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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Unable to provision target
I have added an in-app purchase function into my app, and have enabled in-app purchase profile in developer portal(it's on by default and is marked gray in developer portal, I don't know if that's how it supposed to look like). I have issued the agreements and tried signing the app both manually and automatically, but neither of that worked. App can be built successfully in simulator but does not show the simulation window, but cannot build on real device or archive. Errors: Missing com.apple.developer.in-app-purchase, com.apple.developer.in-app-purchase.non-consumable, and com.apple.developer.in-app-purchase.subscription entitlements. Automatic signing failed Xcode failed to provision this target.
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185
Oct ’25
com.apple.developer.family-controls Distribution Timeline?
Hi All, Like many others I'm a little confused with gaining access to the family controls capability. Our app is ready to push to testflight, and we sent the request to apple last week. However only learning today that we need to request for the shield extension as well. I wanted to ask what the expected timeline is for being approved? I've seen posts here saying less than a week, and some people having to wait longer than 6 weeks. Any advise or guidance on getting approved smoothly & swiftly would be highly appreciated
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152
Aug ’25
Investigating Third-Party IDE Code-Signing Problems
I regularly see questions from folks who’ve run into code-signing problems with their third-party IDE. There’s a limit to how much I can help you with such problems. This post explains a simple test you can run to determine what side of that limit you’re on. If you have any questions or comments, please put them in a new thread here on DevForums. Put it in Code Signing > General topic area and apply whatever tags make sense for your specific situation. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Investigating Third-Party IDE Code-Signing Problems DTS doesn’t support third-party tools. If you’re using third-party tooling and encounter a code-signing problem, run this test to determine whether you should seek help from Apple or from your tool’s vendor. IMPORTANT Some third-party tools create Xcode projects that you then build and run in Xcode. While that approach is understandable, it’s not something that DTS supports. So, the steps below make sense even if you’re already using Xcode. To check that code-signing is working in general: Launch Xcode. In Xcode > Settings > Accounts, make sure you’re signed in with your developer account. Create a new project from the app project template for your target platform. For example, if you’re targeting iOS, use the iOS > App project template. When creating the project: Select the appropriate team in the Team popup. Choose a bundle ID that’s not the same as your main app’s bundle ID. Choose whatever language and interface you want. Your language and interface choices are irrelevant to code signing. Choose None for your testing system and storage model. This simplifies your project setup. In the Signing & Capabilities editor, make sure that: "Automatically manage signing” is checked. The Team popup and Bundle Identifier fields match the value you chose in the previous step. Select a simulator as the run destination. Choose Product > Build. This should always work because the simulator doesn’t use code signing [1]. However, doing this step is important because it confirms that your project is working general. Select your target device as the run destination. Choose Product > Build. Then Product > Run. If you continue to have problems, that’s something that Apple folks can help you with. If this works, there’s a second diagnostic test: Repeat steps 1 through 10 above, except this time, in step 4, choose a bundle ID that is the same as your main app’s bundle ID. If this works then your issue is not on the Apple side of the fence, and you should escalate it via the support channel for the third-party tools you’re using. On the other hand, if this fails, that’s something we can help you with. I recommend that you first try to fix the issue yourself. For links to relevant resources, see Code Signing Resources. You should also search the forums, because we’ve helped a lot of folks with a lot of code-signing issues over the years. If you’re unable to resolve the issue yourself, feel free to start a thread here in the forums. Put it in Code Signing > General topic area and apply whatever tags make sense for your specific situation.
