Since the M1 chip is based on the same ARM architecture as the iPhone and iPad chips, Apple has allowed developers to offer their iOS apps on the Mac App Store. However, several developers have chosen not to offer their iOS apps to M1 Mac users.
Thanks to tools like iMazing, it was possible to download the IPA files of iOS apps you have purchased from the App Store and then install them manually on M1 Macs, which allowed users to run apps like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even Netflix on macOS. Unfortunately, this seems to have annoyed some developers, which made Apple block this process permanently.
macOS now shows a message saying that the app isn’t intended to run on a Mac.
The first time Apple blocked the side load process on M1 Macs the company was likely just testing the new restriction as macOS Big Sur 11.2 was only available as a beta release at the time. Now it seems that the blocking is for real.
This application cannot be installed because the developer did not intend for it to run on this platform.
At this point there’s no known workaround for side loading iOS apps on M1 Macs, so we’ll have to wait and see if Apple will once again reverse its decision or if someone else will be able to modify the operating system to install any iOS apps on compatible Macs.
