How To Sideload Apps In Windows 10

Microsoft has finally seen the utility an app store; a certified place where users of its desktop and/or mobile operating system can find apps that are safe to download and do not come packaged with bloatware. An official app store helps developers as much as it helps ordinary users since it gives them a place that many users will turn to when searching for an app. They audience they get can help introduce their seemingly obscure apps. That said, Windows users are in a transition phase; we love the Windows Store but we’re not quite used to being limited to one place for installing our apps. Anyone who wants to sideload a modern app will be met with a bit of a snag since Windows 10, by default, doesn’t let you do so. Fortunately, it hasn’t blocked that ability and for whatever reason you might have to sideload an app, here’s how to do it.

Open the Settings app and go to the Update & Security group of settings. In the For Developers tab, select the ‘Sideload apps’ option. You will get an on-screen alert warning you that this might put you at risk (more on that later). To proceed, click Yes in the warning box.

So the question is, what are you risking here? The answer is you’re putting yourself at the same risk that you do when you install an app from an ‘unknown publisher’. Does that sound familiar to you because it should. Apps are signed by developers and developers (the good ones) will register with Microsoft so that they get a pass during installation. When you install a non-Modern app, Windows checks to see who the publisher is. If the app hasn’t been signed, it warns you of the same. When you sideload an app in Windows 10, you’re putting yourself at more or less this very same risk.