Renewing (not Editing) Provisioning development profile (universal distribution) that is about to expire

Hello there!

I found the page on Docs about Editing provisioning profiles: https://developer.apple.com/help/account/manage-profiles/edit-download-or-delete-profiles/ but there, are showed only cases where one should edit it or when it is expired. It is not showed the case where the profile IS ABOUT to expire. What If it is about to expire and I want to act before expiring? Somewhere on the forum I read that clicking "save" with no changes could be enough, but it is not clear to me if I need to choose something more about it.

  • I add a screenshot since It seems to me the UI changed a bit recently.
  • using Enterprise developer program, in-house distribution
  • I can see no certificate with dec 31 2025 (+ - 1 day) on my dev page certificates list.
  • but I have, among my certificates, an iOS distribution certificate with exactly nov 23 2026 es expiration date.
  1. why are two choices present with two different expiration dates?
  2. with which criteria should I pick one or the other?
  3. if I have no need to change something, what should I do or do not in this screen at renewal time? (I.E. at beginning of December 2024?)
  4. app Id should be the bundle id, is it so? but in this moment app and id are different, shouldn't they be the same?

Answered by DTS Engineer in 807075022

For in-house development you get two provisioning profiles for distributing apps and you can generate a set of certificates for signing using either one. The idea is that you can use one of your profiles to keep your in-house apps up and running by leapfrogging from one to the other while doing updates when the older provisioning profile expires. Your apps will stop functioning shortly after the provisioning profile it was built with expires so by juggling your expiration dates and updates this way your app will always running on a valid provisioning profile.

For in-house development you get two provisioning profiles for distributing apps and you can generate a set of certificates for signing using either one. The idea is that you can use one of your profiles to keep your in-house apps up and running by leapfrogging from one to the other while doing updates when the older provisioning profile expires. Your apps will stop functioning shortly after the provisioning profile it was built with expires so by juggling your expiration dates and updates this way your app will always running on a valid provisioning profile.

thanks for answering me!

ok, now the "why" is pretty clear, leapfrogging between certificates at each major release of the app, right? This "path of action"could be stressed more, documentation could be updated in that sense, I never managed something like that, and such mechanism is not immediate to grasp in the very wide "certificate sea".

Could you clarify even regarding the "hows" in my question?. In a situation like mine, where I need to renew certificate BEFORE it expires (last year my app stopped working on devices), I just need to press save? Is it enough the following?:

  • go on that page (screenshot)
  • pick a new expiration date
  • tap save
  • download the certificate
  • open it with keychain on my mac
  • archive the app
  • deliver new .ipa

thanks in advance.

sorry I logged in with old account of mine fore previous reply,

Renewing (not Editing) Provisioning development profile (universal distribution) that is about to expire
 
 
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