You can't install iOS apps from the App Store on a Developer Transition Kit

Photo is of a Mac mini (2018) taken for iMore Mac mini review (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple's Developer Transition Kit was designed to help developers get their apps ready for Apple silicon.
Those machines won't let anyone install iOS or iPad apps from the App Store.
That's something M1-powered Apple silicon Macs can do, however.

Apple's Developer Transition Kit (DTK) was designed to give developers a Mac that they could use to get their apps ready for Apple silicon. It did its job well, but now that Apple silicon is here, it turns out that the DTK can't do everything an M1-powered Mac can do. Namely, it can't install iOS or iPadOS apps.

One of the things that makes Apple silicon so interesting is the fact users can install iOS and iPadOS apps from the Mac App Store. But it turns out that the DTK isn't set up for that, something developers are only finding out now.

The DTK is not provisioned to access iOS apps on the App StoreThe DTK is not provisioned to access iOS apps on the App Store— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) November 13, 2020 November 13, 2020

That's going to be a disappointment for a ton of developers who already own a DTK. Now, their only way to test their apps in real-world scenarios – via the App Store – is to buy an M1-powered Mac. That being said, these things are so quick that might be a good idea anyway!

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.