Distribution Profile Type for Mac Catalyst app?

Hi, this might sounds dumb, but to create a distribution profile for Mac Catalyst app, should I choose Mac or Mac Catalyst?

When select "Mac Catalyst" type, I saw this message, which concerns me since I don't use any "maccatalyst" prefix for our apps.

To generate a provisioning profile for an App ID with a "maccatalyst" prefix, search for the iPad app's App ID. Then select the App ID under "Enabled App IDs with an associated application identifier".


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The whole maccatalyst prefix thing is an unfortunate misstep from the very early days of Mac Catalyst; I recommend that you avoid it when creating new projects. When you go to configure the MacCatalyst capability on an App ID, the resulting sheet has text that describes the two recommended options:

NOTE: As of Xcode 11.4, new apps built with Mac Catalyst should use
the same bundle ID as the iOS app to support universal purchase or use
a manually-created unique bundle ID to be offered as a separate
product.

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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"
I was an early adopter, and have an app in the Mac App Store with a maccatalyst prefixed Bundle ID.

Should I abandon it? (and all its existing customers).
And start over with a new bundle ID and an (almost) identical app? (Will App Review even allow that?)

Or is there a way to generate a provisioning profile so that I can upload bug fix updates to the App Store?

Currently I get "Code Signing failed" with Automatically Managed signing.
And "No Eligible Profiles ... Try Again" with manual signing.
Tried generating some new profiles, both Development and Distribution, but producing no change in those error messages.
Previously, signing and uploading this maccatalyst prefixed app worked just fine with Xcode 12.0 with existing profiles and automatically managed signing.

What to do?
See "Older Catalyst app with extension won't codesign".
The previous distribution profile started working again after the old build setting for Enable Bitcode was deleted.
Not sure what those two items have to do with each other...

We are experiencing the same issue in another way. Our Catalyst app is distributed without the 'maccatalyst' prefix. Unfortunately, the previous provisioning profile that was working has expired. When generating the new one, the 'maccatalyst.' prefix is being added automatically. Is there any way to fix this?

When generating the new one, the maccatalyst. prefix is being added automatically. Is there any way to fix this?

This is coming from the App ID you select when you create the profile. Look for a different App ID, one without the prefix.

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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

  • Hello Quinn, Thank you for your reply. When creating a profile, the App ID we select does not contain the "maccatalyst." prefix. However, the same profile we are downloading does contain "maccatalyst." prefix.

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Go to Developer > Account > Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles > Identifiers and click on your App ID. Make sure the Capabilites tab is selected and scroll all the way to the bottom. Is the Mac Catalyst capability enabled?

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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Hello Quinn, Thank you for the suggestion. After unchecking the Mac Catalyst capability everything did come in place. Now we can create the correct provisioning profile. The strange thing is that we did not change this setting since our last successful submission to the App Store. Any way, thank you very much for helping to figure this out.

Best regards,

Sergey Nikitin