Signing and Publishing Custom CT Mobile apps

To distribute custom CT Mobile apps for research and public use, review the process of signing and publishing a custom CT Mobile app.

  1. Get a Certificate

  2. Specify Bundle ID

  3. Add Devices

  4. Obtain a Provisioning Profile

  5. Add Required Values to XCode

  6. App Store Connect

1. Get a Certificate

These steps must be done on a Mac computer that you will use to submit and publish your custom CT Mobile apps to the App Store. While you can transfer access to another Mac computer, we recommend following these steps on the actual machine you will use to submit apps.

To get the .cer file:

  1. On your Mac, go to Applications → Utilities → Keychain Access.

  2. In Keychain Access, go to Certificate Assistant → Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority and fill out the following:

    1. In the User Email Address field, enter the email address to identify with this certificate.

    2. In the Common Name field, enter your name.

    3. In the Request is field, select Save to disk.

  3. Click Continue and save the certificate locally. Certificate Assistant creates a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) file, which contains a public/private key pair.

  4. Sign in to Apple Developer and click Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles.

  5. In the left menu, click Certificates and then click the Plus button to add a new certificate.

  6. Select the type of certificate and click Continue.

    • iOS Distribution (App Store and Ad Hoc) to generate an organization-wide certificate to sign all custom CT Mobile builds, regardless of distribution method.

    • iOS App Development to generate a developer certificate for debugging.

    • Distribution: In House to distribute CT mobile using MDM.

      To view this option, you must be a member of the Apple Developer Enterprise Program.

  7. In the Create a New Certificate, click Choose File, add the CSR from step 3, and click Continue.

  8. Click Download to load the .cer file. The certificate has the iPhone Distribution <firstname><lastname> name and will expire one year from today’s date.

  9. Click the file from step 8 and click Add to add it to Keychain Access.

The certificate in the .cer format is created.

In case of need to share the certificate with other developers, convert it into the .p12 file.

  1. Go to Keychain Access → My certificates → right-click on the desired certificate and click Export.

  2. Save the certificate in the .p12 format.

  3. When asked for a password, leave it blank and click OK.

  4. When asked for the Mac password, enter it and click OK.

The certificate in the .p12 format is saved.

2. Specify Bundle ID

Each CT Mobile app has a unique bundle identifier.

To specify it:

  1. On your Apple Developer page, click Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles.

  2. In the left menu, click Identifiers and click the Plus button to add a new bundle ID.

  3. Select the App IDs option and click Continue.

  4. Fill out the following and click Continue:

    1. add Description.

    2. add bundle ID for the Explicit option. The Wildcard option is used for one and more applications.

    3. select required Capabilities (not available for the Wildcard option).

  5. Click Register.

The bundle ID is specified.

3. Add Devices

When you have the iOS App Development certificate to create a custom CT Mobile app for research and test purposes, provide a list of devices that can install the application. Otherwise, skip this step.

To add devices:

  1. On your Apple Developer page, click Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles.

  2. In the left menu, click Devices and then click the Plus button to add devices.

  3. Perform one of the following and click Continue:

    1. add Platform, Device Name, and Device ID (UDID).

    2. choose a file to upload a list of devices.

  4. Click Continue.

Devices are added.

To find Device ID (UDID), use one of the following:

  • Connect your device to Mac and next go to About this Mac → System Report → USB → click on your device label and look at the value next to Serial Number—the UDID of your connected device.

  • Open UDID.io on your device, then Tap to find UDID and install the OAT certificate. Then it will show the UDID, IMEI, and Serial Number of your device.

  • Connect your device to Mac and open any of your XCode projects → Window → Devices and Simulators → look at the value next to the Identifier label—this is the UDID of your connected device.

4. Obtain a Provisioning Profile

Use the appropriate provisioning profile with the generated certificate:

  • Create a provisioning profile for research and test purposes and use it with the limited park of devices.

  • Create a provisioning profile to distribute your custom CT Mobile app for users.

To create a provisioning profile:

  1. On your Apple Developer page, click Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles.

  2. In the left menu, click Profiles and then click the Plus button to create a new profile.

  3. Select the profile type and click Continue.

    Type Description Limitations Expiration

    iOS App Development

    This type uniquely ties developers and devices to an authorized Development Team and enables a device to be used for testing.

    The device must be physically connected to your machine with a cable or over the network.

    –

    Ad Hoc

    This type lets you test your built apps on devices you have configured in App Store Connect. For example, to distribute your app by a link to a small group of testers that are not included in the Development Team of your organization.

    • maximum 1000 devices

    • the UDID of devices should be specified

    Certificate: 3 years

    Apps: 1 year

    App Store

    Use this type to post your apps in the Apple App Store. The distribution certificate is tied to a specific Mac.

    no limitations

    Expires after a year

    In-house

    In-house lets you build the .ipa file and host it on the Customertimes server for distribution by a link or using an MDM solution.

    • must be a member of the Apple Developer Enterprise Program

    • Unlimited devices, if distributed within the organization.

    Certificate: 3 years

    Apps: 1 year

  4. Select the appropriate App ID from the list and click Continue.

  5. Select the appropriate certificate and click Continue.

  6. Enter Provisioning Profile Name and click Generate.

  7. Click Download.

The provisioning profile is created.

5. Add Required Values to XCode

First, check that the generated certificate is added to your Keychain Access.

Next, specify the bundle ID into your XCode project as described in XCode Help: Set the bundle ID.

Finally, make sure that the corresponding provisioning profile is loaded into your XCode project:

  1. Open your XCode project → Signing & Capabilities.

  2. Click the Provisioning Profile field → Import a Profile.

  3. Select your generated provisioning profile.

The setup is complete.

6. App Store Connect

Use this step to upload your custom CT Mobile app to the App Store. For more information, refer to XCode Help: Distribute an app through the App Store.

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