I've heard of an app called Spotilife and some endeavour to port xmanager to iOS but Apple's anti-sideloading stance makes it so you have to re-sign the app weekly (a process I have very little concept of since I'm on Android) and is a faff on a nin-jailbroken device.

I hate to be that guy but Mikufan is kinda right, the easiest solution is to swap to Android. Apple's design philosophy is a walled garden and making customers pay extra. "You want x? No problem, that'll only cost you $y"

[–] Nia_The_Cat@beehaw.org 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Side loaded a lot on iPhones, figured I'd just infodump here a bunch of general info on it in case someone might find it helpful

spoiler

With a free apple account which I assume most will be using you have to resign at least once every 7 days as you said. You can only sign 3 apps at a time including your side loading store if you choose to manage it from your phone. Paid Apple Dev account is more (unlimited?) apps at a time with 365 day re-signs, but $100 a year, which at that point unless you're actually making apps isn't worth it.

There's a few different methods, but I prefer to use AltStore. You sideload the altstore app onto your phone from the PC installer (windows or Mac), then you let the "AltServer" run on your pc 24/7.

When your phone is on the same WiFi network as the PC, or wired over usb, it'll automatically reinstall and re-sign your apps once they get close to expiring. You can also only install apps when on the same WiFi as altserver or over usb connection to your pc. It can sideload from repos or files directly.

There's also a way you can use on some specific iOS versions that don't need to be re-signed at all without having to jailbreak either but I can't remember the name of it at all, it's very specific versions and relies on a major exploit that apple fixed

Edit: ended up writing a whole essay, I'll put it in spoiler tags so it doesn't take too much space

[–] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 months ago

Thanks for the info. I don't think I'll ever make use out of it personally since I don't see myself ever getting an Apple device but I'll try to keep it in mind if a friend ever needs it.

[–] GrassrootBoundaries 2 points 7 months ago

I get it, I'm often that guy too lol.