Topic: Code Signing SubTopic: General
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428
Aug ’25
Resolving Trusted Execution Problems
I help a lot of developers with macOS trusted execution problems. For example, they might have an app being blocked by Gatekeeper, or an app that crashes on launch with a code signing error. If you encounter a problem that’s not explained here, start a new thread with the details. Put it in the Code Signing > General subtopic and tag it with relevant tags like Gatekeeper, Code Signing, and Notarization — so that I see it. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Resolving Trusted Execution Problems macOS supports three software distribution channels: The user downloads an app from the App Store. The user gets a Developer ID-signed program directly from its developer. The user builds programs locally using Apple or third-party developer tools. The trusted execution system aims to protect users from malicious code. It’s comprised of a number of different subsystems. For example, Gatekeeper strives to ensure that only trusted software runs on a user’s Mac, while XProtect is the platform’s built-in anti-malware technology. Note To learn more about these technologies, see Apple Platform Security. If you’re developing software for macOS your goal is to avoid trusted execution entanglements. You want users to install and use your product without taking any special steps. If, for example, you ship an app that’s blocked by Gatekeeper, you’re likely to lose a lot of customers, and your users’ hard-won trust. Trusted execution problems are rare with Mac App Store apps because the Mac App Store validation process tends to catch things early. This post is primarily focused on Developer ID-signed programs. Developers who use Xcode encounter fewer trusted execution problems because Xcode takes care of many code signing and packaging chores. If you’re not using Xcode, consider making the switch. If you can’t, consult the following for information on how to structure, sign, and package your code: Placing content in a bundle Embedding nonstandard code structures in a bundle Embedding a command-line tool in a sandboxed app Creating distribution-signed code for macOS Packaging Mac software for distribution Gatekeeper Basics User-level apps on macOS implement a quarantine system for new downloads. For example, if Safari downloads a zip archive, it quarantines that archive. This involves setting the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute on the file. Note The com.apple.quarantine extended attribute is not documented as API. If you need to add, check, or remove quarantine from a file programmatically, use the quarantinePropertiesKey property. User-level unarchiving tools preserve quarantine. To continue the above example, if you double click the quarantined zip archive in the Finder, Archive Utility will unpack the archive and quarantine the resulting files. If you launch a quarantined app, the system invokes Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper checks the app for problems. If it finds no problems, it asks the user to confirm the launch, just to be sure. If it finds a problem, it displays an alert to the user and prevents them from launching it. The exact wording of this alert varies depending on the specific problem, and from release to release of macOS, but it generally looks like the ones shown in Apple > Support > Safely open apps on your Mac. The system may run Gatekeeper at other times as well. The exact circumstances under which it runs Gatekeeper is not documented and changes over time. However, running a quarantined app always invokes Gatekeeper. Unix-y networking tools, like curl and scp, don’t quarantine the files they download. Unix-y unarchiving tools, like tar and unzip, don’t propagate quarantine to the unarchived files. Confirm the Problem Trusted execution problems can be tricky to reproduce: You may encounter false negatives, that is, you have a trusted execution problem but you don’t see it during development. You may also encounter false positives, that is, things fail on one specific Mac but otherwise work. To avoid chasing your own tail, test your product on a fresh Mac, one that’s never seen your product before. The best way to do this is using a VM, restoring to a snapshot between runs. For a concrete example of this, see Testing a Notarised Product. The most common cause of problems is a Gatekeeper alert saying that it’s blocked your product from running. However, that’s not the only possibility. Before going further, confirm that Gatekeeper is the problem by running your product without quarantine. That is, repeat the steps in Testing a Notarised Product except, in step 2, download your product in a way that doesn’t set quarantine. Then try launching your app. If that launch fails then Gatekeeper is not the problem, or it’s not the only problem! Note The easiest way to download your app to your test environment without setting quarantine is curl or scp. Alternatively, use xattr to remove the com.apple.quarantine extended attribute from the download before you unpack it. For more information about the xattr tool, see the xattr man page. Trusted execution problems come in all shapes and sizes. Later sections of this post address the most common ones. But first, let’s see if there’s an easy answer. Run a System Policy Check macOS has a syspolicy_check tool that can diagnose many common trusted execution issues. To check an app, run the distribution subcommand against it: % syspolicy_check distribution MyApp.app App passed all pre-distribution checks and is ready for distribution. If there’s a problem, the tool prints information about that problem. For example, here’s what you’ll see if you run it against an app that’s notarised but not stapled: % syspolicy_check distribution MyApp.app App has failed one or more pre-distribution checks. --------------------------------------------------------------- Notary Ticket Missing File: MyApp.app Severity: Fatal Full Error: A Notarization ticket is not stapled to this application. Type: Distribution Error … Note In reality, stapling isn’t always required, so this error isn’t really Fatal (r. 151446728 ). For more about that, see The Pros and Cons of Stapling forums. And here’s what you’ll see if there’s a problem with the app’s code signature: % syspolicy_check