Why won't my IPA install?

The provisioning profile usually says. An ad hoc or development build installs only on the devices listed in its profile (the page shows how many there are), and every profile has an expiry date, after which the app no longer installs or opens. An app from the App Store is encrypted for the account that got it. The minimum iOS version is shown too.

Can I open an IPA file on Windows?

To look inside it, yes: here, in the browser, on Windows, a Chromebook or Linux. To run the app you need an iPhone or iPad; an IPA's program is built for Apple's processors and iOS, so it does not run on Windows or Android.

What do the privacy prompts tell me?

Each is a permission the app is built to ask for, with the sentence iOS shows when it does. An app with no camera prompt cannot use the camera at all, and a tracking prompt means the app can ask to follow you across other companies' apps and websites. Declaring a prompt does not mean the app asks at once, or ever.

Is my app file uploaded?

No. The file is read by this browser tab on your own device, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Stays on your computer How this works

Free IPA viewer: see what is inside an iPhone or iPad app

Open an .ipa to see the app's name, icon, version, the iOS versions and devices it supports, the privacy prompts it can show and their wording, its provisioning profile and what its size is made of, on any computer. The file is opened in your browser and is not uploaded.

Drop a .ipa file here, or click to choose oneIt is opened by your browser, on this computer. Nothing is uploaded.

About the IPA viewer

An IPA is an iPhone or iPad app as a single file: what the App Store downloads, what developers send testers, and what Apple Configurator and backup tools save. Windows and Android cannot open it, and even on a Mac it takes Xcode or a terminal to see what is inside: which versions of iOS it needs, what it will ask permission for, and who built it for which devices.

This page reads the app's Info.plist and provisioning profile, turns its icon back into an ordinary picture (Xcode stores icons in a form only Apple's software shows), and checks whether the App Store encrypted the program. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.

What you can see

The app's name, icon, bundle ID, version and build
The oldest iOS version it runs on, the devices it is for (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch...) and the iOS SDK and Xcode it was built with
Every privacy prompt it can show (camera, location, contacts, tracking...) with the app's own explanation, word for word
The provisioning profile: App Store, ad hoc (with how many devices), development or enterprise, the team, and when it expires
Whether the program is encrypted by the App Store, its processors, its extensions and frameworks, and the links it opens
What the size is made of, every file inside, and any file saved on its own

How to open an IPA file

Drop the .ipa file on the box above, or click the box and choose it.
The app's details appear, with its privacy prompts and provisioning profile.
Save the icon, or any file inside, with its button.

Questions

Why won't my IPA install?: The provisioning profile usually says. An ad hoc or development build installs only on the devices listed in its profile (the page shows how many there are), and every profile has an expiry date, after which the app no longer installs or opens. An app from the App Store is encrypted for the account that got it. The minimum iOS version is shown too.
Can I open an IPA file on Windows?: To look inside it, yes: here, in the browser, on Windows, a Chromebook or Linux. To run the app you need an iPhone or iPad; an IPA's program is built for Apple's processors and iOS, so it does not run on Windows or Android.
What do the privacy prompts tell me?: Each is a permission the app is built to ask for, with the sentence iOS shows when it does. An app with no camera prompt cannot use the camera at all, and a tracking prompt means the app can ask to follow you across other companies' apps and websites. Declaring a prompt does not mean the app asks at once, or ever.
Is my app file uploaded?: No. The file is read by this browser tab on your own device, and nothing is sent anywhere.

Built by John McMillan, a senior full-stack engineer. Open to remote roles: hire me.

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