Using ios app installer: Simple Steps for App Installation

Okay, so I was messing around with my iPhone the other day, trying to get some apps on there that I couldn’t find in the regular App Store. You know, the usual story. I’d heard about this thing called “sideloading” but never really tried it myself before. So I thought, why not give it a shot? I wanted to install some apps, and the title of my log today is “iOS App Installer”.

Find the IPA File

First thing I did was hunt down the actual app files. These are called IPA files, like “eye-pee-ay”. I did some digging around on my computer and found the IPA file for the app I wanted. It was just sitting there in my downloads folder.

Use iTunes

Next, I remembered I needed to use iTunes. So, I plugged my iPhone into my computer, opened up iTunes, and waited for it to recognize my device. Once it popped up, I clicked on the little phone icon to get to the device info page.

Drag and Drop

Now, this is the cool part. I just dragged that IPA file from my downloads folder right onto the device info pane in iTunes. It was surprisingly simple. As soon as I did that, the app started installing on my phone. I could even watch the progress since my phone was unlocked.

Wait for Installation

It took a little bit of time for the app to fully install. I just chilled for a few minutes, maybe grabbed a cup of coffee, and watched the little progress circle do its thing on my phone screen.

Eject Device

Once the app was done installing, I made sure to properly eject my phone from iTunes. There’s a little eject button next to the device info, so I clicked that. You know, just to be safe.

Use Web Browser for iOS 17.5 or later

I found out that you can install apps using web browsers if your device is on iOS 17.5 or later or iPadOS 18 or later. And I had updated to iOS 17.5, so I thought this was pretty cool. All you need to do is find the app using the web browser and tap on the install link to install it. This is a pretty straightforward way for iOS 17.5 or later versions.

That’s It!

And that’s it! The app was on my phone, good to go. Honestly, it wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be. Just a few steps, and boom, I had the app installed. It felt pretty good to figure it out. I might try this again sometime with other apps I’ve been wanting to check out.

Hope you find this experience of mine is useful. See ya next time!