Demystify code signing and its importance in app development. Get help troubleshooting code signing issues and ensure your app is properly signed for distribution.

All subtopics
Posts under Code Signing topic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

What is the difference between applying "hardened runtime" to an executable and adding the `-o library` flag to codesign?
Hey, Just recently I realized something I have been overlooking in my build pipelines. I thought that by adding the the "hardened runtime", I disable 3rd-party library injection (I do not have the disable-library-validation entitlement added). However, I was using some checks on my code and I noticed that the "library validation" code signature check fails on my applications (e.g. adding the .libraryValidation requirement via the LightweightCodeRequirements framework) - with codesign -dvvvv /path/to/app I can check it doesn't have the CS_REQUIRE_LV flag: [...] CodeDirectory v=20500 size=937 flags=0x10000(runtime) hashes=18+7 location=embedded [...] then I used in Xcode the "Other Code Signing Flags" setting and added the -o library option, which added the flag: [...] CodeDirectory v=20500 size=937 flags=0x12000(library-validation,runtime) hashes=18+7 location=embedded [...] Is this flag something I should be explicitly setting? Because I was under the impression enabling hardened runtime would be enough. Popular Developer ID distributed applications (e.g. Google Chrome, Parallels Desktop, Slack) all have this flag set.
1
1
311
Sep ’25
After deploying our app, we encountered an issue where the app fails to launch properly on certain devices.
Hello, After deploying our app, we encountered an issue where the app fails to launch properly on certain devices. To rule out potential code issues, we created a new clean project and tested it with the basic setup (certificate, bundle ID, and team). The app installs and runs fine on most devices, but it fails to open immediately on specific models. (The affected model is listed below.) Version: iOS 18.3.1 Model: iPhone 14 Pro After reviewing the console logs, we found an issue related to the app launching process. Could this issue be related to the app's configuration or the provisioning profile? We would appreciate any insight into why this issue occurs only on certain devices. Thank you for your help!
1
1
446
Feb ’25
All notarization submissions stuck "In Progress" for 24+ hours — first-time Electron app
I'm submitting my first macOS app (an Electron app, signed with Developer ID Application certificate and hardened runtime) for notarization using xcrun notarytool submit with App Store Connect API key authentication. All 6 of my submissions have been stuck at "In Progress" for over 24 hours now. The oldest submission is 27+ hours old. None have transitioned to Accepted or Invalid. Here's what I've verified: Code signing is valid: codesign --verify --deep --strict passes Hardened runtime is enabled Uploads succeed: Each submission receives a valid submission ID and the file uploads successfully to Apple's servers API key auth is working: Using App Store Connect API key (.p8 file), Key ID, and Issuer ID Tried both locally and via GitHub Actions CI — same result Polling Apple's status endpoint eventually times out with NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1001 "The request timed out" when checking https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/notary/v2/submissions/<id> Logs are not available (notarytool log returns "not yet available" for all submissions) Apple Developer System Status shows "Developer ID Notary Service" as Available Submission history: createdDate: 2026-02-04T20:27:16Z — status: In Progress createdDate: 2026-02-04T16:45:18Z — status: In Progress createdDate: 2026-02-04T13:40:23Z — status: In Progress createdDate: 2026-02-04T12:29:52Z — status: In Progress createdDate: 2026-02-04T11:26:36Z — status: In Progress createdDate: 2026-02-04T11:21:39Z — status: In Progress Entitlements used: com.apple.security.cs.allow-jit com.apple.security.cs.allow-unsigned-executable-memory com.apple.security.cs.disable-library-validation com.apple.security.network.client com.apple.security.files.user-selected.read-write This is my first time notarizing any app on this developer account. I've seen other threads mentioning that first-time submissions can be "held for in-depth analysis," but 24+ hours with no feedback at all seems excessive. Is anyone else currently experiencing this? Is there anything I can do to unblock my account's notarization queue, or do I just need to wait? Any guidance from DTS would be greatly appreciated. I've also emailed Apple Developer Support but haven't received a response yet.
3
1
385
2d
URGENT: Multiple Notarization Submissions Stuck "In Progress" 5+ Days - Blocking Release
Hi Apple Developer Relations / Notary Service Team, CRITICAL: All notarization submissions stuck "In Progress" since Feb 1, 2026 (5+ days). Blocking product release. Latest (PRIORITY): 9bf1e3ca-33ed-4185-816c-2e06ff539f25 Stuck submissions: a9f1abf6-04a1-462c-b7d1-91e834b44c1a 94a172f8-4aa6-475c-a7ec-fd83c8cfc49a e2c033da-a1d0-480c-a3b5-5401a8dd3d03 eecefd87-8bf9-496c-86c8-c6f0d6a550e0 b1d27d30-7111-4cc7-9f0e-3f44aac43a97 Details: Team ID: JA8C8B5W34 App: 323MB DMG (codesign verified) notarytool log: "not available" (In Progress) Status page: Green Requests: Process 9bf1e3ca-33ed-4185-816c-2e06ff539f25 Queue status / ETA? @Quinn or Notary team - production blocker!