distribution MyApp.app App has failed one or more pre-distribution checks. --------------------------------------------------------------- Codesign Error File: MyApp.app/Contents/Resources/added.txt Severity: Fatal Full Error: File added after outer app bundle was codesigned. Type: Notary Error … The syspolicy_check isn’t perfect. There are a few issues it can’t diagnose (r. 136954554, 151446550). However, it should always be your first step because, if it does work, it’ll save you a lot of time. Note syspolicy_check was introduced in macOS 14. If you’re seeing a problem on an older system, first check your app with syspolicy_check on macOS 14 or later. If you can’t run the syspolicy_check tool, or it doesn’t report anything actionable, continue your investigation using the instructions in the following sections. App Blocked by Gatekeeper If your product is an app and it works correctly when not quarantined but is blocked by Gatekeeper when it is, you have a Gatekeeper problem. For advice on how to investigate such issues, see Resolving Gatekeeper Problems. App Can’t Be Opened Not all failures to launch are Gatekeeper errors. In some cases the app is just broken. For example: The app’s executable might be missing the x bit set in its file permissions. The app’s executable might be subtly incompatible with the current system. A classic example of this is trying to run a third-party app that contains arm64e code on systems prior to macOS 26 beta. macOS 26 beta supports arm64e apps directly. Prior to that, third-party products (except kernel extensions) were limited to arm64, except for the purposes of testing. The app’s executable might claim restricted entitlements that aren’t authorised by a provisioning profile. Or the app might have some other code signing problem. Note For more information about provisioning profiles, see TN3125 Inside Code Signing: Provisioning Profiles. In such cases the system displays an alert saying: The application “NoExec” can’t be opened. [[OK]] Note In macOS 11 this alert was: You do not have permission to open the application “NoExec”. Contact your computer or network administrator for assistance. [[OK]] which was much more confusing. A good diagnostic here is to run the app’s executable from Terminal. For example, an app with a missing x bit will fail to run like so: % NoExec.app/Contents/MacOS/NoExec zsh: permission denied: NoExec.app/Contents/MacOS/NoExec And an app with unauthorised entitlements will be killed by the trusted execution system: % OverClaim.app/Contents/MacOS/OverClaim zsh: killed OverClaim.app/Contents/MacOS/OverClaim In some cases running the executable from Terminal will reveal useful diagnostics. For example, if the app references a library that’s not available, the dynamic linker will print a helpful diagnostic: % MissingLibrary.app/Contents/MacOS/MissingLibrary dyld[88394]: Library not loaded: @rpath/CoreWaffleVarnishing.framework/Versions/A/CoreWaffleVarnishing … zsh: abort MissingLibrary.app/Contents/MacOS/MissingLibrary Code Signing Crashes on Launch A code signing crash has the following exception information: Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGKILL (Code Signature Invalid)) The most common such crash is a crash on launch. To confirm that, look at the thread backtraces: Backtrace not available For steps to debug this, see Resolving Code Signing Crashes on Launch. One common cause of this problem is running App Store distribution-signed code. Don’t do that! For details on why that’s a bad idea, see Don’t Run App Store Distribution-Signed Code. Code Signing Crashes After Launch If your program crashes due to a code signing problem after launch, you might have encountered the issue discussed in Updating Mac Software. Non-Code Signing Failures After Launch The hardened runtime enables a number of security checks within a process. Some coding techniques are incompatible with the hardened runtime. If you suspect that your code is incompatible with the hardened runtime, see Resolving Hardened Runtime Incompatibilities. App Sandbox Inheritance If you’re creating a product with the App Sandbox enabled and it crashes with a trap within _libsecinit_appsandbox, it’s likely that you’re having App Sandbox inheritance problems. For the details, see Resolving App Sandbox Inheritance Problems. Library Loading Problem Most library loading problems have an obvious cause. For example, the library might not be where you expect it, or it might be built with the wrong platform or architecture. However, some library loading problems are caused by the trusted execution system. For the details, see Resolving Library Loading Problems. Explore the System Log If none of the above resolves your issue, look in the system log for clues as to what’s gone wrong. Some good keywords to search for include: gk, for Gatekeeper xprotect syspolicy, per the syspolicyd man page cmd, for Mach-O load command oddities amfi, for Apple mobile file integrity, per the amfid man page taskgated, see its taskgated man page yara, discussed in Apple Platform Security ProvisioningProfiles You may be able to get more useful logging with this command: % sudo sysctl -w security.mac.amfi.verbose_logging=1 Here’s a log command that I often use when I’m investigating a trusted execution problem and I don’t know here to start: % log stream --predicate "sender == 'AppleMobileFileIntegrity' or sender == 'AppleSystemPolicy' or process == 'amfid' or process == 'taskgated-helper' or process == 'syspolicyd'" For general information the system log, see Your Friend the System Log. Revision History 2025-08-06 Added the Run a System Policy Check section, which talks about the syspolicy_check tool (finally!). Clarified the discussion of arm64e. Made other editorial changes. 2024-10-11 Added info about the security.mac.amfi.verbose_logging option. Updated some links to point to official documentation that replaces some older DevForums posts. 2024-01-12 Added a specific command to the Explore the System Log section. Change the syspolicy_check callout to reflect that macOS 14 is no longer in beta. Made minor editorial changes. 2023-06-14 Added a quick call-out to the new syspolicy_check tool. 2022-06-09 Added the Non-Code Signing Failures After Launch section. 2022-06-03 Added a link to Don’t Run App Store Distribution-Signed Code. Fixed the link to TN3125. 2022-05-20 First posted.
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12k
Aug ’25
Universal Links Not Working on iOS 18 Due to App Re-signing
Hello, we are currently encountering a similar issue. We need to inject our capabilities into a third-party app by re-signing it (not a full re-signing process—just requiring the provisioning profile and certificate to match). However, this seems to affect the functionality of universal links. We've found that this issue only occurs on iOS 18. We noticed that when re-signing the app, the entitlements related to associated domains are changed to a wildcard: [Key] com.apple.developer.associated-domains [Value] [Array] [String] * However, this doesn’t cause any issues on iOS 17. Through further testing, we discovered that in order for universal links to work properly, we need to restore the original value of com.apple.developer.associated-domains and use a provisioning profile that matches the app's bundle ID. This means our previous re-signing approach using a certificate and provisioning profile from another bundle will no longer work. We’d like to ask: is this a new restriction introduced in iOS 18? If we manually restore the original com.apple.developer.associated-domains entitlement and use a provisioning profile that matches the app’s bundle ID, will universal links function correctly going forward?
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187
Apr ’25
Codesign login password
Xcode is prompting I enter a codesign login password when I am archiving my project. My password seems incorrect since there is no action after I enter my password and tap allow. what could be the problem?
Topic: Code Signing SubTopic: General
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136
Mar ’25
Binary Signing Error
I will post my app xyz.app uses XY swift package this swift package is a wrapper for XYSDK.xcframework XYSDK.xcframework written in c++ and app running on arm64 macos and iphones succesfully. I got this error when i want to distribute it. Currently i sign .framework for ios with Apple Distribution Certificate and same certificate for macos framework there is no other signing step for swift package or xcframework other than that when i want to archive it validates succesfully. Exporting step shows that app has signed, has provisining profile. but .framework is only signed has no provisioning profile. Also one point i see: i have one target named xyz and its Frameworks, Lİbraries and Embedded Context has only XY package but Embed part has no option like embed and sign etc. Blank. I need more info about what am i doing wrong in which step ? I am stuck and can not move any further like weeks Error Detail: Invalid Signature. The binary with bundle identifier XYSDK at path “xyz.app/Frameworks/XYSDK.framework” contains an invalid signature. Make sure you have signed your application with a distribution certificate, not an ad hoc certificate or a development certificate. Verify that the code signing settings in Xcode are correct at the target level (which override any values at the project level). Additionally, make sure the bundle you are uploading was built using a Release target in Xcode, not a Simulator target. If you are certain your code signing settings are correct, choose “Clean All” in Xcode, delete the “build” directory in the Finder, and rebuild your release target. For more information, please consult https://developer.apple.com/support/code-signing. (90035)
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137
May ’25
Missing code-signing certificate
*** Error: ERROR: [ContentDelivery.Uploader] Validation failed (409) Invalid Provisioning Profile. The provisioning profile included in the com.baiyun-shuniu.scss bundle [Payload/HBuilder.app] is invalid. [Missing code-signing certificate]. A distribution provisioning profile should be used when uploading apps to App Store Connect. (ID: e21c7a63-520f-49c5-8298-9afa3aa14dd5) 2025-05-13 09:23:20.382 INFO: [ContentDelivery.Uploader]
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141
May ’25
Enterprise Vendor Id changing when it shouldn't
Hi All, Really weird one here... I have two bundle ids with the same reverse dns name... com.company.app1 com.company.app2 app1 was installed on the device a year ago. app2 was also installed on the device a year ago but I released a new updated version and pushed it to the device via Microsoft InTunes. A year ago the vendor Id's matched as the bundle id's were on the same domain of com.company. Now for some reason the new build of app2 or any new app I build isn't being recognised as on the same domain as app1 even though the bundle id should make it so and so the Vendor Id's do not match and it is causing me major problems as I rely on the Vendor Id to exchange data between the apps on a certain device. In an enterprise environment, does anyone know of any other reason or things that could affect the Vendor Id? According to Apple docs, it seems that only the bundle name affects the vendor id but it isn't following those rules in this instance.
