iOS / iPhone

Download the IPA File for Any iOS App on Your iPhone

This is how you can discover the URL scheme for each app

A long time ago, Apple made it extremely easy to get the IPA version of any app on your iPhone by syncing the device with iTunes. That changed in 2017 with the release of iTunes 12.7. The good news is that there is a simple way to get IPAs for your favorite apps — it’s just not very obvious.

Whenever you need to dig into an IPA file, whether it’s to reverse engineer it or find the URL scheme name to use with Shortcuts or app icon customization, you’ll need to use another Apple app on your Mac.

That app is Apple Configurator, and it’s available for free in the App Store. It’s primarily used by schools and businesses to install mobile device management profiles on iOS devices and quickly configure many devices at once with the data, apps, and settings of their choosing. But you can also use it to update your iPhone, rearrange icons on your home screen, and more.

We’ll be focusing on getting the IPA files of apps installed on your iPhone for this guide.

Once you’ve installed Apple Configurator on macOS 10.15.6 or later (sorry, there is no Windows version of this tool), you can use the steps below to download and save…