1
1
61
2d
Notarization Issue
Hey there, I'm experiencing an issue with notarization of my macOS application, which is blocking a release. We have signing/notarization hooked up to our CI process, both for prior releases as well as development builds (at the trunk tip). The notarization process has typically taken anywhere from a few minutes to a few tens of minutes, but for our most recent release, it's taking an unreasonably long time. I've compiled the submission info for each build (+ reattempted notarizations) below. What's interesting is that the oldest one was accepted- however, it timed out our CI process, so we never actually released it. Subsequent builds are more or less identical in terms of their content, however, they've been stewing in the notarization process for over 13 hours in some cases. % xcrun notarytool info 67413dae-64f5-4372-972d-e0ac158e18e3 Successfully received submission info createdDate: 2025-04-02T16:28:25.999Z id: 67413dae-64f5-4372-972d-e0ac158e18e3 name: Warp Vault.app.zip status: In Progress % xcrun notarytool info 0c72b243-4a8d-4976-a97b-75689d7e2497 Successfully received submission info createdDate: 2025-04-02T05:49:05.861Z id: 0c72b243-4a8d-4976-a97b-75689d7e2497 name: Warp Vault.app.zip status: In Progress % xcrun notarytool info 8e2edfc2-58bc-4b33-bc8e-078155759a81 Successfully received submission info createdDate: 2025-04-02T05:23:28.870Z id: 8e2edfc2-58bc-4b33-bc8e-078155759a81 name: Warp Vault.app.zip status: In Progress % xcrun notarytool info 8fb17b0c-ace4-4b6f-bef8-68d22696814d Successfully received submission info createdDate: 2025-04-02T05:07:48.187Z id: 8fb17b0c-ace4-4b6f-bef8-68d22696814d name: Warp Vault.app.zip status: Accepted At the time of checking, the UTC date was: % TZ="UTC" date Wed Apr 2 18:42:14 UTC 2025 It's interesting to me that the notarization process is taking this long. We've notarized many development builds (with debugging flags enabled) in the time between our last public release and our attempt to notarize this one. What's more, the original build for this release was notarized within the span of about 15 minutes, but subsequent submissions of the same build have hung for tens of hours. My two questions are: How can I get our pending notarizations "unstuck"?, and To prevent these types of hangs in the future, should I also routinely build/sign/notarize non-debug builds of my application during the development process? Best regards and many thanks, Charlton
3
1
200
Apr ’25
Notarizing macOS software
Hi everyone!! I am submitting an App for Notarization for the first time, I have several attempts, some returned invalid and other show In Progress for more than 8 hours. Is that normal? I addressed the issues that make the other ones Invalid. Thanks so much!
2
0
243
3w
FamilyControls entitlement approved, but Provisioning Profile doesn't include deviceActivity & deviceActivityReporting
Hi - appreciate your help in advance! Building a simple habit tracking app. I got approval for FamilyControls distribution. After creating a new provisioning profile with those capabilities enabled, when I try and build in xcode (16.4) using that Profile I get an error stating: "Provisioning profile "CreateMoreFamilyControlsv2" doesn't include the com.apple.developer.deviceactivity and com.apple.developer.deviceactivity.reporting entitlements" I've confirmed bundle identifier matches, Team etc Similarly when i do automatic signing see 3rd screenshot. Not sure what to do at this point, I've heard deviceActivity is automatically applied when family controls is approved but still running into this issue.
2
0
246
Sep ’25
AppGroups data loss after App transfer and App update.
Hi, I just released a new version of an app that was transferred from another developer account. The previous version of this app used the App Groups feature to store some important data, and I would like to retrieve that data. In the new version, I’m using the same bundle identifier and the same App Group ID (which has already been deleted from the original developer account). I also added the App Groups entitlement in the project settings and set the same App Group ID. However, I still cannot access the data in the App Group. From the documentation and issues I’ve found, it seems that an app should still have permission to access the same App Group after being transferred. Did I miss something? Thanks!
