"I know you can do this with custom apps and I'm doing that but you have no clue how many non tech people beg me to share how"

Wait...I'm in tech and I'm begging you to share how. Is there a way on iOS?

I've mostly just stopped using these apps.

iOS app installation (what some people call "side-loading") is done by signing up as a developer and then installing the apps as if you're developing them. You have to refresh them every 7 days in Xcode or they'll get deleted from your phone as that is one of Apple's anti-using-developer-mode-to-actually-install-things measures, and you can only install up to 3 apps this way, though apparently there's some kind of chameleon app that wraps multiple other apps with a menu.