Every version, newest first

IPAForge has a home of its own: the project moves to the IPAForge organization on GitHub, with a website at ipaforge.github.io and a Discord. Please report problems in Issues, with the logs attached (Logs, ⌘L / Ctrl+L).

Updating

Download and install this version once, over the one you have: your Apple IDs, apps and settings stay. 0.1.0-alpha.4 can't update itself to it, because it only accepts releases from the repository's old address (it offers the release page instead). From this version on, IPAForge updates itself from its new home.

What's new

• A new home: the code, the releases and the issues move to github.com/IPAForge/ipaforge. Old links keep working.
• Updates follow: IPAForge now looks for new versions there, and installs only updates signed by IPAForge's release workflow.
• A website: ipaforge.github.io, with what IPAForge does, the downloads and the roadmap.
• A new licence: IPAForge is now released under the GNU AGPL-3.0 (or later). It stays free to use, study, change and share, and anything built from it, including a modified version offered as a service, must be open source under the same licence. Versions up to 0.1.0-alpha.4 remain under the MIT licence they were released with.

The fourth alpha of IPAForge. SideStore looks after itself better, every iPhone gets a checklist, installing over Wi-Fi is faster, and IPAForge now keeps itself up to date. Please report problems in Issues, with the logs attached (Logs, ⌘L / Ctrl+L).

Updating from 0.1.0-alpha.3

Download and install this version once, over the one you have: your Apple IDs, apps and settings stay. From now on IPAForge updates itself when it opens (copies from the .msi, .deb or .rpm say when a new version is out, and which file to download).

What's new

• Automatic updates:
  • IPAForge checks for a new version every time it opens. The macOS app, the Windows .exe and the AppImage download and install it by themselves, showing how far along they are, then open again.
  • Every update is checked before it installs: its file must carry the Sigstore signature IPAForge's release workflow made for that version. A file changed after the release, or not published by it, is refused.
  • Offline, IPAForge opens as it is and checks again next time. If a download fails: Try again, the release page, or use the version you have for now.
• What's new: after an update, what changed in plain words; every version's notes are under What's new at the foot of the sidebar.
• Repair SideStore: from SideStore's row in Apps, IPAForge checks, one line after another, what keeps SideStore from refreshing your apps by itself (who signed it, its certificate, its pairing file, when it expires) and fixes it in one go.
• SideStore links and QR codes: add a source you added here to SideStore on your iPhone by scanning a code (or all of them, one after another), or have SideStore install an app itself. Every app in Browse apps opens its details, the IPAForge catalog's too.
• A checklist for each iPhone on the Devices page: what it needs for its iOS version (Trust, a passcode, Developer Mode, trusting your Apple ID, LocalDevVPN for SideStore), ticked as you go.
• Faster over Wi-Fi: sending apps to the iPhone is about twice as fast.
• Fixes:
  • LiveContainer's apps can use its keychain again after installing it with IPAForge.
  • When Apple reports a negative number of App IDs left (a glitch on its side), Try anyway asks it to create them.
  • When an app is in several sources, IPAForge picks the one with the version on your iPhone, never an older one.
• Company proxies and your own servers: IPAForge trusts the certificates your system trusts, so HTTPS inspection or a self-hosted anisette server with its own certificate authority works.

The third alpha of IPAForge. It adds an Apps section that keeps your apps from expiring, app sources in the AltStore format, and a detailed view of each install. Please report problems in Issues, with the logs attached (Logs, ⌘L / Ctrl+L).

What's new

• Apps: the apps on your device signed with your Apple ID, with when each one expires.
  • Refresh works like SideStore's: while the certificate that signed an app is still valid, it only gets a new profile, so nothing is installed again. Otherwise it's installed again over the old app, keeping its data, and the run says why.
  • Update installs a newer version from the app's own source. Remove deletes it.
  • Automatic refresh while IPAForge is open: on by default, 2 days before an app expires.
  • Apps installed by IPAForge on another computer are recognised, and refreshed here too.
  • Apps installed by other tools with the same Apple ID are listed separately.
• App sources:
  • Preload reads sources in the AltStore format. The IPAForge catalog and SideStore's source are built in, and you can add others by link.
  • Browse apps shows every source's apps, with search, a source filter and the versions of each app.
• Install progress in detail:
  • downloads and transfers show their speed and time left;
  • requests to Apple show their progress, and iOS shows its own install percent;
  • the device line says USB or Wi-Fi, and installs over Wi-Fi are compressed.
• Languages: every translation has been reviewed.
• Safety: Refresh and Update only ever replace an app with the same app.

