Apple reportedly cracking down on application sideloading on M1 Macs

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Earlier this week, 9to5Mac spotted iOS and macOS beta code suggesting that Apple would block users from downloading unsupported apps on newer Mac M1s. Today, 9to5Mac reported that it is no longer possible to load apps that are not available in the Mac App Store, even if they are available on iOS.

You can run iOS and iPadOS apps on your Mac M1, but only if a developer supports it. According to the report, users were downloading apps with tools like iMazing from their iPhones or iPads and could use them on their Apple Silicon computers whether or not they were technically supported. Now, when attempting to load an app not available in the Mac App Store on a Mac M1 running macOS 11.2 beta, users will see an error message stating that the app “cannot be installed because the developer had no intention of running it on this platform, ”according to a screenshot from 9to5Mac.

Apple did not immediately return a request for comment on the change.

So what bothers developers who don’t want their apps running on Mac? Well, a number of reasons, not the least of which is how the app was supposed to work. If it was designed as a mobile experience, it might not work as expected on a Mac.

And while it seemed like people were able to come up with a short-term workaround, it was probably only a matter of time before Apple ruined the fun, as Apple has always been a charging freak. lateral. You can do this on iOS, but it requires jailbreak your phone, which has its own risks. However, it is much easier to get by on Android.

The good news, according to 9to5Mac, is that previously downloaded software continued to work.