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295
Jun ’25
Third party SDKs signing requirement and expiration
Hi, I have some doubts about certificates expiration given this "new" requirement around signing for some common third party SDKs: https://developer.apple.com/support/third-party-SDK-requirements/ Use case: I build an SDK that will be distributed as an XCFramework and will be used in AppStore apps from different people. My SDK internally uses some other third party libraries that are integrated as binaries Let's assume some of those third party libraries are from the list above and therefore seem to be required to be signed. I distribute my SDK with all in order (third party SDKs from that list with valid signatures) People using my SDK over the time provide an update to their apps on the AppStore but by then some of the third party libraries of my SDK has an expired certificate. What would happen? People using my SDK won't have any issues as far as my SDK has a valid signature (despite third party libraries from the list have expired signatures) People using my SDK will get a warning about it but still will be able to submit to the AppStore. In that case, would AppStore Review process decline the update? People using my SDK will get an error, not being able to submit to the AppStore and will require me an update version of the SDK with those third party libraries re-signed. My understanding is that all would work as far as my SDK has a valid signature (after all is the one taking responsibility of the code inside), independently of what happens with the signature of those libraries themselves, am I correct?.
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131
Apr ’25
How to Share Provisioning Profiles with Customers for macOS App Distribution
I am distributing a macOS application outside the App Store using Developer ID and need to provide provisioning profiles to customers for installation during the package installation process. I have two questions: How can I package and provide the provisioning profile(s) so that the customer can install them easily during the application installation process? Are there any best practices or tools that could simplify this step? In my case, there are multiple provisioning profiles. Should I instruct the customer to install each profile individually, or is there a way to combine them and have them installed all at once? Any guidance on the best practices for this process would be greatly appreciated.
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136
Jun ’25
Crash log
base" : 6481543168, "size" : 5134811136, "uuid" : "7bc5af5f-1e86-3b36-9036-16025c72cb70" }, "vmSummary" : "ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=1.0G resident=0K(0%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=1.0G(100%)\nWritable regions: Total=28.8M written=369K(1%) resident=369K(1%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=28.5M(99%)\n\n VIRTUAL REGION \nREGION TYPE SIZE COUNT (non-coalesced) \n=========== ======= ======= \nActivity Tracing 256K 1 \nAttributeGraph Data 1024K 1 \nCoreAnimation 48K 3 \nDispatch continuations 6144K 1 \nFoundation 16K 1 \nKernel Alloc Once 32K 1 \nMALLOC 16.8M 10 \nMALLOC guard page 3760K 4 \nSTACK GUARD 64K 4 \nStack 2640K 4 \n__AUTH 3975K 362 \n__AUTH_CONST 60.1M 643 \n__CTF 824 1 \n__DATA 28.6M 604 \n__DATA_CONST 24.9M 650 \n__DATA_DIRTY 4800K 581 \n__FONT_DATA 2352 1 \n__INFO_FILTER 8 1 \n__LINKEDIT 188.3M 7 \n__OBJC_RO 84.3M 1 \n__OBJC_RW 3177K 1 \n__TEXT 839.6M 666 \n__TPRO_CONST 128K 2 \nmapped file 32.7M 3 \npage table in kernel 369K 1 \nshared memory 80K 4 \n=========== ======= ======= \nTOTAL 1.3G 3558 \n", "legacyInfo" : { "threadTriggered" : { "queue" : "com.apple.main-thread" } }, "logWritingSignature" : "96bc482de9d7d2e828b9b488a2feab6193d3c188", "bug_type" : "309", "roots_installed" : 0, "trmStatus" : 1, "trialInfo" : { "rollouts" : [ ], "experiments" : [
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261
Jan ’26
Signing code for older versions of macOS on Apple Silicon