The second alpha of IPAForge. The macOS app now opens reliably and is signed with IPAForge's own certificate. Every file in the release comes with a verifiable signature. Please report problems in Issues, with the logs attached (Logs, ⌘L / Ctrl+L).

What's new

• macOS opens reliably.
  • The app is signed with IPAForge's own certificate, so the keychain trusts every future version after one Always Allow.
  • The window opens before the keychain is touched.
• When the keychain can't be used: Accounts says so, and your Apple IDs stay in memory until you quit.
• More downloads:
  • Windows .msi;
  • Linux .deb and .rpm for arm64;
  • a macOS .zip per architecture;
  • update metadata, for automatic updates later.
• Signatures: every file has a Sigstore signature (<file>.sigstore.json) proving it was built by this repository's release workflow.

The first alpha of IPAForge, for testing. It installs SideStore and your own apps onto an iPhone or iPad from Windows, macOS or Linux. Expect rough edges. Please report what breaks, with Logs attached (see below).

What you can do

• Install SideStore, or LiveContainer with SideStore, from the Stable or Nightly channel. The pairing file and your signing certificate are placed in it automatically.
• Preload apps: drop .ipa files on the window, choose them, add a direct .ipa link, or pick from the catalog (LiveContainer, StikDebug, Feather). Each app is checked before anything changes, then they all install in one run.
• Apple IDs: sign in with two-factor authentication, using a trusted device, Send a new code, or a text message instead. Several Apple IDs can be saved, with a quick switch when one is blocked on a device.
• Devices: USB and Wi-Fi devices are listed, with what to do when one is locked, untrusted or has Developer Mode off.
• When something fails: a recovery screen with the fixes that apply, Copy diagnostics, Show logs and a pre-filled GitHub issue.
• Logs (⌘L or Ctrl+L): what the app did, searchable.
• Six languages (English, German, Romanian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese) and six colour themes.

Download

SHA256SUMS.txt lists every file's checksum.

Opening it: this alpha isn't signed yet

Code signing comes before the first beta. Until then, your system warns the first time you open IPAForge:

• macOS: open the DMG and drag IPAForge to Applications. Opening it says Apple can't check it for malicious software; click Done. Then go to System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll to "IPAForge" was blocked, and click Open Anyway. From Terminal, xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/IPAForge.app does the same.
• macOS keychain: IPAForge keeps your saved Apple IDs encrypted, with the key in one keychain item of its own, IPAForge Safe Storage. After an update, macOS may ask for your login password before IPAForge can read it again; click Always Allow. Click Deny and IPAForge still works, but forgets your Apple IDs when it quits.
• Windows: SmartScreen says it protected your PC. Click More info › Run anyway.
• Linux: for the AppImage, chmod +x IPAForge-*.AppImage and run it. For a package, sudo apt install ./IPAForge-*.deb or sudo dnf install ./IPAForge-*.rpm.

What you need

• Windows: Apple Devices from the Microsoft Store (or iTunes), so Windows can talk to the iPhone.
• Linux: usbmuxd from your package manager.
• Every system:
  • an Apple ID (a free one works);
  • an iPhone or iPad on iOS 15 or later, with a passcode;
  • a USB cable that carries data;
  • Developer Mode on, on iOS 16 and later. IPAForge shows the steps.

Known limitations

• No automatic updates yet: download the next alpha from GitHub.
• No first-run setup guide yet. Start on Install, which says what to fix first.
• App sources (AltStore-format lists) and an Installed apps page come in the next alphas.
• Wi-Fi works for devices already paired over USB; pairing over Wi-Fi comes later.

Reporting a problem

Open Logs (⌘L or Ctrl+L), switch on Include debug details, try again, then use Save… and attach the file to a new issue. Logs never contain passwords, tokens or device identifiers, but they do name your device model, apps and team, so check before posting. When an install fails, Report the problem opens an issue with the diagnostics filled in.