How to add ipa files to your iPhone Written on August 4, 2008 by Sebastien 84 Comments
It’s not a secret anymore… many iPhone games and applications have been cracked (and still are). Basically, you can get 2 types of files. The “normal” .app file, and the cracked ipa file. We already covered the method to install .app files on your iPhone. Now here is the other method, the most popular one, to install cracked .ipa files such as games and applications on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
As a reminder, this is illegal! I do not encourage anyone to hack or crack iPhone games. Some developpers spend quite some time working on them and they don’t want to see their work ripped off. If you see an iPhone game or application that you like, download it legally through the App Store.
This method works for all firmwares from 2.0 to the current firmware available. The only thing that changes is the MobileInstallation file that you have to install. Each device (iPhone/iPod Touch) has its own MobileInstallation file for each version of the firmware. I started tracking these MobileInstallation files from iPhone 2.1. I do not have them for older firmwares and I do not have them for iPod Touch, although they might be the same as the iPhone’s. I don’t own an iPod Touch, thus I never tried this before on one but some users reported to me it worked great.
By the way, you may want to check my list of cracked iPhone games and applications.
So, how to install ipa files on an iPhone or iPod Touch?
1. You need to be on jailbroken iPhone with Cydia installed. For this, you may use QuickPwn, PwnageTool, or WinPwn. See my tutorials for on how to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch using any of these tools.
2. Install OpenSSH from Cydia on your iPhone. Click on Cydia and then click Install (Sections)>Networking>OpenSSH then click Install>Confirm (if you get a running out of disk space error click “ok”).
3. Log into WinSCP. The first time you try to login you may get a connection timeout error, click retry several times (up to 20 times!) and it should work. If you still get an error, reboot your iPod/iPhone and try again.
4. Navigate to /private/var/mobile/ folder
5. Set the permission of the Applications folder to 777 (make sure reclusive is checked).
6. Stay in the /private/var/mobile/ folder.
7. Create a folder called “Documents” in the /private/var/mobile/ folder. Make sure to spell “Documents” correctly, with a capital “D”.
8. Set the permission to 777.
9. Navigate to the root level and open the /Applications folder.
10. Create a folder called “Documents” inside the /Applications folder and set permission to 777.
———Note: You will only need to create these two Documents folders once———
11. Go to
12. Rename the file “MobileInstallation” to “MobileInstallation.bak”
13. Download this patched MobileInstallation file from HERE. Note that you have to download the patched file for the firmware you are running. ie. if you are running 2.1, you need the MobileInstallation 2.1 patched file.
14. Place the patched file into the /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileInstallation.framework folder and set the permissions 775 for the patched MobileInstallation file. If there is some type of extension (ie .dylib), then you need to remove that extension.
15. Reboot your iPhone/iPod Touch
16. Download cracked ipa Games and apps from Here.
17. Download at least one App from Apple App Store (Free or Paid). What I do is I download one app from the App Store using iTunes, then I sync my iPhone and reboot it. Then I download one app from the App Store on the iPhone and reboot the phone. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: Otherwise you will get an error! [Only need to do this once]
18. Drag and drop the .ipa file you downloaded into the iTunes Application library.
19. Sync your iPhone/iPod Touch and enjoy!
Errors:
The application “XXXXXXX” cannot be opened Fix: Reboot your iPhone or iPod
0xE800001 Error:
FIX: Change usb port and reboot your iphone/ipod Touch. If this doesn’t work try going into: Control panel->System->Device Manager->Universal Serie Bus Controller->Right click Apple Mobile Device USB Driver and update driver. 0xE800013 Error:
You get this error when you already have the app FIX: Simply delete the .app folder that u have ssh’d and reboot.