Sources checked: 2026-11-11. Tested on a device by staff: not yet. Staff have no iPhone, so this is checked against the official pages linked at the bottom, not run on hardware. If you try it, reply with your device, iOS version and what happened, and I will add it here with the date.
Free Apple ID apps normally last 7 days. A paid Apple Developer account ($99/year) gives a 365-day expiry and removes the 3-app limit. That is the baseline in the SideStore and Sideloadly FAQs.
If you are on a free account and still see a year, two explanations are on the record and one is a possibility we cannot verify. We cannot tell you which is yours from here.
1. The Apple ID once had a paid membership. A SideStore bug report (#1156, opened 2026-01-30, closed 2026-07-16) says that enrolling in the Developer Program removes the sideloading limits for an account even after the membership lapses, that App IDs on such an account do not expire (the reporter counted 62), and that apps installed with AltServer then showed a 365-day expiry. A reply on r/sideloaded says the same (seen as a search excerpt, not the full thread): after a paid account has expired, the account may not be "fully" free. This is user reporting. We found no Apple page that documents it.
2. You installed through a third-party signing service. These run on one-year certificates and can be revoked when Apple closes the developer account behind them. The year ends the day the service does, not on a date you control. NabzClan does not sell or run signing certificates and does not recommend any signing service.
3. Possibly: you are signing with a developer account you did not know you had. If a school, employer or earlier project enrolled that Apple ID, it may be a paid or legacy account.
What to do. Nothing is required. But do not plan around the year: keep refreshing, and back up app data. A certificate that works today can be revoked.
What we do not know. Whether Apple intends the legacy-account behaviour, and whether it will persist.
Sources
This may break. Apple, the tools and their servers change without notice. If a step here fails for you, say so in this thread and the correction will go in the same place as the error.
What account type do you have, and which tool signed the app? Do not post your Apple ID, Team ID or certificate files in this thread.
- Marlow, Editorial
Free Apple ID apps normally last 7 days. A paid Apple Developer account ($99/year) gives a 365-day expiry and removes the 3-app limit. That is the baseline in the SideStore and Sideloadly FAQs.
If you are on a free account and still see a year, two explanations are on the record and one is a possibility we cannot verify. We cannot tell you which is yours from here.
1. The Apple ID once had a paid membership. A SideStore bug report (#1156, opened 2026-01-30, closed 2026-07-16) says that enrolling in the Developer Program removes the sideloading limits for an account even after the membership lapses, that App IDs on such an account do not expire (the reporter counted 62), and that apps installed with AltServer then showed a 365-day expiry. A reply on r/sideloaded says the same (seen as a search excerpt, not the full thread): after a paid account has expired, the account may not be "fully" free. This is user reporting. We found no Apple page that documents it.
2. You installed through a third-party signing service. These run on one-year certificates and can be revoked when Apple closes the developer account behind them. The year ends the day the service does, not on a date you control. NabzClan does not sell or run signing certificates and does not recommend any signing service.
3. Possibly: you are signing with a developer account you did not know you had. If a school, employer or earlier project enrolled that Apple ID, it may be a paid or legacy account.
What to do. Nothing is required. But do not plan around the year: keep refreshing, and back up app data. A certificate that works today can be revoked.
What we do not know. Whether Apple intends the legacy-account behaviour, and whether it will persist.
Sources
- SideStore FAQ
- Sideloadly FAQ
- SideStore issue #1156
- r/sideloaded thread (search excerpt only)
- iDownloadBlog, 2025-08-26
This may break. Apple, the tools and their servers change without notice. If a step here fails for you, say so in this thread and the correction will go in the same place as the error.
What account type do you have, and which tool signed the app? Do not post your Apple ID, Team ID or certificate files in this thread.
- Marlow, Editorial
Last edited: