You can now easily request access to managed capabilities for your App IDs directly from the new Capability Requests tab in Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles > Identifiers. With this update, view available capabilities in one convenient location, check the status of your requested capabilities, and see any notes from Apple related to your requests. Learn more about capability requests.
Demystify code signing and its importance in app development. Get help troubleshooting code signing issues and ensure your app is properly signed for distribution.
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Forums topic: Code Signing
Forums subtopics: Code Signing > General, Code Signing > Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles, Code Signing > Notarization, Code Signing > Entitlements
Forums tags: Code Signing, Signing Certificates, Provisioning Profiles, Entitlements
Developer Account Help — This document is good in general but, in particular, the Reference section is chock-full of useful information, including the names and purposes of all certificate types issued by Apple Developer web site, tables of which capabilities are supported by which distribution models on iOS and macOS, and information on how to use managed capabilities.
Developer > Support > Certificates covers some important policy issues
Bundle Resources > Entitlements documentation
TN3125 Inside Code Signing: Provisioning Profiles — This includes links to the other technotes in the Inside Code Signing series.
WWDC 2021 Session 10204 Distribute apps in Xcode with cloud signing
Certificate Signing Requests Explained forums post
--deep Considered Harmful forums post
Don’t Run App Store Distribution-Signed Code forums post
Resolving errSecInternalComponent errors during code signing forums post
Finding a Capability’s Distribution Restrictions forums post
Signing code with a hardware-based code-signing identity forums post
New Capabilities Request Tab in Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles forums post
Isolating Code Signing Problems from Build Problems forums post
Investigating Third-Party IDE Code-Signing Problems forums post
Determining if an entitlement is real forums post
Mac code signing:
Forums tag: Developer ID
Creating distribution-signed code for macOS documentation
Packaging Mac software for distribution documentation
Placing Content in a Bundle documentation
Embedding nonstandard code structures in a bundle documentation
Embedding a command-line tool in a sandboxed app documentation
Signing a daemon with a restricted entitlement documentation
Defining launch environment and library constraints documentation
WWDC 2023 Session 10266 Protect your Mac app with environment constraints
TN2206 macOS Code Signing In Depth archived technote — This doc has mostly been replaced by the other resources linked to here but it still contains a few unique tidbits and it’s a great historical reference.
Manual Code Signing Example forums post
The Care and Feeding of Developer ID forums post
TestFlight, Provisioning Profiles, and the Mac App Store forums post
For problems with notarisation, see Notarisation Resources. For problems with the trusted execution system, including Gatekeeper, see Trusted Execution Resources.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
General
Tags:
Entitlements
Code Signing
Provisioning Profiles
Signing Certificates
I developed an app using Unity and exported it as an iOS project file so that I could package it in Xcode. Now, I’m facing an issue where users who previously installed version 1.0 are still seeing the old version after installing the updated version 2.0. Although the installation process for version 2.0 appears to complete (with the installation animation), the app still opens as version 1.0. I am an individual developer but used enterprise signing for distribution. I’m quite confused and have looked into the issue—some sources mention it might be related to CFBundleVersion, but modifying it didn’t help. I’d really appreciate some help with this. o(╥﹏╥)o
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
I’m running into an issue where the com.apple.developer.storekit entitlement is not being included in provisioning profiles, even though my App ID is properly configured for In-App Purchase.
Entitlements file: explicitly includes
<key>com.apple.developer.storekit</key>
<true/>
Capability: In-App Purchase is enabled in the Apple Developer Portal and shows as “Enabled.”
What I’ve tried:
Automatic signing in Xcode → profiles generated, but missing com.apple.developer.storekit
Manual signing → deleted and recreated provisioning profiles multiple times; entitlement still missing.
Waited several hours for possible propagation.
Verified that my in-app purchase products are set up correctly.
Error message:
Provisioning profile "iOS Team Provisioning Profile: zu.inniu" doesn't include the com.apple.developer.storekit entitlement
Question:
Has anyone else encountered this? Is there a step I might be missing to get StoreKit entitlements included in provisioning profiles, or could this be a backend issue that needs escalation through Apple DTS?
This is blocking me from building my app for physical devices, so any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Tags:
Entitlements
In-App Purchase
I am trying to sign a enterprise app with provisioning profile which shows the tap to pay entitlement on Dev portal, but when downloaded on Xcode, it says the profile is missing the tap to pay capability and entitlement
The capability was enabled by apple already, it was working fine until the provisioning profile got renewed.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Entitlements
Tags:
Provisioning Profiles
Signing Certificates
Tap to Pay on iPhone
Hi, hoping someone can help here.
I recently updated my Mac to macOS 15 (Tahoe) and am using Xcode 15+ (possibly 16). I’m working on a Flutter app and testing on a real iPhone device.
Here's the situation:
I’m using the free Apple Developer account.
