Issues after app transfer

We recently transferred two applications to a different account, both of which utilize Keychain and shared app containers. Before transferring the first application, we anticipated losing access to the Keychain and took proactive measures by backing up data to the app’s private container in the final release prior to the transfer.

During the app transfer process, we removed the shared container group ID from the old account and recreated it under the new account. In our testing, Keychain restoration from the local backup was successful, and users experienced no disruptions. However, after releasing the application, we observed that approximately 25% of our users not only lost their Keychain data as expected but also their shared app container data.

As we have been unable to reproduce this issue internally, we are seeking your guidance on how to prevent a similar situation when transferring our second application. At this stage, we have not yet released any updates from the new account, and the Keychain data remains backed up in the app’s private container.

We would appreciate any insights or recommendations you can provide to ensure a smooth transition for our users and make sure we can keep the data in shared container.

Answered by DTS Engineer in 825813022

So, my standard answer to the question of how to deal with App ID prefix changes is in this post: App ID Prefix Change and Keychain Access.

You’ll note that I didn’t touch on the technique you’ve used. There’s a good reason for that. While I’ve seen other developers use it successfully in the past, I’ve always had significant concerns about its viability. Your experience suggests that I was right to be concerned )-:

Unfortunately that means I don’t have any good options for you:

  • This technique is not something we support.

  • I’m not aware of any way to transfer app groups between teams that is actually supported.

  • If you’d like to see that change, I encourage you to file a bug requesting that. And please do post your bug number, just for the record.

I’m sorry I don’t have better news here.

ps This is iOS, right? The story on macOS is more nuanced.

Share and Enjoy

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

So, my standard answer to the question of how to deal with App ID prefix changes is in this post: App ID Prefix Change and Keychain Access.

You’ll note that I didn’t touch on the technique you’ve used. There’s a good reason for that. While I’ve seen other developers use it successfully in the past, I’ve always had significant concerns about its viability. Your experience suggests that I was right to be concerned )-:

Unfortunately that means I don’t have any good options for you:

  • This technique is not something we support.

  • I’m not aware of any way to transfer app groups between teams that is actually supported.

  • If you’d like to see that change, I encourage you to file a bug requesting that. And please do post your bug number, just for the record.

I’m sorry I don’t have better news here.

ps This is iOS, right? The story on macOS is more nuanced.

Share and Enjoy

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

Issues after app transfer
 
 
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