IMPORTANT The underlying issue here (FB8830007) was fixed in macOS 11.3, so the advice in this post is irrelevant if you’re building on that release or later. Note This content is a repost of info from another thread because that thread is not world readable (it’s tied to the DTK programme). A number of folks have reported problems where: They have a product that supports older versions of macOS (anything prior to 10.11). If they build their product on Intel, everything works. If they build their product on Apple Silicon, it fails on those older versions of macOS. A developer filed a bug about this (FB8830007) and, based on the diagnosis of that bug, I have some info to share as to what’s going wrong and how you can prevent it. Let’s start with some background. macOS’s code signing architecture supports two different hash formats: sha1, the original hash format, which is now deprecated sha256, the new format, support for which was added in macOS 10.11 codesign should choose the signing format based on the deployment target: If your deployment target is 10.11 or later, you get sha256. If your deployment target is earlier, you get both sha1 and sha256. This problem crops up because, when building for both Intel and Apple Silicon, your deployment targets are different. You might set the deployment target to 10.9 but, on Apple Silicon, that’s raised to the minimum Apple Silicon system, 11.0. So, which deployment target does it choose? Well, the full answer to that is complex but the executive summary is that it chooses the deployment target of the current architecture, that is, Intel if you’re building on Intel and Apple Silicon if you’re building on Apple Silicon. For example: intel% codesign -d --arch x86_64 -vvv Test664892.app … Hash choices=sha1,sha256 … intel% codesign -d --arch arm64 -vvv Test664892.app … Hash choices=sha1,sha256 … arm% codesign -d --arch x86_64 -vvv Test664892.app … Hash choices=sha256 … arm% codesign -d --arch arm64 -vvv Test664892.app … Hash choices=sha256 … The upshot is that you have problems if your deployment target is less than 10.11 and you sign on Apple Silicon. When you run on, say, macOS 10.10, the system looks for a sha1 hash, doesn’t find it, and complains. The workaround is to supply the --digest-algorithm=sha1,sha256, which overrides the hash choice logic in codesign and causes it to include both hashes: arm% codesign -s - --digest-algorithm=sha1,sha256 Test664892.app arm% codesign -d --arch x86_64 -vvv Test664892.app … Hash choices=sha1,sha256 … % codesign -d --arch arm64 -vvv Test664892.app … Hash choices=sha1,sha256 … Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
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2.8k
Jun ’25
Regarding Qt application Code signing on MACOS
Hi support, Currently we are in a process of migrating our Qt application for MAC OS - ventura -v13.4. There is a specific feature in our application in which client tries to communicate with server (Socket communication) using Qt's QsslSocket Apis . To achieve this we are using self signed Ca certificate (.pem ) generated by using openSSl commands which uses IP address of the server. We are manually installing the certificate inside MAC OS - keychain and trusting it manually as well after installing . This is working fine in XCode environment in debug mode in MAC OS and client -server handshake is happening successfully. How ever after creating .dmg file (installer) the same handshake is not happening and we are getting error -Connection time out. Upon investigating this online, we got to know there has to be codesigning (both app bundle and the dmg file )along with notarization of the .dmg file in order to access keychain of MAC OS at runtime to access the self signed certificate installed. Now we have 2 queries here. Is code signing mandatory if we want to verify our app through keychain with .dmg file ? If yes, whats the best way to achieve this ? We have tried 2 options without any luck. option1 - Trying to build our specific target among 'ALL_BUILD' with signing key settings inside xcode where we are providing developer provisional certificate with apple team ID . After that we are trying to archive to generate dmg file which is code signed. We are failing here as the signed dmg is not getting installed due to other app related dependencies are missing . option 2- Code signing the dmg and the app bundle manually outside the environment of xcode with developer certificate and team ID. We are failing here as notarization needs to be done it seems to access keychain for certificate verification If Code signing is not mandatory then whats the best possible way to achieve this considering manually installation of certificate inside keychain with adding trust option is not working at the moment. Please specify the best solution if possible.
