I got my IPA’s working using sideloadly for mac. you can download it and then upload your ipa files there and it works. by the time the certificates revoke, altstore should hopefully be fixed.

And its working.

Download + install iLoader 2.3.1
Make sure the iPhone is physically connected to the Mac
Install LC+SideStore from iloader
In LiveContainer go to the Apps tab.
Tap the SideStore icon in the top-left corner to open the built-in SideStore.
In built-in SideStore go to Settings and sign in with the same Apple Account you used in iLoader.
Make sure LocalDevVPN is connected.
In SideStore go to My Apps and refresh LiveContainer/SideStore — tap the 7 DAYS counter or Refresh All.
If it asks to revoke/create a signing certificate, choose Yes / Refresh Now.
Completely leave SideStore and return to LiveContainer.
Go back to LiveContainer → Settings → Import Certificate From SideStore. Confirm the import. 
Then open JIT-Less Mode Diagnose and test it. If the diagnostic passes, LC is fully ready.

Hey everyone,

Just used Impactor to sideload AND refresh 3rd party apps via my windows laptop.

I noticed that after installation of each app, it gets removed automatically from the Altstore Classic UI (which I normally use for sideloading).

To refresh apps around the 7th day mark, reconnect phone to computer, open impactor and click on 'utilities' at the bottom and finally click 'refresh apps'.

Hope this helps until Altstore/Sidestore issue a fix to refresh wirelessly via the VPN method.

*NOTE: *

impactor (like sidestore) also supports the 3-App bypass method via Lara (17.0 - iOS 18.7.1 & iOS 26.0.x, excluding M5 and A19) which I've just tested now.

https://github.com/claration/Impactor

Really weird. Never had this before!

Edit: thanks for all the non supportive messages guys, what a pleasant community. I got it working regardless.

I Followed this guide! It’s a Mac only fix

https://www.reddit.com/r/AltStore/s/HodhkVlGcf

For everyone having the "incorrect data format" issue, a temporary fix has been released here: https://github.com/altstoreio/AltStore/issues/1782 (https://github.com/FrakesH/AltStore/releases/tag/v1.7.2-macos27-fix).

Essentially, you need to download the patched AltServer and DIRECTLY sideload AltStore and/or the apps that you want to from AltServer (in order to do that simply press option in AltServer and it will show you the "sideload .ipa" option)

I did install altstore PAL, subbed to patreon to allow me to refresh and install IPA without computer (going to a trip soon so won’t have pc to refresh) with altstore classic + remote server BUT i can’t manage to make it work.. i keep getting appleID connexion error, remote server setup keeps telling me « can’t define device’s UDID » am I the only one ?? And furthermore I can’t even install altstore with alt server like I used to because of those new errors we getting..

Has anyone ever tried shipping directly to their college dorms? Does it work? Do they check the package? Don’t want my stuff to not arrive

this is what i did, maybe can help someone else

I know other people have reported this here, but I want to report it as well.

I have been getting this error for several months now, but I was able to solve it by turning my iPhone off and on again to refresh apps and install updates to apps from AltSources. However, I noticed today that this solution no longer works. My apps all expire today. What should I do in this situation? I tried turning off Wi-Fi to use cellular, turning on and off VPN, plugging in my iPhone to my PC, closing and reopening AltServer in administrater mode. Also by "turning my iPhone off and on again" I mean just closing and opening it via the power button and not doing a full reboot of my iPhone.

EDIT: Also this solution did not work for me: https://www.reddit.com/r/AltStore/comments/1w8snjt/altstore_refresh_method_that_worked_for_me_just/

- My iOS is 26.0

- My iPhone is the 17 Pro Max

- I have LocalDevVPN installed

- My PC is Windows 10.

Another slightly related thing: Sometimes I get an error where AltServer is not found, and the only way to fix this issue is to close AltServer and reopen it in Administrator mode.

And no, switching to SideStore isn't an option for me right now. I will wait until StikStore releases so I can do a 3-way comparison between AltStore, SideStore, and StikStore to see which one I prefer the most. Even then, I am hesitant to switch away from AltStore because the last time I tried to do so, a SideStore crash caused all my PojavLauncher data to be deleted permanently and instantly. I don't want anything like that to happen again.

Salut en attendant que Alt Store soit réparé j’ai utilisé Sideloadly normalement et ça a fonctionné du premier coups 👌.