My signing certificate and provisioning profile both show as valid and active in Keychain and says "signing..." in Xcode.
When I build and run the app from Xcode, it works completely fine on a simulator.
But when I try to run the same project from VS Code using flutter run, whether on an simulator phone or my personal iphone, I get a code signing error, specifically:
Failed to codesign Flutter.framework with identity...
I believe the app is set to use the correct Team ID because it says my name and (team) (my team ID isBDKUKWVRBY), and I can see my certificate in Keychain under "My Certificates".
What I’ve already tried:
flutter clean
pod install / pod update
Manually selecting my team in Xcode Signing settings
Restarting my machine and VS Code
Confirming the same project builds on other machines
Verified provisioning profile is assigned to the project in Xcode
deleting and recreating a certificate
I have even had AI inside VS code take a shot at it and that couldn't fix either
My question:
Why would VS Code / Flutter not be able to use the same certificate and signing setup that works in Xcode? Is this an issue with Flutter tooling on macOS 15, or do I need to reconfigure signing differently now?
Any suggestions or fixes would be greatly appreciated!
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
I have two certificates in my Accounts>Manage Certificates section. One is active, the other is greyed out with a status of "Not in Keychain". I only have ONE certificate in the developer account online.
Timeline:
Had an issue with fastlane codesigning and was trying to resolve that. In that attempt I deleted my related Certificates from my keychain
Xcode showed them as disabled (greyed out) and not in Keychain.
Look up how to resolve, need to revoke certificates in Developer account online. I go and revoke those certificates. Nothing changes
I create new certificate and try to add it to xcode>account>certificate managment>"Apple Development". Get an error saying I can't add a new can't do that because a certificate is already pending.
I waited a day because I assumed like somethings with apple, updates are not immediate.
I come back the next day and am able to add a new certificate. However, the previous one that is greyed out and reads "Not in Keychain" under Status, is still there.
How do I remove that "Not in Keychain" certificate? I emailed developer support and they directed me here.
I am a complete novice and I find that I cannot restore or delete the “Apple Development” certificate (I only use it for signing).
From what I understand, you need to be in a program to manage certificates, but I have no intention of distributing any applications and, from my point of view, it makes no sense to pay.
Am I wrong or am I doing something wrong?
Notes:
This happened after I installed Tahoe on a new installation.
I was able to restore it using a copy of the keychains folder I had from Sequoia.
Xcode (Apple Accounts - Manage Certificates) now shows me two certificates, indicating that one is not in the keychain and cannot be deleted.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Hi,
My understanding from this information:
"
https://developer.apple.com/support/certificates/
iOS Distribution Certificate (in-house, internal-use apps)
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.
"
is that even if I re-sign the app with a new Provisioning Profile based on a new Distribution Certificate the apps will stop working. I need to re-build my apps with a new Distribution certificate+Provisioning profile, when distributing in-house, right?
I can see that the apps continue to function when I re-sign them with a new Provisioning Profile, but according to the information above they will stop working the day (day after) the Distribution certificate they were built with expires.
/Rikard
I am able to sign my application when logged in to the machine, however when build is running in CI (Jenkins), I get this:
"Warning: unable to build chain to self-signed root for signer.."
We just renewed or certificates, so I am not sure about previous procedure, but it used to work without temporary keychain and stuff, I believe.
What should be the recommended way to sign an application on CI?
What keychain should we use? system? temporary? other method?
Thanks,
Itay
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
My app uses a Provisioning Profile (as it bundles up a Network System Extension). I do not use "Automatically manage signing" as its causes code signing/deployment issues 🤷♂️
In Xcode (version 26), if I enable "
Enhanced Security" and check "Enable Hardware Memory Tagging", Xcode states:
Provisioning profile "<>" doesn't include the com.apple.security.hardened-process.checked-allocations and com.apple.security.hardened-process.checked-allocations.soft-mode entitlements.
Normally to resolve such errors one simply adds the Capability in "Edit your App ID Configuration" and then regenerates the Provisioning Profile.
However, I don't see any such capability to would add these entitlements? (I thought "Hardened Process" would be the one - but alas, no).
Clicking the "for more information" link in Xcode to view the relevant(?) "Apple Developer Documentation" generates another error 😵💫
Didn't see anything in: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode/enabling-enhanced-security-for-your-app
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Entitlements
We've been creating iOS apps for a few years now, but when I tried last month, I got an error in my XCode that says:
No profiles for 'com.os.hub.mth2' were found
Xcode couldn't find any iOS App Development provisioning profiles matching '***.***.***.***'.
I'm not sure if it's the cause or not, but when I look at the signing certificates, the Developer ID Application Certificate says:
Missing Private Key
The weird part of that is that I see a private key with this name in my Keychain access, so I'm not sure what's wrong.