Topic: Code Signing SubTopic: General
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79
Mar ’25
The "com.apple.developer.web-browser" entitlement has no effect on our iOS app
Hi, I was sent here by Apple developer account, it seems here is the only option for me, so your help is very much appreciated! Basically we are building a chromium based browser on iOS, we applied the "com.apple.developer.web-browser" entitlement, and it shows up in our identifier, profile etc. The app is signed with the new entitlement and published to the app store. However it is not listed as an option for default browser, doesn't matter which device I tried. I did verified that the Info.plist contains http/https urlschemes as required. In fact a few of us checked all available documents multiple times and still couldn't see why.
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293
Dec ’25
VM App - PCIDriverKit Entitlement for Thunderbolt
I want to help contribute a feature in a virtual-machine app in macOS that supports PCIe device passthrough over thunderbolt. I have a question about the entitlements. Since I do not represent the GPU vendors, would I be allowed to get a driver signed that matches GPU vendor IDs? Is there such a thing as wildcard entitlement for PCIDriverKit? I don't want end-users to have to disable SIP to be able to use this. Any suggestions/leads? Thank you.
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594
Jan ’26
All notarization submissions stuck "In Progress" — first-time notarization, 9 submissions over 16+ hours
I'm submitting my first macOS app (a native SwiftUI menu bar app, signed with Developer ID Application certificate, Hardened Runtime enabled) for notarization using xcrun notarytool submit with keychain profile authentication. All 9 of my submissions have been stuck at "In Progress" for up to 16 hours. None have transitioned to "Accepted" or "Invalid." Logs are unavailable for all of them (notarytool log returns "Submission log is not yet available"). Environment macOS: 26.2 (25C56) Xcode: 26.1.1 (17B100) notarytool: 1.1.0 (39) App: Native SwiftUI, universal binary (x86_64 + arm64), ~2.2 MB DMG Bundle ID: com.gro.ask Team ID: 4KT56S2BX6 What I've verified Code signing is valid: $ codesign --verify --deep --strict GroAsk.app passes with no errors $ codesign -dvvv GroAsk.app Authority=Developer ID Application: Jack Wu (4KT56S2BX6) Authority=Developer ID Certification Authority Authority=Apple Root CA CodeDirectory flags=0x10000(runtime) # Hardened Runtime enabled Runtime Version=26.1.0 Format=app bundle with Mach-O universal (x86_64 arm64) Entitlements are minimal: com.apple.security.app-sandbox com.apple.security.network.client Uploads succeed — each submission receives a valid submission ID and the file uploads to Apple's servers without error. Submission history Created (UTC): 04:40 ID: eeb12389-... File: GroAsk-1.6.0.dmg Status: Invalid (Hardened Runtime missing — since fixed) ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 04:42 ID: 6e537a32-... File: GroAsk-1.6.0.dmg Status: In Progress (16+ hrs) ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 07:52 ID: 5ee41736-... File: GroAsk-1.6.0.dmg Status: In Progress ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 08:19 ID: f5c6b9a5-... File: GroAsk-1.6.0.dmg Status: In Progress ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 08:27 ID: 0f1c8333-... File: GroAsk-1.6.0.dmg Status: In Progress ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 08:29 ID: 77fd9cd4-... File: GroAsk-1.6.0.dmg Status: In Progress ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 08:51 ID: db9da93e-... File: GroAsk-1.6.1.dmg Status: In Progress ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 09:05 ID: 3c43c09f-... File: GroAsk.zip Status: In Progress ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 12:01 ID: b2267a74-... File: GroAsk-1.6.3.dmg Status: In Progress ──────────────────────────────────────── Created (UTC): 12:15 ID: ae41e45c-... File: GroAsk.zip Status: In Progress The very first submission (eeb12389) came back as Invalid within minutes because Hardened Runtime wasn't enabled on the binary. I fixed the build configuration and confirmed flags=0x10000(runtime) is present on all subsequent builds. However, every submission after that fix has been stuck at "In Progress" with no state transition. What I've tried Submitting both .dmg and .zip formats — same result Verified notarytool log — returns "Submission log is not yet available" for all stuck submissions Apple Developer System Status page shows the Notary Service as "Available" I've also emailed Apple Developer Support but have not received a response yet Questions Is this the expected behavior for a first-time notarization account? I've seen other threads mentioning that new accounts may be held for "in-depth analysis," but 16+ hours with zero feedback seems excessive. 2. Is there any manual configuration Apple needs to do on their end to unblock my team for notarization? 3. Should I stop submitting and wait, or is there something else I can try? Any guidance from DTS would be greatly appreciated. This is blocking the release of my app.
