A home for apps that push the boundaries of iOS. No jailbreak required.
AltStore is an iOS application that allows you to sideload other apps (.ipa files) onto your iOS device with just your Apple ID. AltStore resigns apps with your personal development certificate and sends them to a desktop app, AltServer, which installs the resigned apps back to your device using iTunes WiFi sync. To prevent apps from expiring, AltStore will also periodically refresh your apps in the background when on the same WiFi as AltServer.
Features
- Resigns and installs any app with your Apple ID
- Installs apps over WiFi using AltServer
- Refreshes apps periodically in the background to prevent them from expiring (when on same WiFi as AltServer)
- Handles app updates directly through AltStore
Requirements
- Xcode 11
- iOS 12.2+ (AltStore)
- macOS 10.14.4+ (AltServer)
- Swift 5+
Why iOS 12.2+ and macOS 10.14.4+? Doing so allows me to distribute all AltStore apps without embedding Swift libraries inside them. This helps me afford bandwidth costs by reducing download sizes by roughly 30%, but also noticeably improves how long it takes to install/refresh apps with AltStore. If you're compiling AltStore and/or AltServer yourself, however, you should be able to lower their deployment targets to iOS 12.0 and macOS 10.14.0, respectively, without any issues.
Project Overview
AltStore
AltStore is just a regular, sandboxed iOS application. The AltStore app target contains the vast majority of AltStore's functionality, including all the logic for downloading and updating apps through AltStore. AltStore makes heavy use of standard iOS frameworks and technologies most iOS developers are familiar with, such as:
- Core Data
- Storyboards/Nibs
- Auto Layout
- Background App Refresh
- Network.framework (new in iOS 12)
AltServer
AltServer is also just a regular, sandboxed macOS application. AltServer is significantly less complex than AltStore though, and for that reason consists of only a handful of files.
AltKit
AltKit is a shared framework that includes common code between AltStore and AltServer.
AltSign
AltSign is my internal framework used by both AltStore and AltServer to communicate with Apple's servers and resign apps. For more info, check the AltSign repo.
Roxas
Roxas is my internal framework used across all my iOS projects, developed to simplify a variety of common tasks used in iOS development. For more info, check the Roxas repo.
by rileytestut.