[Software] What is app sideloading? The rumored iOS 17 feature explained

[Revo]

 

 

It recently came to light that the next major release of iOS might include the ability to sideload apps, something that Android users have been able to do for a while, but a practice that has formally been met with a lot of resistance from Apple in the past. So what is app sideloading and is it a good or bad thing for iOS users?

We recently reported on news that iOS 17 may grant users the ability to finally sideload apps. This has the potential to open up the best iPhones to a far greater selection of apps, from more sources than has ever been possible, but there are associated risks that come with downloading and installing apps on your iPhone (or iPad) that haven't been vetted by Apple.

We dive into the what and why app sideloading could appear in the next release of iOS.In the context of smartphones, sideloading is the act of installing a compatible application (or app) for the platform your device runs (by 'platform' that means Android, or – in this case – iOS), but one that isn't necessarily available, approved or at least monitored and maintained by your device's platform's official app store.

Take a phone like the Samsung Galaxy S23 as an example: it comes with two app stores natively: the Google Play Store (found on practically every Android smartphone and tablet) and Samsung's own Galaxy Store (found on practically every Samsung Galaxy smartphone and tablet). In both cases, apps downloaded from either source should install without issue and, aside for asking for certain permissions from the user during setup, these apps should run faultlessly and update automatically.

You might want to sideload an app if you're looking to run an older version of an available app that's no longer accessible on your device's native app store – perhaps because it doesn't suffer from a poorly optimized update or offers a layout or features that differ from the latest release.

Sideloading also lets you more readily install apps not available in your app store's geographical region; either apps that are written in another language or aren't intended for your market (Facebook Lite wasn't available in Europe but was in India, for example).

On iOS, we're yet to know just what sideloading an app will look like, but the closest experience currently available to iPhone users is adding when installing development builds of apps with the help of Apple's official TestFlight app(opens in new tab).

For current examples on Android, users can either download an alternative app store to whatever comes pre-installed on their device, with offerings like the Huawei AppGallery and the Amazon Appstore up for grabs. Apps with the .apk or .apkx file extensions can also be downloaded directly from websites that host them. Just check the validity and authenticity of what you're downloading before you try and install them.

 

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