Shortly after Apple launched its M1 Macs, a tool was launched that allowed users to sideload unsupported iOS applications. A few months later, Apple blocked this workaround.
Until now, users have been able to download the iMazing tool and install unsupported .IPA files. This means that users can run iOS apps like Netflix and Instagram, which are not available for download on Macs equipped with M1. But a server-side update from Apple has now made this much more difficult, if not impossible.
“The change itself was made in the App Store system that delivers the actual .IPA file and is part of the Apple APIs that manage the operating system’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) protections,” 9to5Mac explained. “Because of this, it is unlikely that an alternative solution will present itself in the future.”
Credits: 9to5Mac
An error message is displayed when users try to sideload an iPhone or iPad application on a Mac M1 running macOS Big Sur 11.2 beta. The pop-up explains that iOS applications that are downloaded via sideload cannot be installed because “the developer did not intend it to run on this platform”. Users running macOS Big Sur 11.1 are also greeted with an error message.
When the M1 chip was launched, it opened up the potential for iPhone and iPad apps to run natively on their newest machines. And while many applications are available for download from the Mac App Store, developers can choose not to allow their applications to be made available on the Mac. As a result, many popular applications are not yet available for Macs M1, which is why sideloading was so important .
As Apple moves its entire line of Macs exclusively to M1 chips (or any successor to come), hopefully, these developers will make their applications available. 9to5Mac said that if you have applications that load on your Mac M1, they must still run. But if you try to install new applications, you will be out of luck.