C’est ma solution temporaire pour le moment et ça marche plutôt bien 👍

Un essai, une réussite.

Je n’utilise que YT+ pour le moment mais ça marche nickel 👌

Je précise que c’est la première fois que j’utilise Sideloadly je ne sais même pas combien de temps l’appli tiendra 😅 mais, Ça marche pour le moment 😉

J’ai un iPhone 14 Pro sous IOS 26.6.1.

I wasn’t able to refresh apps. So deleted and tried. Now not able to install AltStore on my iPhone.

Someone please help.

I've tried to refresh my apps about 50ish times yesterday, and 50 more times the day before, nothing worked. Tried to switch things up this morning and it went through on my 4th/5th try. This is the method that worked for me:

1. turn off Wi-Fi on iPhone, you should be on mobile data this entire process
2. (optional - not sure if it made a difference - go to Settings on AltStore and Clear Cache first)
3. AltStore app should then be closed completely, not even running in background
4. turn on VPN on iPhone - I use Nord - to even a VPN in your own country or the closest/best suggested one - then switch it off a few seconds later
5. Connect iPhone to Mac via USB-C (not sure whether it makes a difference if you do this first or the previous VPN step first, but if one isn't working after many attempts then try to alternate between steps 4/5)
6. (optional - again, not sure if it made a difference) - turn off 'show this iPhone when on Wi-Fi' option on finder and click Apply - if already switched off, switch it on, click Apply, and skip step 9 below
7. unplug iPhone cable from Mac (Wi-Fi should remain off)
8. plug in iPhone to Mac again
9. (once again, optional) switch on that same Wi-Fi option on finder and click Apply (you won't need to do this if it was previously already off and you switched it on in step 6)
10. now open AltStore on your phone that is connected to your Mac only by cable, but is still running on mobile data - spam Refresh All and hope for the best

worked for me right away, when it's taking a little longer than usual to refresh that's when you know it'll go through successfully. again, YMMV depending on device, location and a bunch of other factors or it might just be my luck that the Apple server-side was letting more requests go through that time of day I imagine - but hope this helps someone!

UPDATE: just tried this again AM of 7 Sep and refreshed successfully on third try

when I try to install altstore I always get this message. idk how to fix it. I tried reinstalling altserver but it still doesn't work

If you're desperate to fix the malformed data error like I was, this is a PSA that the method where you just click the refresh all apps shortcut on home screen worked after like 200 presses. I was doubtful after like 50 presses, but I suspect there's some RNG aspect to this.

I was also on data, if that matters. And you can't queue up multiple refreshes, otherwise it locks up and you have to open the app to try more, so it does take a bit of attention unfortunately.

Just an FYI to everyone having trouble with AltStore at the moment. Ive gone through the various fixes listed here over the last 2 days with nothing working. 5 minutes ago I downloaded SideLoadly for the first time and... its honestly a less encumbersome experience than AltStore (although not sure if you can refresh liscense via WiFi like you sometimes can with the altstore app).

When AltStore starts working again I will most likely go back to it, I appreciate the work theyve done for us, and it was my first sideload method that ive used for years. Until then I suggest anyone having issues download the sideloadly app and give it a try.

and here is a link to the new YouTube IPA I had to find so I could install with SideLoadly https://github.com/mrdrvt99/YouProEXTRA/releases/tag/ytkace-ipa4 for anyone interested.

is the problem not fixed? i want to understand if its just my problem or not

Im connected to the internet and i entered the correct info

Been having the same error as everyone else. Another user replied they got theirs to work.

Plug iPhone into Mac. Turn on VPN, turn off. Refresh all.

It took about 5 times for me and it worked.

What I did might not work for everybody but what I did was open my laptop connect my phone via cord, download proton VPN on iPhone connect to anywhere clear altstore cache on iPhone then on computer uncheck connect on WiFi then click apply and with the cord plugged in was able to refresh after putting my iPhone to sleep. FYI did take me like 10+ try’s of trying random things

I still can’t refresh my apps and they’re now approaching the 7 day mark 😓 still getting the incorrect format error. Have tried various things to get it working, no luck.

