At the time of the writing of the article below, Jan 29, 2015, ProPopulo Torrent Downloader was available in the App Store. It is no longer available. However, another app that does not require jailbreaking named iDownloader is currently available in the App Store. There is also a free service named Bitport.io that does not require an app or jailbreaking. It utilizes the browser and downloads the files to its server then provides you with the link. Since it’s browser-based, it will work on just about any device.

As you might know, Torrent downloading applications that serve up illegal and/or pirated content are against iTunes policies. Apple has cracked down on such applications in the past and continues to do so. While jailbreak apps do exist for this purpose, it is not as simple. If you’re looking for an app that lets you download Torrents directly on your iPad, then look no further than ProPopulo.

Apple – and indeed many other companies – are not against torrents. BitTorrent is an award-winning application that facilitates file sharing over a peer-to-peer network. So a BitTorrent client itself is not harmful. It’s how it is used that defines the actions taken against it.

Apple has, in the past, cracked down and removed illegal torrent applications from the iTunes store. One such example was Blue Downloader. That app, however, was geared towards downloading illegal torrents, and hence was bound to come to notice pretty quickly.

ProPopulo Torrent Downloader

The idea behind developing such apps and sneaking them into the app store is, developers have to hide functionality discreetly within such apps. ProPopulo is one such example.

Straight off, this is an app for downloading torrents. As I just explained, the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol itself isn’t illegal. So ProPopulo uses this very pretext and allows users to download torrents from the public domain. This includes trailers, certain free movies, books, documentaries etc. – anything that is not copyright protected and is available freely. So far so legit.

Here’s the secret trick up the sleeve. If you use Safari and open a torrent link on the web – any torrent link from popular networks such as thepiratebay, kickasstorrents, rar.bg etc. clicking on the magnet link would prompt you to open the torrent with the ProPopulo app. In this way, you can download virtually any torrent from the web, without any restrictions!

The ProPopulo app doesn’t require you to jailbreak your device. However, please note that the functionality provided by this app is not exactly legit, so even working under false pretenses, it might still be detected by Apple and banned from the App Store. So enjoy the freedom while it lasts!

Note: If you want to stream video torrents instead, you can do that with PlayBox HD and HD Cinema.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments section below. Cheers 🙂