Apple starts blocking Mac M1 users from side-loading iPhone and iPad apps [U]

Update on January 19, 2021: Apple has reversed this change on the server side and, once again, it is possible to side-load unsupported applications for iPhone and iPad on a Mac M1. We don’t expect it to last long, so if you have any iPhone or iPad apps you want on your Mac, download them sooner or later using iMazing.

Earlier this week, 9to5Mac reported that Apple would soon start blocking users from loading iPhone and iPad apps on their M1 Macs. Now, Apple has officially changed the server-side button to implement that change.

This means that it is no longer possible to use an application like iMazing to load unsupported applications from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac M1.

As a reminder, Apple Silicon Macs allow users to run iOS and iPad apps on their Mac, but developers can choose not to allow their apps to be installed on the Mac. This is the path that many developers have taken, making the necessary change on the App Store Connect to remove your application from the Mac App Store.

But that said, until today, you could manually install iOS apps like Netflix, Instagram and Facebook on a Mac M1 using their respective IPA files downloaded with a valid Apple ID. Many people were using tools like iMazing to complete this process.

9to5Mac has already confirmed that, as of today, this is no longer possible unless the application is available on the Mac App Store. Apple pushed the server-side button needed to block the installation of iPhone and iPad apps on Apple’s Silicon Macs.

The change applies to M1 Macs running macOS Big Sur 11.1, as well as the macOS Big Sur 11.2 developer or public beta. The only difference is that users running macOS Big Sur 11.2 beta will see a more specific error message.

Here’s the error you’ll see when trying to install an unsupported iPhone or iPad application on your Mac M1 running macOS 11.2 beta:

If you try to load an iPhone or iPad application on a Mac M1 running macOS 11.1 Big Sur, you will see an error stating that the application installation was unsuccessful and “try again later”.

If you’ve already loaded an app from your iPhone or iPad to your M1 Mac, it will still work correctly. This change affects only new application installations. In addition, if you previously downloaded a .IPA file, you can still install it.

The change itself was made in the App Store system that delivers the actual .IPA file and is all part of the Apple APIs that manage the operating system’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) protections. Because of this, an alternative solution is unlikely to present itself in the future.

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