We are implementing an exam mode feature for an educational app used in schools, which restricts device usage during assessments.
We requested the Automatic Assessment Configuration capability, received approval from Apple, and confirmed that the capability is listed as Assigned under our App ID in the Apple Developer portal.
What works:
When using a Development Provisioning Profile (downloaded from the portal), the entitlement key com.apple.developer.automatic-assessment-configuration is included in the profile, and our exam lock feature works correctly in development testing.
The problem:
When we manually download a Distribution (InHouse/Enterprise) Provisioning Profile from the portal — even after creating a new one — the entitlement key com.apple.developer.automatic-assessment-configuration is not present in the profile.
verified this by running:
security cms -D -i YourProfile.mobileprovision The key appears in the Development PP but is absent in the manually downloaded Distribution PP, despite the App ID showing the capability as Assigned.
Note:
When using Xcode's automatic signing, the generated profile does include the entitlement correctly. However, due to our organization's internal security policy, we are required to use manually managed provisioning profiles and cannot use Xcode automatic signing for distribution builds.
Questions:
Is the com.apple.developer.automatic-assessment-configuration entitlement intentionally restricted to Development profiles only, or is this a known portal issue with managed capabilities not being embedded in manually created Distribution profiles?
Is it technically supported and intended to use AEAssessmentSession in an InHouse (Enterprise) distribution environment?
If InHouse is not supported, is the correct path to test internally via Development profiles and then submit through App Store distribution to include this entitlement in production?
Any guidance on the correct technical direction would be greatly appreciated.