automatically 7 days after an app is first installed — you may just need to wait, or install fewer apps at once.
When iloader or SideStore asks to revoke an existing certificate, tap Yes. This removes an old one and frees up a slot. If you have multiple sideloading apps installed (like AltStore), you may need to pick one to remove. If you see an App IDs error specifically, try waiting a day or removing an app you installed more than 7 days ago.
This usually means the app's certificate has expired (after 7 days) or the VPN isn't running.
1. Open LocalDevVPN and connect. 2. Open SideStore. 3. Go to My Apps and tap the day counter to refresh. If SideStore itself has expired and won't open, you'll need to re-run iloader on your computer.
Windows SmartScreen warns about apps from unrecognised publishers. iloader is open source and safe — SmartScreen just doesn't know it yet because it's a newer app.
Click More info on the SmartScreen popup, then click Run anyway. You can verify the app yourself on the official iloader GitHub page.
Apple IDs are case-sensitive — make sure you're typing it exactly as you set it up, including capital letters.
Double-check the email and password you're entering. The email is case-sensitive. If you have two-factor authentication enabled, you may be prompted for a 6-digit code on one of your other Apple devices — enter that when asked. Don't confuse it with your device passcode.
If you're not receiving a 2FA code in SideStore, try this workaround: open iCloud.com in a browser, sign in with your Apple Account email and password (don't use "Sign in with iPhone"), and Apple will send you a verification code — use that code in SideStore.
Sign-in errors are most often caused by the Anisette server being down or overloaded. SideStore uses an Anisette server to generate authentication data — when it's unavailable, logins fail or freeze.
Open SideStore → Settings, scroll to Anisette Server, and switch to a different server from the list. You may need to try a few options. If none work, wait a few minutes and try again — servers can be temporarily overloaded.
Not manually! Once SideStore is set up, it auto-refreshes itself as long as LocalDevVPN is connected. You don't need it running 24/7 — just make a habit of opening it for a few minutes every couple of days, or whenever you get a notification from SideStore saying something is about to expire.
The easiest habit: open LocalDevVPN whenever you open SideStore. A few minutes connected is all it needs to check and refresh. You'll never touch your computer again after the initial setup.
An .ipa file is the iPhone equivalent of an .apk — it's an app packaged as a single file that you install directly, bypassing the App Store entirely. Most are either apps Apple never allowed, or tweaked apps — modded versions of existing apps with extra features unlocked (think Spotify with Premium features for free).
Because anyone can make and share an IPA, not every source is safe. A sketchy one can contain malware or steal your account. That's why where you get them matters.
Not all IPA sites are created equal. Here's what separates the legit ones from the ones you want to avoid:
Free Apple Accounts are limited to 3 active sideloaded apps at a time (Apple's rule, not SideStore's). SideStore itself counts as one, so you've got 2 slots left by default.
Prioritise your must-haves. If you need more slots, SideStore has an experimental feature called SparseRestore that can bypass this on some iOS versions — check the SideStore Discord for the current status.
Normal — when Spotify updates, the tweak needs a rebuild. Evee usually gets updated within a few days.
Grab the latest Evee IPA from ipa.cypwn.xyz and reinstall through SideStore. Your playlists and account are fine.
Real risk — it's against Spotify's ToS. Doesn't happen to everyone, but it does happen, especially if you go hard on offline downloads.
Use a secondary Spotify account if your main matters to you. Don't mass-download your whole library at once.
Spotify pushes detection updates that target modified clients — when this happens, Evee crashes on launch until the dev patches it.
Check ipa.cypwn.xyz for a newer Evee build — it usually gets patched within a few days of a detection wave. In the meantime, you can use the official Spotify app. This is also why disabling auto-updates on the App Store Spotify matters — it stops Spotify updating out from under Evee unexpectedly.
1. LocalDevVPN connected? 2. At 3 active apps already? Delete one. 3. Re-download the IPA — it may be corrupted.
Manually downloading IPAs every time is fine, but SideStore also supports sources — like an alternative app store you subscribe to. Once added, apps from that source show up directly in SideStore and update automatically. No more hunting for new IPAs.