I find this hard to believe, but by using the latest Xcode 7, you don’t need to go through the App Store to install apps now. Cultofmac.com discovered –
The newest version of Xcode, Apple’s integrated development tool/environment for OS X and iOS, allows anyone to install apps on their iOS device. Even if it hasn’t been approved by Apple and you’re not a developer.
The Xcode website boasts that it’s now “easier for everyone to build apps and run them directly on their Apple devices. Program membership is not required.” Apple previously required that you pay a $99 per year development fee to install unapproved apps on devices. The change was intended to allow more people to code apps without a price barrier.
Apple didn’t tout the new feature onstage Monday at WWDC, but it opens the door for developers to distribute their apps outside of the App Store. It could lead to easy piracy of decrypted apps, notes iOS developer Steve Smith, while also letting users install everything from emulators and torrent clients to banned games – basically anything Apple doesn’t want in the App Store.
One developer has already discovered that it’s fairly easy to sideload GameBoy emulators like GBA4iOS using Xcode 7.
Surely Apple is not going to allow this to continue, but for the time being is it open season!
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