2
0
260
Sep ’25
All Notarization Requests Stuck "In Progress" for Over 48 Hours
Hello, We are currently facing an issue with the Apple Notary Service that is completely blocking our production pipeline. For the past three days, every single submission has been stuck in the "In Progress" state indefinitely. Some submissions have been pending for over 48 hours, and none of them ever proceed to analysis. When checking the status via xcrun notarytool history, all entries show "In Progress". Attempting to retrieve logs with xcrun notarytool log always returns: Submission log is not yet available. This strongly suggests that the processing hasn't even started. This issue occurs consistently from my local machine (MacBook Air M3) and Our GitHub Actions CI workflow. Both environments are properly configured with Electron + Electron-Builder, and the app is correctly signed and uploaded each time. We have verified multiple times all credentials and code signing settings, no exceptions so far or problems in the pipeline. Here are a few stuck submission IDs: This is not a normal delay, it looks like a backend issue affecting our account or this specific App ID. Please escalate this case as soon as possible. We appreciate your urgent attention. Best
1
1
141
Jun ’25
"Signing certificate" and post-installation assignment fail due to IOPCIPrimaryMatch
I'm having trouble configuring the "IOPCIPrimaryMatch" entitlement. I'm currently developing using "sign to run locally" and have been able to confirm the expected behavior. I was considering signing with "Developer ID Application" for future distribution to customers, but after finding the following forum, I'm now aiming to sign with "Apple Development." https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/743021 I'm currently having trouble with the IOPCIPrimaryMatch value. The "signing certificate" status in Xcode changes depending on the value, as follows: Successful if the value is as follows: IOPCIPrimaryMatch 0xFFFFFFFF&0x00161916 An error occurs if the value is as follows: IOPCIPrimaryMatch 0xFFFFFFFF&0x00161916 So I tried building and installing using "0xFFFFFFFF&0x00161916", but this time the driver was not assigned to the PCI device. By the way, when I used "sign to run locally", both the installation and assignment were successful with the following: IOPCIPrimaryMatch 0xFFFFFFFF&0x00161916 Could you please tell me the correct way to write this?
13
0
1.5k
Dec ’25
Can't Provision A Device
Hi First, I hope I'm in the right place, I'm not certain. I'm having my first attempt at IOS development and want to see the progress I've made on my phone. I plugged it in to my Mac and selected it as a preview device and got the following messages in the Signing & Capabilities screen: Your team has no devices from which to generate a provisioning profile. Connect a device to use or manually add device IDs in Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. https://developer.apple.com/account/ No profiles for '...' were found: Xcode couldn't find any iOS App Development provisioning profiles matching '...'. My account and personal team are shown in the Xcode settings, but it says 0 Provisioned Devices. I also tried restarting, and enabled developer mode on the phone. I checked the provided link, but saw nowhere to add a device ID. Clearly I don't understand what I'm doing. Can anyone help me make sense of this?
2
0
359
Dec ’25
Legacy Team ID prevents adding AppClip
My iOS app was created with a legacy Team ID in 2011. When I try to add an AppClip to the app, the Team ID on the AppClip is the new Team ID. Xcode prevents the build from completing. The com.apple.developer.parent-application-identifiers entitlement (null) of an App Clip must match the application-identifier entitlement ('TYXXXXXP2.com.it-guy.MyApp') of its containing parent app. How can this be resolved? Can the AppClip Team ID be changed in "Identifiers" on the developer.apple.com?
3
0
175
Jan ’26
Notary service down again?
Is the Notary service unavailable again? The system-status page shows it as being green but I am back to receiving the same error as previously which fixed itself once the notary service went green again and I am unable to notarize and staple my Distribution PKG.
