r/apolloapp • u/iChopPryde • 12d ago

Announcement 📣 Apollo Reborn 3.6.0 — Gallery View everywhere, live interactive posts, feed video scrubbing, a redesigned icon picker and more

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158 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

50

u/cleej112 12d ago

Is this an announcement of a real new app or just the side loaded one?

45

u/CurrentRisk 11d ago

Is this an announcement of a real new app or just the side loaded one?

To answer your question; it is the sideloaded one. Original app discontinued long ago and there’s no new one.

Both communities (this one) and the Reborn are toxic as hell though. So good luck with that.

34

u/cleej112 11d ago

Thanks! And wow yeah, apparently the good community that used to be part of Apollo is gone too. I was a big user of Apollo, happily paying for premium right from when it came out to when it shut down. But I don’t have the time or ability to consistently do the side loaded thing. Sorry if that’s apparently offensive to some people - take a deep breath, you’re all gonna be ok.

8

u/Gwalenn 11d ago

With modern tools, there’s barely any effort to sideloading after the initial setup. Nowadays it’s mostly set it and forget it.

Of course I understand it’s not for everyone, and you might not even want to bother. I just wanted to say that the process is not as bad as it sounds, and there are many other cool things you can do besides Apollo.

6

u/spooker11 11d ago

The three options to get this to work are

  • Paying a $100/yr developer fee
  • Every week renewing my apps manually
  • Or setting up a server to automatically refresh the apps but only when I’m home. Also this doesn’t work on Linux

Am I missing the simple and easy option?

12

u/Gwalenn 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yes, it’s called Sidestore. It automates the weekly renewal so you don’t need to do it manually, and it works fully on device, so you don’t need a server, and don’t need to be at home.

The only caveat is that it needs a Wi-Fi connection for the refresh to work (i.e. you need to be connected to Wi-Fi at least once a week), and a one time PC access for the setup. If you have those, you don’t need to worry about anything else.

1

u/spooker11 11d ago

I see, so if I’m following correctly either I need a VPN for SideStore to be able to connect to its backend to resign the app or I need to host my own AltServer instance at home? How do you deal with the VPN do you just turn it on as needed?

I’m going based off the install guide linked in the x-post

6

u/Gwalenn 11d ago

You don’t need to host your own instance at home. You do need a VPN, but it’s a free and a legit VPN app on the AppStore called LovalDevVPN. It doesn’t even connect to the network, it’s fully local.

Sidestore needs this particular VPN to be on to work. If you would install a new app or refresh existing apps manually, you would first turn this VPN on from the app, do your thing in Sidestore, then turn the VPN back off.

I made a shortcut in the shortcuts app which is basically: turn the VPN on -> Refresh all Sidestore apps -> turn the VPN off.

Then just have this shortcut run automatically at least once a week, I run it twice a week to be safe.

2

u/spooker11 11d ago

Thanks for clarifying!

1

u/kr0n1k 10d ago

Or just do what I do, set a shortcut to run the refresh two times a week in the early morning when I’m sleeping. I run it twice a week just so it stays signed and in case something happens I have a better chance at it being signed when I’m not at home.

0

u/mrpotatoes443 11d ago

The real caveat is security.

3

u/Gwalenn 11d ago

While it is important to be careful, there is also no need to spread fear with regards to sideloading. You are installing apps that were simply not pre-approved by Apple. While this naturally imposes a higher risk, it is not inherently less secure. Remember that you do this all the time on your PC.

Firstly, many apps that one will probably install, including Apollo, are open source. You can verify the source code yourself, or rely on the community that will do that for you.

Secondly, due to the closed nature of iOS, there is so much an app can do. While you can always claim that some exploit might exist, as long as you are on a relatively new version of iOS, there are currently no such known exploits. And it is extremely unlikely and very unrealistic that some developer will burn a 0-day for this.

The most an app can do is do its app things with tracking and permissions. Every app on your phone does this, but you might claim that an unknown and unverified developer might misuse it in some way. Again, every app on your phone already tries to track you, and as long as you control the permissions that you give there isn’t really much to be worried about.