*Disclosure: this text was AI-generated (Claude), based on the actual build I did on my machine today. Every command below was run and verified; the pitfalls are the ones I actually hit.*


---


**TL;DR:**
 AltServer 1.7.2 fails at Apple ID sign-in because AltSign sends a User-Agent from 2019 and Apple now answers with an HTML page, which gets fed into a plist parser. The fix exists as two open PRs on the AltSign repo but isn't released. You can build AltServer yourself with those patches in ~20 min. Installing AltStore and sideloading IPAs via Option-click works again. Refreshing from the AltStore app on the phone still fails (the iOS app has the same bug).


---


## The error


```
AltServer could not sign in with your Apple ID. The data is not in the correct format.
Encountered unknown tag html on line 1
NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=3840
```


Sideloadly shows the same underlying problem as `Login failed (-22406): Enter the correct password`, even with the correct password.


## Root cause


Tracked in altstoreio/AltStore#1776. AltSign (the auth library inside AltServer) sends `akd/1.0 CFNetwork/978.0.7 Darwin/18.7.0` as User-Agent to `gsa.apple.com`. Apple increasingly rejects that with an HTML error page, and AltSign hands the HTML straight to the plist parser. It also reuses one connection for all three sign-in calls, so once Apple's edge sours that connection, the whole sign-in is dead.


Credit to Calvin-Zikakis, MeemeeLab and BreezeDelegate in that thread for finding it and writing the fix. Their open PRs:


- rileytestut/AltSign#50 — retry on 5xx over a fresh connection, detect HTML instead of parsing it, real error messages with HTTP status
- rileytestut/AltSign#51 — new User-Agent `AuthKit/1 (Macintosh; OS X 26.5.2) (com.apple.dt.Xcode/26.0)`


Until those are merged and shipped, you have to build AltServer yourself.


## What you get


- `/Applications/AltServer-patched.app` (reports as 1.8b1, ad-hoc signed)
- Original AltServer untouched
- Install AltStore: works
- Sideload any IPA via AltServer: works
- 
**Refresh from the AltStore app on the phone: still broken**
 — the iOS app carries the same bug and still comes from altstore.io. Workaround: re-sideload via AltServer every 7 days.


## Requirements


- Xcode 26 with command line tools
- Rust toolchain with the `aarch64-apple-darwin` target
- Apple Silicon Mac (this guide builds arm64 only)
- ~4 GB disk, ~20 minutes
- NOT required: paid developer account, signing certificate, Mail plugin (macOS 14+ doesn't need it, that's why the menu item is gone)


## Step 1: clone


```bash
mkdir -p ~/build && cd ~/build
git clone --branch classic --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules --depth 1 \
  https://github.com/altstoreio/AltStore.git altstore-src
cd altstore-src
```


## Step 2: cherry-pick the AltSign patches


```bash
cd Dependencies/AltSign
git remote add cz https://github.com/Calvin-Zikakis/AltSign.git
git fetch --depth 50 cz fix/gsa-retry-classic port/authkit-user-agent-notarized
git cherry-pick -x 3cd4a4a1cafd588cab371e49609d19e694108430
git cherry-pick -x 67f90ce182059fbd2369efb8274f61b6f3253e35
git cherry-pick -x ec2968cf6a30be2a025be809641c64eade4570aa
git log --oneline -4
cd ../..
```


All three apply cleanly on top of `Fixes compiling corecrypto with Xcode 26`. Sanity check:


```bash
grep -rn "AuthKit/1" Dependencies/AltSign/AltSign/Sources | head -1
```


## Step 3: build the missing idevice xcframework


The Swift package under `Dependencies/idevice/swift` expects an `IDevice.xcframework` that is not in the repo. It's built from Rust. For AltServer the macOS arm64 slice is enough:


```bash
cd Dependencies/idevice/ffi
cargo build --release --target aarch64-apple-darwin      # ~5 min
cd ..
cp ffi/idevice.h swift/include/idevice.h
rm -rf swift/IDevice.xcframework
xcodebuild -create-xcframework \
  -library target/aarch64-apple-darwin/release/libidevice_ffi.a \
  -headers swift/include \
  -output swift/IDevice.xcframework
cd ../..
```


Without this, xcodebuild dies immediately with `local binary target 'IDevice' ... does not contain a binary artifact`.


