iLoader in 2026: Install SideStore, LiveContainer and Any IPA

iLoader is a free desktop app that puts SideStore, LiveContainer or any IPA on your iPhone over a USB cable, signed with your own Apple ID. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, it is open source under the MIT licence, and it is the tool SideStore’s official installation guide now uses. If you searched for it, you are most likely one cable away from your first free sideload — or stuck on an error that appeared after Apple changed its sign-in servers in October.

Below: what iLoader does and does not do, what you need before you start, the install itself step by step, what a pairing file is and why iLoader keeps asking about it, the October 2026 fixes, and the limits no installer can lift.

What iLoader is

iLoader is developed by nab138 and describes itself simply as a “user friendly sideloader”. It is not a store and it does not host apps: it is the computer-side half of free sideloading. You connect the phone, sign in with an Apple Account, pick the device and choose an action — the app does the signing and the transfer.

What it can do, by its own feature list:

• Install SideStore, or LiveContainer together with SideStore, and in the same pass import the signing certificate and place the pairing file where those apps expect it.
• Import any IPA — sign and install a file you already have.
• Manage pairing files for apps that need one: SideStore, StikDebug and Protokolle.
• See and revoke development certificates and app IDs on your Apple Account.
• Show error suggestions for the most common failures instead of a raw code.

The only official sources are the project’s GitHub repository and iloader.app. Homebrew, AUR and COPR packages exist but are unofficial, and the developer warns against anything else wearing the name.

What you need before you start

• A computer and a USB cable. On Windows, install iTunes first — iLoader needs its device driver (usbmuxd) to see the phone. On macOS it is built in. On Linux, install usbmuxd from your package manager if it is not already there.
• An Apple Account. It does not have to be the one signed in on the phone, and many people use a spare. Sign-in is case-sensitive.
• A supported iOS version. SideStore’s guide lists iOS 15.0–15.8.6, 16.0–17.7.7 and 18.0 or later.
• LocalDevVPN on the phone if you are installing SideStore — it is the on-device tunnel SideStore uses to refresh apps without the computer afterwards.

How to install SideStore with iLoader

This is the order SideStore’s official guide uses.

On the computer:

1. Connect the iPhone by USB and tap Trust on the phone if it asks.
2. Open iLoader and sign in with your Apple Account.
3. Select your device.
4. Choose Install SideStore (Stable).

On the iPhone:

1. Go to Settings → General → VPN & Device Management, find your Apple Account under Developer App and trust it.
2. On iOS 16 and later, turn on Developer Mode in Settings → Privacy & Security. The phone restarts.
3. Open LocalDevVPN and tap Connect.
4. Open SideStore and sign in with the same Apple Account you used in iLoader.
5. In My Apps, tap the 7 DAYS counter next to SideStore to refresh it. If it asks to revoke or create a signing certificate, agree.

If SideStore drops you to the Home Screen and comes back a few seconds later, it worked. One thing to know before you need it: SideStore’s support does not handle iLoader problems — those go to the idevice Discord.

Pairing files, and why iLoader keeps asking about them

A pairing file is the record that says “this computer is trusted by this iPhone”. SideStore and StikDebug carry a copy of it so they can talk to the phone’s own services as if a computer were plugged in — that is how SideStore refreshes apps and StikDebug turns on JIT with no cable. iLoader creates the file and drops it into the right app for you.

The file does not live forever. An iOS update, a reset, or sometimes nothing visible at all will invalidate it, and then refreshes start failing with errors that look like network problems. The fix is to make a new one: in iLoader, use delete stored pairing and create the file from scratch, rather than exporting the old one again. If the failing app is StikDebug, our StikDebug error guide walks through which error means a stale pairing file and which means something else.

What changed in October 2026

On October 12 Apple changed its Apple ID sign-in, every free signing tool broke at once, and the ground kept moving for a week. iLoader shipped a run of fixes:

• 2.3.7 (October 13) — fixed “This action cannot be completed at this time” (-80045). The fix was described as temporary and it broke SMS two-factor codes; accounts that approve sign-in on a trusted Apple device kept working.
• 2.3.8 and 2.3.9 (October 15–16) — fixed 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable. You have to enter your two-factor code again after updating. Custom anisette servers stopped working — iLoader now uses its own built-in servers.
• 2.3.10 (October 18) — added the new SideStore and StikStore anisette servers to the list.
• 2.4.0 (October 22) — made the Jkcoxson Mac anisette server the default for stability, removed the legacy Windows servers, and now applies the main profile by default, which uses fewer of your weekly app IDs.

If you are on anything older than 2.3.7, update before trying anything else. If sign-in still fails and your account uses SMS codes, switching it to a trusted device is the workaround while that path is broken.

One more October trap: GitHub hid LiveContainer’s repository on October 4, so the one-click LiveContainer + SideStore button can fail with HTTP 404 Not Found while it points at the old address. Download the verified build yourself and install it with Import any IPA — where the build lives now and how to check it.

Common iLoader errors

What you see	What it usually means	What to do
-80045 — This action cannot be completed at this time	Apple’s sign-in change of October 12	Update to 2.3.7 or later
503 Service Temporarily Unavailable	The anisette server stopped answering after Apple’s changes	Update to 2.3.9 or later and use a server from its list
SMS code never arrives or is rejected	SMS two-factor is broken in the current fixes	Approve on a trusted Apple device instead
The provisioning profile is banned (0xe8008024)	Apple rejects the profile, not iLoader	What we know about the ban and what helps
A certificate already exists / too many app IDs	Another signer or device used the same account	Open iLoader’s certificates view, revoke the old one, or wait out the weekly app-ID limit

For the same errors across SideStore, AltStore and Sideloadly, see sideloading errors on iPhone, fixed.

What iLoader cannot change

iLoader signs with your free Apple ID, and that account comes with Apple’s rules for testing, not for daily use: apps expire seven days after signing, only three can be active at once, and you can create roughly ten app IDs a week. No installer lifts these — SideStore, AltStore and Sideloadly live under the same ceiling. SideStore automates the weekly refresh, LiveContainer packs several apps into one slot, but the seven-day clock keeps running underneath both, and the pairing file and anisette server have to keep working for the refresh to happen. When one of them slips, you are back at the computer. Why the seven-day wall exists and the ways around it.

If you want to stay on the free route, iLoader is the cleanest way in, and it is worth keeping installed for the day a pairing file expires.

If what you actually want is the apps, without the computer and without the weekly refresh, that is the part builds.io takes over: you install from Safari on the phone in one tap, no PC and no developer account of your own, and apps stay signed for as long as your subscription runs. The catalogue has more than 4,500 apps, including the ones people most often sideload with iLoader:

When you add a phone for the first time, Apple processes it once: most devices are ready within a day, some take up to three days — that is normal and does not repeat. To compare the free tools side by side before choosing, see AltStore vs SideStore vs LiveContainer.