How to install Alt Store on iPad OS26/iOS26 in any region, enabling JIT, and Dolphin iOS
Recently I was reading the announcement that Alt Store would be expanding to more countries, I was reading around on the wiki and came to find that Alt Store (Classic) is already available globally. Where the main Alt Store Pal is available only in Europe for users there, Alt Store Classic, allows users with a Mac or Windows machine at home to install Alt Store app on your iPad or iPhone to access alternative app stores and sideload iOS ipa builds as well. Here are the steps I took for documenting and future reference for: installing AltStore, how to enable JIT (Just In Time) compilation, and testing the Dolphin (Wii/Gamecube) emulator on iPad OS. I have a MacBook so the steps I outline are for Mac below, if you have a Windows computer here is a page that walks you through installing on Windows (Note: I don't have windows, so I didn't try this).
Steps for installing AltStore onto iOS or iPadOS using macOS. 1. Download AltServer for macOS (requires macOS 11 or later). Uncompress the zip file.
2. Copy AltServer.app to your Applications folder.
3. Launch AltServer, which will appear as an icon in the top menu bar.
4. Connect your iOS device to your Mac and make sure it is unlocked. Trust your device on both iPad and the Mac if prompted.
5. Enable "Wi-Fi sync" on your iPad/iOS device, and connect to the same WiFi network as your Mac.
6. Open the Finder app on Mac, then scroll down below Options, and check the checkbox “Show this iPhone/iPad when on WiFi” for your device.
7. Click the AltServer icon in the Mac menu bar, go to “Install AltStore”, then click on your iPad/iOS device.
8. Enter your Apple ID email address and password. This will allow AltServer to authenticate with Apple and configure your account to support sideloading apps. (Note: Your Apple ID and password are sent only to Apple - not to AltServer or anyone else.)
9. Wait a few seconds, then a notification from AltServer should appear on your Mac saying AltStore has been successfully installed onto your device. (Note: If you don't see any notifications from AltServer, check your Mac Notification settings allow AltServer permission to send you notifications in System Preferences.)
10. On your iPad/ iOS device, open Settings app, Tap General, Tap VPN & Device Management (the name on iPadOS 26). Tap Trust [Your Apple ID], then tap Trust again to confirm.
11. Then enable Developer Mode on your iPad/iOS device by open Settings app, Tap Privacy & Security, scroll down and tap on Developer Mode then Enable Developer Mode. iPad/iOS may need to restart to complete turning on Developer mode.
Now AltStore is installed, you can open the AltStore app on iPad/iOS device, open Settings, then sign into the same Apple ID account for signing apps on your device. Note: free Apple ID/App store accounts only allow 3 apps to be installed per account and the apps expire after 7 days, these are limits by Apple. Paid Apple Developer accounts can install more apps for longer activation use.
To renew/refresh an app, make sure Alt Store Classic is running on your Mac, and your Mac and iOS device are on the same Wifi network. Then open Alt Store on your iPad/iOS, long press on the app in the apps list, and select Refresh. If it fails or times out, try force closing Alt Store, connect the iOS device to the Mac by USB then open Alt Store and try Refresh again.
I was curious about the DolphiniOS (GameCube/wii) emulator, so added the OatmealDome AltStore source for downloading Dolphin. OatmeaalDome is the website and user handle of the iOS Dolphin developer.
About Dolphin iOS app versions: From OatmealDome there are 2 versions of Dolphin available. As of this writing you want to install the Beta version, that is compatible with iOS 18 and iOS 26, the current non-beta is compatible with older iOS releases. With the above complete Dolphin can be installed, however in order to fully run games at decent speed you will need JIT enabled so that DolphiniOS can convert the GC/Wii code to iOS code on the fly. So the next steps outline how to enable JIT on iPad OS26/iOS26
Enabling JIT
To enable JIT, you first need to download a program on your Mac or PC that will export information about your device. Note: Apple made changes in iOS26/iPad OS26 that broke JIT. So some apps not work with JIT on iOS 26 even after setup with the below instructions. Fortunately DolphiniOS got JIT working again after an update.
1. Download jitterbugpair for MacOS.
UPDATE: the jitterbugpair app may not work on recent MacOS, an alternative option is to use idevice_pair which also has a GUI so it maybe less complicated as well for some.
2. Uncompress the zip file. Then connect with USB your iPad/iOS device to your Mac (If requested confirm Trust for connecting)
3. Open Terminal app on Mac. Set executable permission if needed to jitterbugpair: chmod +x ./jitterbugpair
4. Make sure your iPad/iOS device is unlocked at home screen, then run jitterbugpair in the terminal. This will create a pairing file. Note: if Mac doesn't allow it to be run, on your Mac open System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> scroll down to Security, and grant permission for the app to run.
5. Locate the .mobiledevicepairing file, change it to a name representing your device, such as iPad-devicepairing and copy it to your iPad/iOS device via iCloud or Airdrop, etc.
6. Next step is to use StikDebug app with the pairing file to enable JIT. So Download the StikDebug app from Apple's iOS App Store on your iPad/iOS.
7. Open StikDebug, this app has a few settings that need to be configured to enable JIT.
8. Tap Select Pairing File and select the pairing file that was created and copied on the iPad/iOS. Tap Mount Developer disk image
9. StikDebug runs a local VPN to tunnel requests through itself and enable JIT so the app's VPN connection is required. Tap enable VPN if it doesn't automatically appear, and Allow the VPN Configuration to be added when prompted. After the VPN Profile is added, each time StikDebug is launched it automatically connects to it's local VPN tunnel.
10. After the above settings are applied there will be green check marks on each of the settings in the Home screen of StikDebug. To enable JIT in DolphiniOS tap on Connect by App and select DolphiniOS. This launches DolphiniOS and on iPad a PIP window displays the status of the JIT connection.
11. To check if JIT is working. Tap on Settings in DolphiniOS, then Tap Debug. JIT Acquisition should show as Acquired. Then tap on Software and select a game for Dolphin to launch. If JIT is working the game will open and run faster. If JIT is not working or not enabled DolphiniOS usually closes after selecting a game title.
Note: Sometimes StikDebug times out or hangs on enabling. When this happens, force close StikDebug and Dolphin, then launch StikDebug again. Tap Connect by App and select DolphiniOS, then select the game for Dolphin to run. When the PIP window shows a message saying something like, Script Execution Completed You are safe to close the PIP Window. You can tap the X to close PIP.
Conclusions:
Exploring apps on AltStore is an interesting experience, mostly emulators and technical apps that Apple doesn't allow for various reasons on it's App Store but that run well on the platform, but it's good to allow users choice of the software they want to use.
In my experience with games on DolphiniOS with JIT allows for fast emulation performance yet it doesn't increase battery consumption much. Example screen recordings of the performance of Nights for Wii on DolphiniOS on iPadOS26.
Many games are fully playable with a Bluetooth game controller or the touch screen controller, and for Wii DolphiniOS simulates Wiimote IR inputs by using the touch screen for the Wiimote controller pointer. However if the game requires certain motions of the Wiimote in game, such as spinning, rotating or swinging the touchscreen doesn't support those gestures, but they can be done by mapping those control inputs to buttons on a Bluetooth or gamepad controller connected to iOS.