There has been a significant time gap between now and the last time we created a mobile app, so I'm not sure if something changed in XCode/MacOS to cause this issue, or if something expired.
I'd appreciate any advice.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Tags:
App Store Connect
Notarization
Developer ID
I have 14 total devices, from way back. I am currently in a financial bind and can't renew just yet. BUT I am at past my time to reset the device list back to zero.
But the screen to do that is behind the paid account. Catch 22
Can we fix it?
As it stands I must email tech support, but this is a bug so I posted
Hello everyone,
I’ve been stuck for weeks on an issue with Family Controls + Device Activity entitlements in my iOS app, and Apple Developer Support has not provided a solution so far. I’m hoping someone here who has successfully implemented Family Controls + Device Activity can point me in the right direction.
About the App
• The app is a Digital Wellbeing app called Breakloop.
• It lets users select apps they want to block, requires them to complete a positive affirmation before opening those apps, and can re-block apps after a set time (e.g., 10 minutes).
• This functionality exactly matches the purpose of Family Controls and Device Activity APIs.
What Works So Far
• Family Controls capability is enabled in the main app target in Xcode.
• We have valid Apple Developer certificates (Apple Development) and a team account.
• The main app builds and runs fine when using Family Controls alone.
• We have App IDs for:
• bl.Breakloop (main app)
• bl.Breakloop.BreakloopMonitorExtension
• bl.Breakloop.BreakloopShieldConfigurationExtension
The Problem
The provisioning profiles for the extension targets (BreakloopMonitorExtension and BreakloopShieldConfigurationExtension) do not include the com.apple.developer.device-activity entitlement even though:
• The App IDs in the Developer Portal have Family Controls (Development) enabled.
• The extensions have the correct entitlements file with both:
com.apple.developer.family-controls
com.apple.developer.device-activity
• Xcode Signing & Capabilities points to the correct provisioning profile + certificate.
Because the provisioning profiles don’t include the entitlement, the build fails with:
Provisioning profile doesn't include the com.apple.developer.device-activity entitlement.
What Apple Support Said
Apple Support told me:
• “Family Controls grants access to Device Activity.”
• They cannot enable it manually or guarantee that profiles will include the entitlement.
• They sent links to the documentation but no further assistance.
What I Need Help With
1. Has anyone successfully built extensions using Family Controls + Device Activity?
2. Do I need to request any additional approval for Device Activity, or should it appear automatically once Family Controls is enabled?
3. Is there a known Xcode or Apple Developer Portal configuration issue that causes the entitlement to be missing in provisioning profiles?
4. Any working example of a project setup that uses Family Controls + Device Activity in extensions would be extremely helpful.
Extra Info
• We use the latest Xcode + iOS SDK.
• Tried recreating certificates, profiles, and App IDs multiple times.
• Followed Apple’s docs for Family Controls + Device Activity exactly.
I would greatly appreciate any guidance, especially from someone who has this working with iOS app extensions.
Thank you!
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Entitlements
Tags:
Entitlements
Family Controls
Device Activity
Screen Time
New to working with xcode and building apps. I started last weekend, and deploying to my usb connected iPhone 16 was working great all week. Yesterday, I upgraded to a paid developer account to start using TestFlight, and I could no longer deploy to my phone.
Failed to install embedded profile for com.spred.spred-alpha : 0xe800801a (This provisioning profile does not have a valid signature (or it has a valid, but untrusted signature).)
i using automatic provisioning - not a custom provisioning profile.
i have tried:
deleting all the certificates in keychain for my developer account and recreating them, and also doing the same in the developer portal.
logging out and logging back in with my developer id in xcode
deleting the app bundle directory and all other associated files in the Xcode/DerivedData directory
reinstalling Xcode
cleaning my build directory and trying again.
changing the bundle identifier to a new name. (It always matches the portal app name)
Among other things. It just won’t work. I can run the app inn a simulator, but not get it deployed to my phone.
what else can I do? The only things I can think of are that somehow Xcode is still stuck using the free account somehow, or that the free account cert originally used expired after 7 days, and now I’m in some stuck state.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Hello,
Recently our team requested the "Notification (NSE) filtering" capability. Our request was rejected but we sent a new request with a more detailed explanation of our need.
However if we go check the status of the request in the Capability Requests tab the status is "No requests". We sent the new request yesterday.
Is it even possible to request a capability after a rejected request? We really need the capability and the absence of it is blocking our progress.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Hello, when building and signing my application in a Github actions workflow, I am facing an issue on the latest version of xCode (16.4). This issue is resolved by downgrading to 16.3.
My CI/CD pipeline is running headless and installing provisioning profile to ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles.
Hi,
I am experiencing an issue where Xcode displays a "Provisioning profile doesn't support the capability" error for the User Assigned Device Name capability, despite it being approved by Apple and visible in our provisioning profile on the Developer Portal.
