SideStep

Install iPhone and iPad apps on your own devices.
No Apple approval needed.

A small, free Mac app that signs apps with your own Apple ID (a free one works) and keeps them signed and up to date by itself, over a cable or over Wi-Fi. No jailbreak, no special hardware.

Download for Mac Read the guide

macOS 14 or newer · Apple silicon and Intel · free and open source (AGPL-3.0)

Watch the explainer video on YouTube 3 min

What it's for

Your apps, on your devices

Android lets you install any app you like. SideStep makes that about as easy on an iPhone or iPad, using Apple's own developer signing.

📦

Apps the App Store won't carry

Open-source apps, your own apps, and apps with features Apple tends to reject: extensions, skins, scripting.

📱

Keep old devices useful

Apps the App Store has dropped for older iPhones and iPads can still be installed and kept running.

⚡

Updates without a review queue

When a developer publishes a new version, SideStep installs it on your devices within a day.

🔒

Everything stays local

Your Apple ID, your Mac, your device. No SideStep account and no server: nothing is uploaded to anyone.

How it works

Three steps, the first time

After that, adding apps takes a click, and keeping them working takes nothing at all.

Sign in with an Apple ID

A free one works: its apps last 7 days (SideStep renews them) and you can have 3 per device. A paid developer account signs them for a year.

The SideStep panel: Apple accounts and their apps

Plug in your iPhone

Tap Trust, and turn on Developer Mode on iOS 16 and later. SideStep switches it on where it can and shows you the few taps it needs.

Pick an app

Search curated AltStore catalogs, install straight from a GitHub project, or open an .ipa file. Then trust your Apple ID on the device, once.

Search AltStore: apps from curated catalogs

Then it looks after itself

Apps that don't expire

Apple's free signatures last a week. As long as SideStep is running on your Mac, your apps never get there:

Renewed well before they expire, whenever the device is within reach.
New versions installed once a day for apps from GitHub and the catalog.
Over Wi-Fi: each app checks in with your Mac by itself, so no cable is needed after the first install.
A status panel in every app: hold two fingers in two corners of the screen to see where it came from, who signed it and when it expires, or to update it now.

The Updater panel inside an app installed by SideStep

From the phone itself

Install more apps without touching the Mac

Once one SideStep app is on your iPhone or iPad, tap Install more apps… in its status panel to add others over Wi-Fi: apps you have on your other devices, anything in the catalog, or any GitHub project.

How it works →

For app developers

Give your users a one-click installer

SideStep Wizard turns your GitHub project into a single file anyone can open. It installs the latest SideStep, walks them through setting up their iPhone, and installs your app. No Xcode and no developer account on their side. It also writes a ready-made button for your website, like this one:

If you already have SideStep, the button opens it straight to Magnatune (a music player). If not, it offers the Magnatune installer, which installs SideStep first and walks you through the setup.

Not for piracy

Built for independent and open-source apps

SideStep exists to install legitimate apps the App Store won't carry, and it works to stay that way.

Curated catalog, reviewed by pull requestKnown pirate sources refusedPirated builds refusedAsks before any paid App Store app

Why I built it

An espresso machine's app

I make espresso machines, and our software is written in Tcl/Tk, a language the App Store won't accept. SideStep is how it reaches customers' iPads and stays up to date without asking anyone to plug into a Mac each week. It works just as well for any app you want on your own device. — John Buckman