How can I open an IPA file on Windows? Double-clicking an IPA file on Windows leads to a window asking you to select the program you want to use to open the file. To extract the files from an IPA on Windows, you'll need to download DMG Extractor and install it. With DMG Extractor installed, you can double-click your IPA file and it will. Download the latest Kodi.IPA file here to sideload to your iOS device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch). The.ipa file found on this site is a converted version of the latest.deb found on the official Kodi site. No modifications were made to the original file.
Now that Apple has removed the ability to access the iOS App Store in iTunes 12.7 on Mac/Windows (See MacRumors article), I can't find any way to download an IPA file from the App Store. As a note, I'm not worried about installing the IPA files (see 'How do I backup and restore my IPA app backups in iTunes 12.7?'), I just need the IPA files as a developer looking for some basic information on the apps. I'd like to solve this without resorting to jailbreaking as my devices are already updated to iOS 10.3.3.
Here are things that I've tried that didn't work:
- Extract from backup: The apps seem no longer to be backed up.
- Save to Mac from iPhone management software: I believe this has been blocked by Apple works as far back as iOS 8.3.
- Figuring out how the file is downloaded via proxy connection: At least for me, this looks too complicated to do because you have to authenticate with your Apple ID and I'm sure that by now, Apple even requires the phone to be authenticated in some way. Not sure if it would even be possible in the same way that you see all those Android APK download services out there.
At least for now, it looks to me like maybe the only way is to hold onto an older version of iTunes for as long as that works.
Brandon RaderBrandon Rader53611 gold badge55 silver badges1313 bronze badges
5 Answers
This isn’t exactly what you want, but just to add this option too...
If you use the 'Apple Configurator 2' app, you can still download and update apps from multiple Apple IDs - as you also could with iTunes.
- Connect the device with USB
- Sign in under Account:
- Choose Update in the menu:
A more detailed description can be found here: http://krypted.com/apple-configurator/upgrade-devices-and-apps-using-apple-configurator-2/
The Apps are downloaded to:
Rene LarsenRene Larsen
There is now another solution: Apple provides a version of iTunes (12.6.3) which supports new devices such as iPhone 8 and iPhone X which still retains the App Store.
Apple Configurator 2 works well for me, but I’m adding this answer for those who would prefer to use iTunes or can’t use Apple Configurator (Windows users)Source: https://9to5mac.com/2017/10/09/apple-itunes-apps-focused-removed-stopgap/
Download: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208079
Edit: You can have iTunes 12.7 and iTunes 12.6.3 installed side-by-side.
- Install iTunes 12.6.3 from the links above.
- Copy the iTunes app and paste it to where you want, rename if necessary.
- Hold Option and double click iTunes. Create a new library in a separate location. iTunes 12.6.3 and iTunes 12.7 can't use the same library because iTunes 12.7 will update the file and iTunes 12.6.3 won't be able to understand it.
- Manually download the latest iTunes from Apple's website and run the installer to update your main copy of iTunes.
- (Optional) Change your iTunes 12.6.3 icon to a different icon to help distinguish between the two. (Right-click, Get Info, drag new icon onto existing icon).
Important: You will need to Option-Open each time you switch versions so that you can select the correct library and don't update the older library to 12.7 format.
Brandon RaderBrandon Rader53611 gold badge55 silver badges1313 bronze badges
The Mac 'Apple Configurator 2' Update button solution will work if you both have an older version on your iOS device or on your Mac, and a newer version is in the App store.
If the old version of the app is on your device, hit the 'Update' button in the Configurator. After the Configurator downloads the new version, an ipa file will Temporarily appear in a sub-sub-directory of the:
directory. Immediately copy the app .ipa file out of that directory to a safe place (remote storage, etc.) before doing anything else (such as quitting the Configurator app, etc.).
If an old version of the app is not on your device, but you have saved an old copy from your ~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications directory, or other backup, you can first use the Configurator app to install the old app on your device by using: Add button > Apps > Choose from my Mac... After installing the old version, follow the instructions above for updating to the current version of the app to get an .ipa file.
