Now that sideloading is a possibility on both iOS and tvOS, it’s a good time to search for open source apps that are available to sideload. We’ve already showed you how to get apps like Provenance, MAME, Auntie Player, and others, but what about finding sideloadable apps on your own? In this post, I’ll show you how GitHub can be a valuable resource for finding open source apps for your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV.
I’ve created a handy bookmark link for finding new GitHub tvOS apps. I created this link by simply searching for ‘tvOS’ via GitHub’s search box, and sorting the results by Recently Updated. What results is a link that will show all of the recently updated repository results containing tvOS apps. It’s a good way to quickly view what’s new in the world of open source tvOS apps. I’ve also created a similar link for iOS.
Once you find a tvOS app that catches your eye, you can use our sideloading tutorial to sideload the app on your device.
GitHub bookmark links for sideloading apps
Of course, you can also change the sort order to show the most popular submissions, and also change the search parameters if you’re looking for a particular app.
As you might imagine, GitHub is an absolute goldmine for open source apps for iOS and tvOS. Ever since Apple opened up iOS with Xcode 7, it’s been a daily routine for me to check GitHub for new stuff. That’s how I’m able to find new apps like the aforementioned Provenance emulator or the Auntie Player BBC iPlayer app.