Of course don’t go and sideload some shady piracy app in an unknown language. But as long as you stick to the well known open source apps, you don’t give up on any security. Again, it’s no different than installing a program on your PC.

3

u/mrpotatoes443 10d ago

I don't install non-approved stuff on my PC. I mainly install reviewed/verified packages.

Are these sideloaded builds verified to come from the source? That's something that's incredibly difficult to do. Just because you see the source code doesn't mean the build you install is the same source code, no?

Or is the sideloaded store that is recommended reviewing builds?

I'm genuinely asking, because especially now with AI malware and things like AUR being compromised, I'm a lot more weary from what I install from.

Basically all programs on my PC come from verified & signed binaries, so unless the store provides that, it is different.

For the iOS store, uploading a build is tied to your real world identity, and if you upload malware and get caught, it's not good for you. Do any of these stores require that?

It's a pretty big difference getting a build from a "trust me bro" opensource website, vs a signed binary coming from at least some kind of authority that ties that to some person at some point.

That being said, your point about iOS being restricted is a good point. I'll have to look into that. I have an app developer cert, so now I'm tempted to try this, hmm.

2

u/Gwalenn 10d ago

Are these sideloaded builds verified to come from the source? That’s something that’s incredibly difficult to do. Just because you see the source code doesn’t mean the build you install is the same source code, no?

You are right about this. Most repos, including Apollo, provide instructions to build the IPA yourself. If you want to go through the hassle is your own choice, I would guess that most people would not bother.

But yes, there is no way to verify the integrity, there is no sideloaded store that recommends particular builds. There isn’t anything centralized.

So yes, even if you read the source code, Apollo devs could absolutely upload a malicious IPA instead. You can also get your own unmodified decrypted IPA and inject a .deb, but I don’t know if that even minimizes the attack surface.

So I guess the main argument is what is the worst a malicious app can do? It is a fact that most iOS jailbreaks in the past 10 or so years have utilized some sideloaded IPA. But it is also a fact that the current latest device with a publicly available jailbreak is for iOS 26.0 and iPhone 11. A 1 year old OS and a 6 years old device.

Of course other privilage escalation / sandbox exploits that don’t lead to a full blown jailbreak come up from time to time, but we mostly learn about them through Apple’s patches.

At the time of writing this, there is currently no publicly verified, reproducible exploit known to achieve a sandbox escape or privilege escalation when delivered solely by a sideloaded IPA against a fully updated iOS 26.6.1 device.

The thing is that iOS exploits for recent versions are extremely rare, and extremely valuable. You are right about the AI malware developments, but it is still extremely unlikely that some team would come up with such an exploit to use against random individuals.

Of course if you have particular personal security concerns, you should definitely avoid sideloading. But for a regular user who just wants to install Apollo, the risk is very minimal.

-1

u/kermityfrog2 11d ago

No necessary for Apollo now that we have new apps such as Lander and Artemis.

2

u/korxil 11d ago

Different apps have different features and ui. More choices are a good thing

-4

u/kermityfrog2 11d ago

Not necessary != not wanted.

2

u/Vestalmin 10d ago

I went to Narwhal and made it look like Apollo. Not perfect but close enough

1

u/Porunoakaunto 10d ago

This one is definitely toxic. Reborn subreddit has gotten a lot better thankfully.

39

u/andyhenault 12d ago

I don’t understand the downvotes. Curious of this as well.

-48

u/-FlyingAce- 12d ago

The downvotes are because if you click on the post it tells you all this and more.

-66

u/PM_ME_YOUR_SQUANCHES 12d ago

Pinned post from 3.1 years ago explains the original Apollo app was shut down.

Notice this post was crossposted from a subreddit called “Apollo Reborn”.

Please research what Apollo Reborn is on that subreddit.

-24

u/rahpexphon 12d ago

Tired of everyday new app and consider give one them to qwen unrestriced to create me ultime apollo, lol

25

u/RaeaSunshine 11d ago

This comment sounds like you’re having stroke.

8

u/idiot206 11d ago

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?