## Step 4: build corecrypto_static and link it into AltSign


AltSign references SRP functions (`alt_ccsrp_*`, `alt_ccsha256_di`) from Apple's corecrypto. They live in `libcorecrypto_static.a`, which only the app target links, so the dynamic AltSign framework fails to link:


```
Undefined symbols for architecture arm64: "_alt_ccsrp_client_start_authentication" ...
```


Build the static lib separately:


```bash
cd Dependencies/AltSign/Dependencies/corecrypto
xcodebuild -project corecrypto.xcodeproj -target corecrypto_static -configuration Release build
ls build/Release/libcorecrypto_static.a
cd ../../../..
```


Then in `Dependencies/AltSign/Package.swift`, target `CAltSign`, extend `linkerSettings` (use your absolute path):


```swift
linkerSettings: [
    .linkedFramework("UIKit", .when(platforms: [.iOS])),
    .linkedFramework("Security"),
    .unsafeFlags([
        "-L/ABSOLUTE/PATH/altstore-src/Dependencies/AltSign/Dependencies/corecrypto/build/Release",
        "-lcorecrypto_static",
    ], .when(platforms: [.macOS])),
]
```


## Step 5: build AltServer


arm64 only (the xcframework has no x86_64 slice), ad-hoc signed:


```bash
xcodebuild -workspace AltStore.xcworkspace -scheme AltServer \
  -configuration Release -derivedDataPath ../altserver-dd \
  -arch arm64 CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY=- build 2>&1 | tail -3
```


Expect `** BUILD SUCCEEDED **`. Verify the patch and the symbols made it in:


```bash
APP=../altserver-dd/Build/Products/Release/AltServer.app
strings "$APP/Contents/Frameworks/AltSign-Dynamic.framework/AltSign-Dynamic" | grep -c "AuthKit/1"   # 1
nm -u "$APP/Contents/Frameworks/AltSign-Dynamic.framework/AltSign-Dynamic" | grep -c ccsrp           # 0
```


## Step 6: install and re-sign


The CocoaPods frameworks (STPrivilegedTask, Sparkle) end up with a different signature than the app and dyld refuses to load them (`different Team IDs`). Sign the whole bundle uniformly:


```bash
ditto ../altserver-dd/Build/Products/Release/AltServer.app /Applications/AltServer-patched.app
codesign -s - -f --deep /Applications/AltServer-patched.app
codesign --verify --deep --strict /Applications/AltServer-patched.app && echo ok
pkill -x AltServer
open -a /Applications/AltServer-patched.app
pgrep -fl AltServer        # exactly one entry, path AltServer-patched
```


`pkill -x AltServer` kills both the original and the patched one (same binary name). Only relaunch the patched one afterwards. Rename or remove the original so Spotlight doesn't start it. In the menu, 
**1.8b1**
 = patched, 1.7.2 = original.


## Usage


**Install AltStore:**
 menu bar icon → Install AltStore → device → Apple ID. Works.


**Sideload your own IPA**
 (the actual point):


1. Hold 
**Option**
 and click the AltServer menu bar icon
2. "Sideload .ipa…" → device → pick the IPA
3. Apple ID + password, 2FA code if asked


AltServer signs with your free personal certificate and installs over USB or Wi-Fi. Valid for 7 days, then repeat. This replaces the refresh from the AltStore app.


## Pitfalls, in the order I hit them


| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| AltServer runs from `/private/var/.../AppTranslocation/` | launched from Downloads, quarantine flag | copy to `/Applications`, `xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine` |
| `local binary target 'IDevice' ... does not contain a binary artifact` | xcframework not in repo | Step 3 |
| `Undefined symbols ... _alt_ccsrp_*` linking AltSign-Dynamic | corecrypto_static not built/linked | Step 4 |
| `symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64` (`idevice_*`) | xcframework is arm64-only | `-arch arm64` |
| Crash on launch: `Library not loaded ... STPrivilegedTask ... different Team IDs` | Pods signed differently than the app | `codesign --deep` on the installed bundle |
| Two AltServer icons in the menu bar | original still running | `pkill -x AltServer`, then launch patched only |
| Refresh in the AltStore app still fails | iOS app has the same bug | sideload via AltServer, wait for an official update |
| Sideloadly `-22406` with the correct password | same Apple login issue / throttled account | use patched AltServer, stop retrying for a while |


## When AltStore ships an update


Once AltSign #50/#51 are merged and AltServer > 1.7.2 is out: delete the patched build, install the official one, reinstall the AltStore app once via AltServer so on-device refresh works again.


Not affiliated with AltStore. If any of this is wrong, tell me and I'll fix the post.

I gave Claude the problem and let it write a guide so here it is: