Guide
Best iOS Sideloading Tool for Brawl Stars Mods in 2026
iOS sideloading tools compared: Scarlet, Feather, AltStore, and more.
Guide/How-To
How to Install a Brawl Stars Mod IPA on iOS With Sideloadly
• 6 min read
DifficultyMedium Time: 20 mins No Root / Jailbreak
What you'll need
- A Windows (7+) or Mac (10.12+) computer
- A USB cable to connect your iPhone
- Sideloadly installed on your computer (free download)
- On Windows: the web version of iTunes and iCloud — not the Microsoft Store version
- A free Apple ID (no paid developer account required)
- The mod's IPA file downloaded to your computer
On this page
Sideloadly installs a Brawl Stars mod’s IPA file using your own free Apple ID instead of a shared enterprise certificate. That trade-off costs you a one-time computer setup and a 7-day resign cycle, but the install itself is predictable — no waiting to find out whether someone else’s certificate got revoked overnight.
How to Install the Mod IPA With Sideloadly, Step by Step
Eight steps in total. The first four only happen once per computer/device pair — after that, expect to redo the last few roughly once a week, or let Sideloadly’s auto-refresh handle it for you.
1. Install Sideloadly (and, on Windows, the Web Version of iTunes)
Download Sideloadly for free — it’s available for both macOS and Windows. On Windows, Sideloadly also needs Apple’s device drivers installed, but specifically the web version of iTunes and iCloud, not the versions from the Microsoft Store — the Store versions cause connection errors later on. On macOS, Sideloadly works through Finder directly, so no separate iTunes install is needed.
2. Download the Mod’s IPA File to Your Computer
Download the mod’s IPA file to the same computer running Sideloadly — not to your iPhone. Sideloadly needs the file locally so it can sign it before anything reaches your device.
3. Connect Your iPhone and Trust This Computer
Plug your iPhone into the computer with a USB cable. Your phone will show a “Trust This Computer?” prompt — tap Trust and enter your passcode if asked. This pairing is what lets Sideloadly (and, on Windows, iTunes) talk to your device at all, including later over Wi-Fi.
4. Turn On Developer Mode (iOS 16 and Later)
If your iPhone runs iOS 16 or newer, Apple requires Developer Mode to be turned on before it will run anything sideloaded. Go to Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to Developer Mode, and switch it on. Your phone will ask you to restart, and after it reboots you’ll get one more confirmation prompt to actually enable it. Skip this step and the install further down will simply fail with no clear error message.
5. Drag the IPA Into Sideloadly and Enter Your Apple ID
With your device selected in Sideloadly, drag the mod’s IPA file into the app window (or use the folder icon to browse to it), then enter your Apple ID email and password in the fields provided. Use the same Apple ID you already use for the App Store — free is fine, you don’t need a paid developer account.
6. Let Sideloadly Sign and Install the App
Tap Start, and Sideloadly takes over from there: it signs the IPA with a certificate tied to your Apple ID, then pushes it to your phone over the USB connection. This usually takes a minute or two, depending on the file size.
7. Trust the Developer Profile on Your iPhone
The first time you open the app, iOS blocks it with an “Untrusted Developer” warning. Go to Settings → General → VPN & Device Management, tap the profile listed under your Apple ID’s email, and tap Trust.
8. Open the App
Head back to your home screen and tap the app’s icon — it opens normally from here on, until the 7-day free-account signature expires and you repeat steps 5–7 (or let Sideloadly’s auto-refresh handle it for you, covered below).
A free Apple ID signs apps for exactly 7 days at a time — that’s an Apple-side limit, not something Sideloadly can extend on its own. A paid Apple Developer Program account (about $99/year) stretches that to up to a year, but for most readers the free path plus auto-refresh is the simpler option. Sideloadly includes a background daemon that automatically re-signs your sideloaded apps before they expire, so you don’t have to repeat the manual steps every week.
Auto-refresh only works while your computer can reach your device, either over USB or over Wi-Fi on the same network. To turn on Wi-Fi sideloading, connect your iPhone by USB once, then on Windows open iTunes → your device → Summary → Options → enable “Sync with this iDevice over Wi-Fi”; on recent macOS, open Finder → your iPhone under Locations → General → enable “Show this iDevice when on Wi-Fi.” After that, Sideloadly’s daemon can find and refresh your apps without a cable, as long as the computer stays on and connected.
On iOS 10 and newer, a free Apple Developer account can only have 3 sideloaded apps installed on one device at the same time. If you hit this limit, either remove an older sideloaded app you no longer need or switch to a paid Apple Developer account, which removes the cap entirely. Apple also limits how many App IDs a free account can create — up to 10 every 7 days — which mostly comes up if you’re sideloading several different apps in quick succession, not for a single mod reinstalled repeatedly under the same ID.
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
| Sideloadly shows no devices detected | Reinstall the web version of iTunes and iCloud, then reboot your computer. Reconnect your iPhone, open iTunes once, and tap Trust on the device popup. A different USB cable or port sometimes helps too. |
| “This device has reached the maximum number of installed apps using a free developer profile” | That’s the 3-app limit on a free Apple ID — remove an old sideloaded app or move to a paid account. |
| Connection errors mentioning lockdownd, AFC, or np_client | These almost always trace back to the Microsoft Store version of iTunes installed alongside, or instead of, the web version. Uninstall the Store version, install the web version, then reconnect and sync your device before opening Sideloadly again. |
| “Installation failed: 0 InstallProhibited” | Screen Time is blocking new app installs. Go to Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → iTunes & App Store Purchases → Installing Apps and set it to Allow. |
| Install finished, but no icon appeared on the home screen | Reboot your iPhone — this resolves the vast majority of these cases. |
Sideloadly trades a one-time computer setup for a predictable weekly refresh instead of a certificate that can disappear without warning. If you’d rather skip the computer entirely, or want to see how it stacks up against Scarlet, AltStore, and the other options, compare all the iOS sideloading tools side by side.
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