Hello, I read on the Apple Support page that for iOS Distribution certificates, when they expire, "Users will no longer be able to run apps that have been signed with this certificate. You must distribute a new version of your app that is signed with a new certificate."
We have 2 certificates that will be expiring soon, a Distribution certificate and an iOS Distribution certificate. I think this app is on the App store. I understand that some certificates can expire without having an affect on the apps; they just need to be updated in order to put a new version out there. I am trying to figure out if ours apply to that scenario or the one above where it will immediately affect installed apps. Any feedback on that?
The Apple support person I talked to said I would have to create the certificates before the expiration date, and I have to coordinate that with the release of an updated version of the app. So I believe I need to coordinate with the developer and create the certificate when he uploads a new version of the app.
Also, he told me that the iOS Distribution certificates and the Distribution certificates are created in different ways. I found this about creating iOS Distribution certificates: https://support.staffbase.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003458931-Creating-the-iOS-Distribution-Certificate Can all these steps be done ahead of time and I could send the certificate file to the developer? Is there a URL that shows the different way to create Distribution certificates?
Thank you. Any answers to these questions would be very helpful.
If you only distribute your app via the App Store, you don’t have to worry about certificates expiry causing problems for your users. Once App Store Connect accepts your app, the App Store infrastructure re-signs it before distributing it to users. Those certificates don’t expire [1].
An easy way to see this in action is with a Mac App Store app [2]. Consider this:
% codesign -d -vvv "/Applications/Tap Forms 5.app"
…
Authority=Apple Mac OS Application Signing
…
TeamIdentifier=FXLPHZS84D
…
Note that the certificate in the signature is an Apple certificate, not the developer’s distribution certificate.
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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
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[1] Well, they have an expiry date but it’s not relevant.
[2] The Mac App Store does not have exactly the same mechanics as the App Store on iOS, but they are well aligned in general and definitely behave the same way in this regard.