If you don't have an old version anywhere, try an Add of the same app twice, and see if you can copy the ipa file during the second Add operation if Configurator complains.
hotpaw2hotpaw24,34344 gold badges1818 silver badges3131 bronze badges
Disclosure: I'm one of the developers of iMazing.
iMazing 2.5 for Mac and PC can download apps from the App Store and install .ipa files: https://imazing.com/guides/how-to-manage-apps-without-itunes
Jérôme BédatJérôme Bédat
Seems the new way to do it is to open iTunes, then drag the .ipa file onto the device in the list on the left hand side (between Library and Playlists).
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Andrew GarvieAndrew Garvie
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A file with the IPA file extension is an iOS App file. They function as containers (like ZIP) for holding the various pieces of data that make up an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch app; like for games, utilities, weather, social networking, news, and others.
The structure of an IPA file is the same for every app; an iTunesArtwork file is a PNG file (sometimes a JPEG) used as the icon for the app, the Payload folder contains all of the app's data, and information about the developer and application are stored in the file called iTunesMetadata.plist.
iTunes stores IPA files on the computer after you've downloaded apps through iTunes as well as after iTunes makes a backup of the iOS device.
How to Open an IPA File
IPA files are used by Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. They're downloaded either through the App Store (which takes place on the device) or iTunes (via a computer).
When iTunes is used to download IPA files on a computer, the files are saved to this specific location so that the iOS device can access them the next time it syncs with iTunes:
- Windows: C:Users<username>MusiciTunesiTunes MediaMobile Applications
- Mac: ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications/
These locations are also used as a storage for IPA files that were downloaded from the iOS device. They're copied from the device to the iTunes folder above when the device syncs with iTunes.
While it's true that IPA files hold the contents of an iOS app, you can not use iTunes to open the app on your computer. They're just used by iTunes for backup purposes and so that the device can understand which apps you've already purchased/downloaded.
You can open an IPA file outside of iTunes using the free iFunbox program for Windows and Mac. Again, this doesn't let you use the app on your computer, but instead just lets you transfer the IPA file to your iPhone or another iOS device, without using iTunes. The program supports lots of other features too, like importing and exporting ringtones, music, videos, and photos.
iFunbox opens IPA files through the Managing App Data tab, with the Install App button.
iTunes probably still needs to be installed so that the proper drivers exist for iFunbox to connect to the device.
You can also open an IPA file with a free file zip/unzip program like 7-Zip, but doing so will just decompress the IPA file to show you its contents; you can't actually use or run the app by doing this.
You cannot open an IPA file on an Android device because that system is functionally different than iOS, and as such requires its own format for apps.
However, you can open and use an IPA file on your computer using iOS emulation software that can trick the app into thinking it's running on an iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone. iPadian is one example but it is not free.
How to Convert an IPA File
It's not possible to convert an IPA file to another format and have it still be usable in iTunes or on your iOS device.
For example, you cannot convert an IPA to APK for use on an Android device because not only are the file formats for these applications different, but Android and iOS devices run on two entirely different operating systems.
In the same way, even if an iPhone app has, say, a bunch of videos, music, or even document files, that you want to keep for yourself on your computer, you can not convert the IPA to MP3, PDF, AVI, or any other format like that. The IPA file is just an archive full of program files that the device uses as software.
You can, however, rename an IPA to ZIP for opening it as an archive. With the file unzip tools, doing this just lets you see the files inside, so most people probably won't find that useful.
Debian Software Packages (.DEB files) are archives that are normally used to store software installation files. Jailbroken or hacked iOS devices use the DEB format in the Cydia app store in the same way that Apple's App Store uses IPA files. K2DesignLab has some instructions on converting IPA to DEB if that's something you want to do.
Apple's Xcode software is one-way iOS apps are created. While IPA files are built out of Xcode projects, doing the reverse - converting an IPA to Xcode project, isn't possible. The source code can't be extracted from the IPA file, even if you convert it to a ZIP file and open its contents.
IPA also stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. If you're not interested in the IPA file format, but instead want to convert English to IPA symbols, you can use a website like Upodn.com.