Background
We have completed and submitted the required capability request form to Apple for the User Assigned Device Name capability and received approval. The capability appears correctly in our provisioning profile on the Apple Developer Portal and shows among the enabled capabilities alongside other standard capabilities like In-App Purchase and Push Notifications.
Issue
However, Xcode consistently displays the error message when trying to enable the User Assigned Device Name capability in our project settings, preventing successful builds with this functionality.
Troubleshooting Steps Attempted
We have tried multiple troubleshooting steps including:
Regenerating provisioning profiles
Performing clean builds
Clearing DerivedData
Manually installing profiles
Adding the com.apple.developer.device-information.user-assigned-device-name entitlement manually to our entitlements file
Toggling automatic signing on and off
Environment Details
Xcode Version: 16.4 (16F6)
iOS Deployment Target: iOS 13
Profile Type: Distribution provisioning profile
Capability: User Assigned Device Name
Despite the capability being approved by Apple and visible in our provisioning profile, Xcode does not recognize it. This appears to be a synchronization issue between the Apple Developer Portal and Xcode's capability validation system.
Has anyone encountered similar issues with recently approved capabilities, specifically the User Assigned Device Name capability? Could you please provide guidance on how to resolve this capability recognition issue? Any suggestions for resolving this discrepancy between the Developer Portal and Xcode would be greatly appreciated.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
Tags:
Xcode
Provisioning Profiles
Hi Apple DTS & community folks,
I’m reaching out regarding an issue we’ve encountered with the com.apple.developer.mail-client capability for our app (bundle identifier: so.notion.Mail).
We were granted this entitlement last week to allow the app to be set as a default Mail client. While everything works as expected when archiving and distributing builds locally in Xcode, we’re running into a problem when using Xcode Cloud. Specifically, Xcode Cloud attempts to archive and distribute an Ad-Hoc build, but the Ad-Hoc provisioning profile does not include this special entitlement. Since we’re using Xcode-managed profiles, we don’t have the ability to create or adjust an explicit profile ourselves.
This issue only arises in Xcode Cloud—local distribution works unless we explicitly attempt an Ad-Hoc build (which is not our intent). I’ve included a screenshot of the error for reference.
We found this forum post describing the same issue, where the resolution was Apple enabling the entitlement for Ad-Hoc builds.
We’d like to request that Apple enable this capability for Ad-Hoc builds for the Notion Mail application so that Xcode Cloud distribution functions correctly.
Thank you for your help!
I've recently upgraded to the RC candidates of macOS 26 and Xcode 26. The app I'm building has a helper tool using SMAppService. When I run the app and helper tool in macOS 15 or macOS 26, all works as expected. When it runs on macOS 13 or 14, which previously worked. The helper now crashes on launch with the following reason:
Termination Reason: CODESIGNING 4 Launch Constraint Violation
I found this developer session which seems to address this, but the plist I've added doesn't seem to satisfy the constraint.
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10266/
Here are the contents of my new plist:
Are there any gotchas here that I might be missing?
Thanks!
I have an application that I have been signing, notarizing and distributing to beta testers for a year with no issues, note: I have never got stapling to work I always get a error 65 in the process. But up until yesterday that hasn't been an issue and online verification has always worked. Yesterday morning around 9am online gatekeeper verification has been failing with:
APP not opened,
apple cannot verify app is free of malware. etc
this keeps happening, with every build I try. redownloading previously successful builds show the same behavior
I know I can allow in privacy and security, but heading towards launch I dont want to have to tell users to do that.
has there been a change in how gatekeeper works or issues with the service?
any help with this or getting stapling working would be very appreciated!
Hi,
This is my first time developing for iPhone, and I believe I have encountered an unusual edge case related to user management.
Background:
I work at a very small company currently in the proof-of-concept stage of building an iOS app. We created an Apple account under the company name: Green Vibe, using our corporate email. Initially, I developed the app under the free account on my local iPhone, and everything worked smoothly.
When NFC functionality became necessary, we upgraded to a paid Apple Developer account. At that point, I enrolled as a developer under my personal name (Or Itach) while logged in with the Green Vibe Apple account. I want to emphasize that only one Apple account was created — the Green Vibe account.
The Issue:
When attempting to add NFC, I was able to create the required certificate under the name Or Itach. However, when compiling the project, Xcode prompts me to enter the login password for the user Or Itach. This is problematic because there is no Apple ID associated with that name — only the Apple Developer enrollment under Green Vibe exists.
Request:
Could you please advise on the proper way to resolve this situation? Specifically:
Should the developer enrollment be tied directly to the Green Vibe account rather than to an individual name?
How can I correctly configure the account so that Xcode no longer requires a nonexistent Apple ID password?
Thank you very much for your support and clarification.
Topic:
Code Signing
SubTopic:
General