TrollStore is a powerful perma-signing app for iPhones and iPads on firmware vulnerable to a particular CoreTrust bug. It’s been especially instrumental in recent hacks and jailbreaks, and as such, it’s not surprising that there are many different ways to install it.
But soon, we may have yet another installation method at our disposal. iOS developer @alfiecg_dev took to X (formerly Twitter) Sunday evening to tease a new and upcoming project called TrollInstallerX that can apparently install TrollStore without overwriting a system app, as most modern installation methods currently do.
The benefit here is that users don’t lose access to one of their stock apps when installing TrollStore, and while it’s typically a less useful app such as Tips, it can still feel degrading of the iOS & iPadOS user experience to do so.
Instead, TrollInstallerX will harness either the MacDirtyCow (MDC) or Kernel File Descriptor (KFD) kernel exploits (depending on your firmware version), as well as the same PPL bypass used by the Dopamine v2 jailbreak, to install TrollStore directly.
TrollInstallerX is expected to support iOS & iPadOS 14.0-16.6.1 with several caveats depending on the type of device you’re using — namely arm64 (A11 and older) vs arm64e (A12 and newer).
The short and sweet of it is that iOS & iPadOS 14.0–16.6.1 should support direct installations on arm64 devices and that iOS & iPadOS 14.0-16.5.1 should support direct installations on arm64e devices. It seems that iOS & iPadOS 16.6-16.6.1 on arm64e devices will still require the use of a system app because the PPL bypass doesn’t support these device and firmware combinations.
This information is, of course, subject to change prior to release, so we will find out more about the firmware and device support closer to release after the developers perform hard testing and see what does and doesn’t work.
Another thing we noticed is that the initial design of the app resembles the Dopamine jailbreak — a user interface that @sourceloc created. In a follow-up comment, @alfiecg_dev said that a redesign is planned. Admittedly, I’m partial to the current design, but I hope the future design looks just as good.
So will TrollInstallerX become the next best way to install TrollStore? Personally, while I think it may be one of the better ways to install TrollStore, it still requires you to sideload an application on your device, which requires a computer. Lots of people enjoy the freedom of going computer-less, which is why I think the TrollHelperOTA method will remain the recommended method on at least iOS & iPadOS 14.0-15.6.1 devices, especially since most people don’t care enough about the Tips app not to sacrifice it for TrollStore.
As always, the iDB team will continue to keep our readers apprised of the latest developments in the community. TrollInstallerX seems like it will be a step in the right direction for TrollStore, and if we’re lucky, perhaps future kernel exploits can also be added in.
Are you excited for TrollInstallerX? Let us know why or why not in the comments section down below.
