AltDaemon officially released, makes AltStore more computer independent

Anyone who uses a side-loadable jailbreak like Odyssey or unc0ver should be keenly familiar with AltStore, as it quickly overtook Cydia Impactor as the most popular way to install these jailbreak apps on compatible devices after the latter stopped working for a substantial number of users. Like Cydia Impactor, however, AltStore had one major caveat: it required a Mac or Windows PC.

AltStore lead developer Riley Testut sought to change this about the platform’s user experience, and so a beta package for jailbroken devices dubbed AltDaemon was conceived back in June. AltDaemon’s purpose is to make AltStore a computer-independent experience, effectively permitting users to install, refresh, and update side-loaded apps without a computer. As of Tuesday, however, AltDaemon  nowis out of beta and available to the general public.

Released this Tuesday afternoon to the Dynastic Repo repository, AltDaemon’s package depiction reads as follows:

AltDaemon allows AltStore to install and refresh apps without a computer.

AltDaemon allows AltStore to install, refresh, and update apps completely on-device — without requiring a Mac or PC running AltServer on the same Wi-Fi network. No longer do you need to be at home to side-load apps; with AltDaemon, you can finally side-load apps from anywhere!

AltDaemon runs in the background as a system daemon, but only when woken up by AltStore. Otherwise it remains suspended, preserving battery life and CPU until needed.

Requires AltStore 1.4.

Like all daemons, AltDaemon runs in the background, but Testut says it will have little impact on system resources (A.K.A. battery), as it doesn’t actually do anything unless called upon by the AltStore application.

The primary benefit of AltDaemon is that you don’t need to have a Mac or Windows PC to maintain your favorite side-loaded apps, whether they’re jailbreak apps, emulator apps, or something else. You don’t even need to worry about the Wi-Fi network you’re connected to, nor do you need to be at home or somewhere you can’t be at any given time that your handset just happens to need to be re-jailbroken.

Sound familiar? If you’ve ever used ReProvision before, then the user experience may seem similar. The big takeaway here is that AltStore is the primary platform used today for installing side-loadable jailbreak apps, and so it’s particularly useful to have a first party and actively maintained option for managing those apps. Obviously, you’ll need a computer the first time you install your side-loaded app, but AltDaemon should take care of the rest from there.

One thing worth noting is that AltDaemon requires AltStore version 1.4, which was only just released. You may need to update manually if you haven’t already installed it.

Do you plan to take advantage of AltDaemon on your jailbroken iPhone or iPad? Share why or why not in the comments section below.