Sideloadly vs AltStore vs SideStore: Which to Use in 2026

Sideloadly, AltStore and SideStore get compared as if they were three versions of the same thing. They are not. All three sign apps with your own Apple ID, and all three inherit the same free-account limits — but they differ in the one thing that decides daily life with them: how much of a computer each one still needs. Sideloadly lives on the computer. AltStore needs one nearby to refresh. SideStore needs one only on day one.

That difference is most of the answer. The rest is what each does well once it is set up.

The short answer

	Sideloadly	AltStore	SideStore
What it is	Desktop app for Windows and Mac	On-phone store plus AltServer on a computer	Fork of AltStore that refreshes on the phone
Computer needed	Every install, and for refresh	For setup, and on the same Wi-Fi to refresh	Once, for setup
Refresh	Background daemon on the computer	Over Wi-Fi via AltServer	On-device via a local VPN
Tweak injection	Yes — .dylib, .deb, .framework	No	No
Free Apple ID limits	7 days · 3 apps · 10 App IDs per week	same	same

Pick Sideloadly if you modify IPAs yourself. Pick SideStore if you want the computer out of the picture after setup. Pick AltStore if a computer is always on at home anyway and you value the simplest, longest-running setup.

Sideloadly — the workbench

Sideloadly is a desktop application for Windows 7 and later and macOS 10.12 and later, including Apple Silicon Macs. You connect the iPhone, drop in an IPA, sign in with your Apple ID and it installs. Its own site lists support from iOS 7 up to iOS 26 “and future versions”.

Where it pulls ahead is the advanced options. Sideloadly can inject tweaks — .dylib, .deb, .framework and .bundle files — into an app before signing it, rename the app, and change its bundle ID so two copies of the same app sit side by side. If you build your own tweaked Instagram or YouTube from a clean IPA and a tweak file, this is the tool for it. AltStore and SideStore install what you give them; Sideloadly lets you change it first.

The trade is the computer. Sideloadly never leaves it: every install goes through the desktop app, and its auto-refresh runs as a background daemon that needs the computer switched on and the phone either on the same Wi-Fi or plugged in. So the common search — “Sideloadly without PC” — has a short answer: no. If a computer-free phone is the goal, Sideloadly is the wrong tool; SideStore is the one built for it.

AltStore — the original

AltStore is the tool that made free sign-it-yourself sideloading mainstream. You install AltServer on a Mac or Windows PC, pair the iPhone once over USB, and from then on AltStore on the phone can install apps and refresh them over Wi-Fi — as long as the computer running AltServer is awake on the same network. Miss the window and the app stops opening until you reconnect.

Its strength is that it is the most tested of the three, with an on-phone interface and app sources rather than a desktop drag-and-drop. Its weakness is that refresh still depends on a machine you have to keep around.

In the EU there is also AltStore PAL, a different product: an official alternative marketplace under the Digital Markets Act, with no computer and no 7-day signing. It only works with an EU-registered Apple account.

SideStore — AltStore without the computer

SideStore is a fork of AltStore built to remove its most annoying requirement. After a one-time setup on a computer, it uses a pairing file and a small on-device VPN — LocalDevVPN or StikDebug — to refresh apps directly from the iPhone, with no laptop on the network. Pair it with LiveContainer and you can also run more apps than the free limit normally allows.

The cost is moving parts. Pairing files can break, the VPN helper apps come and go, and Apple’s sign-in changes regularly knock the chain over — r/sideloaded is full of “You are not signed in” and “The data is not in the correct format” threads every time it happens. For a deeper setup walkthrough, see LocalDevVPN and SideStore without a PC.

Sid pushing a heavy laptop along a metro line that loops back to the same station

The differences above are about ergonomics. The hard limits come from the free Apple ID, and no tool gets around them:

Apps stop opening after 7 days unless they are refreshed.
Three sideloaded apps at a time on a free account.
Ten App IDs per 7 days — every new app uses one, and when they run out you see “Maximum App ID limit has been reached” until the week rolls over or you use another Apple ID.
Developer Mode has to be on since iOS 16: Settings → Privacy & Security → Developer Mode. Step-by-step here.

A paid Apple developer account ($99 a year) stretches the certificate to a year and lifts the app count, with any of the three tools.

iOS 26 and iOS 27

All three are in use on current iOS. Sideloadly lists iOS 26 support on its site, and SideStore with LiveContainer already runs on iOS 27 — what works on iOS 27 and what broke. The weak point on new iOS versions is less the tools themselves than Apple’s sign-in servers: when Apple changes the login flow, every tool that signs in with your Apple ID stalls at the same time until it is patched.

Sideloadly errors you are most likely to see

“The identity used to sign the executable is no longer valid” — Sideloadly’s own FAQ points first to the date and time on the computer or iPhone being wrong. Set both to automatic and try again. If the 7-day certificate genuinely expired, reinstall.
“Maximum App ID limit has been reached” — the 10-per-week limit above. Wait, or sign in with a different Apple ID.
iPhone not detected — reinstall the web (non-Microsoft Store) versions of iTunes and iCloud on Windows, reboot both devices, and tap Trust on the phone.

For errors across all methods, the full list of sideloading errors and fixes goes further.

When none of the three is the answer

Sid riding a carriage down one straight metro line with no stops, a phone in his paw

All three tools are free and all three make you the maintenance department: a computer, a weekly clock, three apps. builds.io takes the other route — managed signing, so there is no computer at any point, no 7-day refresh and no three-app ceiling. You add your iPhone once through Safari and install from the catalog with one tap. It is a paid subscription; the trade is money for the upkeep. When you first add a device, Apple runs a one-time processing step — most devices are ready within a day, some take up to three.

So which one?

You build or modify IPAs — Sideloadly. Nothing else injects tweaks as easily.
You want the phone to look after itself after setup — SideStore, and add LiveContainer when three apps is not enough.
A computer is always on at home and you want the most proven setup — AltStore.
You would rather not run any of it — stop refreshing every 7 days with managed signing.

If LiveContainer is the part you are weighing, AltStore vs SideStore vs LiveContainer covers that pairing in detail, and every free way to sideload, ranked puts all the free tools on one list.