Apple recently put in place a restriction where M1 Mac users can no longer sideload apps on their machines if it’s not available for Mac.
The move effectively blocks third party programs such as iMazing to get the .ipa file within an app and install it on M1 Macs, which was possible when the product launched.
Trying to sideload iOS apps will now result in an error message saying, ‘Unable to Install. This application cannot be installed because the developer did not intend for it to run on this platform.’
iOS app developers can choose to make their iPad and iPhone apps available on M1 machines or not. Popular ones such as Instagram, Hulu and Netflix were not natively available but users could install them using Apple Configurator 2 or iMazing prior to the implementation of the side blocking mechanism.
M1 Mac users that have sideloaded apps to their machines may still be used, as well as downloaded .ipa files. However, they will not be able to update when one arrives.
