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Apps can be sideloaded on iOS really easily. There's a whole community of people (https://reddit.com/r/sideloaded https://reddit.com/r/sideloaded) around modify

Apps can be sideloaded on iOS really easily. There's a whole community of people (https://reddit.com/r/sideloaded https://reddit.com/r/sideloaded) around modifying apps and sideloading them. https://ipasigner.io https://ipasigner.io is an example - just click the app you want to install, go into iOS settings and give permissions to the cert, and boom you have a new sideloaded app installed. Takes less than a minute, no computer required. It used to be even simpler in iOS 8, but Apple complicated the process a little bit for valid security reasons: https://blog.lookout.com/ios-9-sideloading https://blog.lookout.com/ios-9-sideloading The only friction is that the sideloaded apps will only work for 7 days unless you (or someone else like on ipasigner.io) have a paid developer account. If you want to sideload your own apps, Cydia Extender is a great tool.

mikeash 9y ago
"Really easily" and "only works for seven days and you can only have a few of them installed at once" are mutually contradictory. Getting a paid developer account doesn't eliminate the restrictions, either, it just raises the limits some. Sideloading does not exist on iOS except as a gimmick, an annoying workaround for people who really need it and are willing to spend a lot of time maintaining it, or an unsanctioned use of enterprise signing certificates that go against Apple's terms and can be shut down at any moment if they notice what's going on. (ipadsigner.io is the last one.)
- kristofferR 9y ago
  > Getting a paid developer account doesn't eliminate the restrictions, either, it just raises the limits some. The day limit is raised from 7 days to 365 days, and the max installed sideloaded apps is raised from 3 to unlimited. I agree with you that there shouldn't be limits at all, but the limits for the developer account are quite generous. Sideloading on iOS works great overall, if you agree that even sideloaded apps should be required to be signed.
  - int_19h 9y ago
    If you want to see what "sideloading works great" experience looks like, as a baseline, look at Android and Win10.

mikeash 9y ago

"Really easily" and "only works for seven days and you can only have a few of them installed at once" are mutually contradictory. Getting a paid developer account doesn't eliminate the restrictions, either, it just raises the limits some. Sideloading does not exist on iOS except as a gimmick, an annoying workaround for people who really need it and are willing to spend a lot of time maintaining it, or an unsanctioned use of enterprise signing certificates that go against Apple's terms and can be shut down at any moment if they notice what's going on. (ipadsigner.io is the last one.)

kristofferR 9y ago
> Getting a paid developer account doesn't eliminate the restrictions, either, it just raises the limits some. The day limit is raised from 7 days to 365 days, and the max installed sideloaded apps is raised from 3 to unlimited. I agree with you that there shouldn't be limits at all, but the limits for the developer account are quite generous. Sideloading on iOS works great overall, if you agree that even sideloaded apps should be required to be signed.
- int_19h 9y ago
  If you want to see what "sideloading works great" experience looks like, as a baseline, look at Android and Win10.