7
0
500
Nov ’25
In-House distribution Certificate about to expire
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
1
0
129
Sep ’25
GateKeeper rejects application bundles with a file name with an NFC/NFD problem by copying with Finder
I made a macOS application using Swift Package and distributed it in dmg format through Apple Notary service. However, we received a report from a user that it can be launched from a disk image mounted from dmg, but when copied to /Applications, the app is broken and does not start. I looked into why this happened, I noticed that the codesign command returned different results when copying the application bundle and /Applications on the volume mounted dmg with Finder. Mounted dmg: OK ❯ codesign --verify --deep --verbose /Volumes/azoo-key-skkserv/azoo-key-skkserv.app /Volumes/azoo-key-skkserv/azoo-key-skkserv.app: valid on disk /Volumes/azoo-key-skkserv/azoo-key-skkserv.app: satisfies its Designated Requirement Copied by Finder: Bad codesign reports that there are 148 added/missing files. ❯ codesign --verify --deep --verbose /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app: a sealed resource is missing or invalid file added: /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app/Contents/Resources/AzooKeyKanakanjiConverter_KanaKanjiConverterModuleWithDefaultDictionary.bundle/Contents/Resources/Dictionary/louds/グ1.loudstxt3 (skip...) file missing: /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app/Contents/Resources/AzooKeyKanakanjiConverter_KanaKanjiConverterModuleWithDefaultDictionary.bundle/Contents/Resources/Dictionary/louds/グ1.loudstxt3 (skip...) Copied by ditto: OK ❯ ditto /Volumes/azoo-key-skkserv/azoo-key-skkserv.app /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app ❯ codesign --verify --deep --verbose /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app: valid on disk /Applications/azoo-key-skkserv.app: satisfies its Designated Requirement I made a simple macOS application to explain this problem in an easy-to-understand way. You can download dmg in github releases, mount dmg, copy it in the Finder, and check if there is a problem by running the codesign command. https://github.com/mtgto/example-utf8-mac-notarization As a result, I learned the following two things. Occurs only with resources with file names whose values change due to NFC/NFD normalization No problems occur with the resources of the application itself. Generated by the Swift Package resources that the application depends on I think this is a problem with Finder or Gatekeeper.
Topic: Code Signing SubTopic: General
5
1
315
Aug ’25
Is a LaunchCodeRequirement Time-Of-Check/Time-Of-Use protected?
In the LightweightCodeRequirements framework, there is a LaunchCodeRequirement object which can be used as a requirement object for a Process for example. What I don't understand (I admit my macOS low-level knowledge is limited) is that how can this be used in a secure way that doesn't fall victim of a Time-of-Check/Time-of-Use issue. e.g. I specify a LaunchCodeRequirement via Process.launchRequirement for my process, let's say /usr/local/bin/mycommandlinetool. The LaunchCodeRequirement specifies my development team and a developer ID certificate. The process must be started in some form, before a SecCode/SecTask object can be created, rather than a SecStaticCode object (which only guarantees its validity checks to be intact as long as the file is not modified). But if the process was started, then I have no tools in my set to prevent it from executing its initialization code or similar. Then, by the time I'm able to check via SecCode/SecTask functions the LaunchCodeRequirement, I might have already ran malicious code - if mycommandlinetool was maliciously replaced. Or does the operating system use a daemon to copy the executable specified for Process to a secure location, then creates the SecStaticCode object, assesses the LaunchCodeRequirement and if passed, launches the executable from that trusted location (which would make sure it is immutable for replacement by malicious actors)? I have a hard time understanding how this works under the hood - if I remember correctly these are private APIs.
3
1
186
Aug ’25
CarPlay Navigation Entitlement
We've been trying to get the CarPlay Navigation Entitlement for a couple years now without much luck. Did you have a similar experience? How did you succeed getting the entitlement? Part of the form requires us to submit Screenshots. Did you provide screenshots of your on-device experience or wireframe for CarPlay? How was your experience?
0
1
178
Aug ’25
Unable to test my apps, crashing with provisioning profile validation
Since around September (iOS 26 release), i'm unable to test my app normally. It says "internet connection is required to verify [my certificate id]", or just crashing. All terms and conditions accepted, everything is valid, certificates are OK. Reinstallation via xcode does not help. Removal of provisioning profile, generating new does not help. Revoking of certificate and generating new does for around week, then it happens again, but do i need to do it every week now? In logs i see the following: default amfid validation failed because of missing trust and/or authorization (0xe8008026) error amfid not valid: 0xe8008026: The provisioning profile requires online authorization. error amfid Unexpected MISError (0xe8008026): The provisioning profile requires online authorization. default +0300 amfid /private/var/containers/Bundle/Application/5B8E560E-75B2-46EF-8606-02072D99E9CF//Frameworks/oss.dylib not valid: Error Domain=AppleMobileFileIntegrityError Code=-400 "An unknown error was encountered" UserInfo={NSURL=file:///private/var/containers/Bundle/Application/5B8E560E-75B2-46EF-8606-02072D99E9CF//Frameworks/oss.dylib, NSLocalizedDescription=An unknown error was encountered} default kernel AMFI: code signature validation failed. It looks like apple validation servers are not working, or is it iOS bug? All provisioning profiles are showing like "valid" in apple developer center. My network is not behind a proxy, connection is direct. If use EXACTLY the same app, signed with the same provisioning, same signature, on another test device, it works! When i reset current device to default settings and installing the EXACTLY same app after it, it works as well. Looking for a help from apple developer support
0
1
136
Oct ’25