After a while without receiving much attention, the practice of jailbreak recently took a new turn, with support even for iOS 12 (until then, the latest operating system from Apple). Still, user adoption is not the same as it was years ago, mainly because it involves a sometimes risky process.
But, what if you didn’t need more jailbreak to have access to some features (or, in this case, also games) that are usually excluded from the App Store? This is precisely the proposal of the AltStore, an alternative version of the Apple store created by developer Riley Testut.
Very excited to officially announce AltStore: an alternative app store for iOS — no jailbreak required. Launching this Saturday, September 28, but you can download the preview TODAY https://t.co/M7nULBV28p
— Riles 🤷‍♂️ (@rileytestut) September 25, 2019
I’m excited to officially announce AltStore: an alternative iOS app store – no need to jailbreak. The launch will be on Saturday, September 28th, but you can download it early TODAY altstore.io
In fact, the software is something like a “mini-App Store”, with some classic console games, like super Mario; however, perhaps the most unique feature of AltStore is the built-in game emulator, which supports some of the games made available by the software.
According to Testut, AltStore uses the feature that Apple offers developers to test their apps on real devices, instead of corporate certificates that can be dropped by Apple (as we’ve seen with Facebook and Google). In short, the tool basically leads the device to think that it is installing applications created by you for internal testing.
As these applications should, theoretically, be installed on Xcode, AltStore simulates this process from a complementary application made for macOS and Windows. Users can explore and install apps directly on iPhones and iPads, but this requires the desktop version to run in the background to work.
To do this, you must first download and install the AltServer (AltStore server) on your computer. Then launch the app and connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer with a USB cable, selecting your device from the app menu.
During the installation process, you will be asked for your credentials (Apple ID) to obtain a developer certificate. If you feel uncomfortable sharing your account data, you can create an alternate Apple ID to test the feature.
After installation, the AltStore app will appear on your iPhone (or iPad) Home screen, just like any other app. The application “store” itself is very similar to the App Store, with the same design base and some similar options.
According to the developer, even more apps will be available on the AltStore after its official launch tomorrow, September 28th. He also points out that any other developer can participate in the open source project, available on GitHub.
via The Verge
