Sources checked: 2026-11-11. Tested on a device by staff: not yet. This is compiled from the vendors' own pages, not from running it on a phone.
Free Apple ID apps normally last 7 days. If you are on a free account and see a year, two explanations are on the record.
- The Apple ID once had a paid membership. A SideStore bug report (#1156) says an account that once held a paid Developer membership can keep behaving like a paid one after it lapses, including a 365-day expiry. This is user reporting. We found no Apple page that documents it.
- You installed through a third-party signing service. These run on one-year certificates and can be revoked when Apple closes the developer account behind them. The year ends the day the service does, not on a date you control. NabzClan does not sell or run signing certificates and does not recommend any signing service.
A third possibility we cannot verify: a school, employer or earlier project enrolled that Apple ID.
Nothing is required of you, but do not plan around the year. Keep refreshing and back up app data.
What we do not know: whether Apple intends the legacy-account behaviour, and whether it will persist.
Full guide: https://nabzclan.vip/threads/71/
These steps can stop working when Apple or the tools change. The forum thread linked above is kept up to date; check it for the latest.