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Code Signing Identifiers Explained
Code signing uses various different identifier types, and I’ve seen a lot of folks confused as to which is which. This post is my attempt to clear up that confusion. If you have questions or comments, put them in a new thread, using the same topic area and tags as this post. Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com" Code Signing Identifiers Explained An identifier is a short string that uniquely identifies a resource. Apple’s code-signing infrastructure uses identifiers for various different resource types. These identifiers typically use one of a small selection of formats, so it’s not always clear what type of identifier you’re looking at. This post lists the common identifiers used by code signing, shows the expected format, and gives references to further reading. Unless otherwise noted, any information about iOS applies to iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS. Formats The code-signing identifiers discussed here use one of two formats: 10-character This is composed of 10 ASCII characters. For example, Team IDs use this format, as illustrated by the Team ID of one of Apple’s test teams: Z7P62XVNWC. Reverse-DNS This is composed of labels separated by a dot. For example, bundle IDs use this format, as illustrated by the bundle ID of the test app associated with this post: com.example.tn3NNNapp. UUID This is a standard universally unique identifier. For example, the App Store Connect API key associated with this post has a issuer UUID of c055ca8c-e5a8-4836-b61d-aa5794eeb3f4. The Domain Name System has strict rules about domain names, in terms of overall length, label length, text encoding, and case sensitivity. The reverse-DNS identifiers used by code signing may or may not have similar limits. When in doubt, consult the documentation for the specific identifier type. Reverse-DNS names are just a convenient way to format a string. You don’t have to control the corresponding DNS name. You can, for example, use com.<SomeCompany>.my-app as your bundle ID regardless of whether you control the <SomeCompany>.com domain name. To securely associate your app with a domain, use associated domains. For more on that, see Supporting associated domains. IMPORTANT Don’t use com.apple. in your reverse-DNS identifiers. That can yield unexpected results. Identifiers The following table summarises the identifiers covered below: Name | Format | Example | Notes ---- | ------ | ------- | ----- Team ID | 10-character | `Z7P62XVNWC` | Identifies a developer team User ID | 10-character | `UT376R4K29` | Identifies a developer Team Member ID | 10-character | `EW7W773AA7` | Identifies a developer in a team Bundle ID | reverse-DNS | `com.example.tn3NNNapp` | Identifies an app App ID prefix | 10-character | `Z7P62XVNWC` | Part of an App ID | | `VYRRC68ZE6` | App ID | mixed | `Z7P62XVNWC.com.example.tn3NNNNapp` | Connects an app and its provisioning profile | | `VYRRC68ZE6.com.example.tn3NNNNappB` | Code-signing identifier | reverse-DNS | `com.example.tn3NNNapp` | Identifies code to macOS | | `tn3NNNtool` | App group ID | reverse DNS | `group.tn3NNNapp.shared` | Identifies an app group | reverse DNS | `Z7P62XVNWC.tn3NNNapp.shared` | Identifies an macOS-style app group Managed capability request ID | 10-character | `M79GVA97FK` | Identifies a request for a managed capability App Store Connect API key ID | 10-character | `T9GPZ92M7K` | Identifies a key used for App Store Connect API authentication App Store Connect API issuer | UUID | `c055ca8c-e5a8-4836-b61d-aa5794eeb3f4` | Identifies a key issuer in the App Store Connect API As you can see, there’s no clear way to distinguish a Team ID, User ID, Team Member ID, and an App ID prefix. You have to determine that based on the context. In contrast, you choose your own bundle ID and app group ID values, so choose values that make it easier to keep things straight. Team ID When you set up a team on the Developer website, it generates a unique Team ID for that team. This uses the 10-character format. For example, Z7P62XVNWC is the Team ID for an Apple test team. When the Developer website issues a certificate to a team, or a user within a team, it sets the Subject Name > Organisational Unit field to the Team ID. When the Developer website issues a certificate to a team, as opposed to a user in that team, it embeds the Team ID in the Subject > Common Name field. For example, a Developer ID Application certificate for the Team ID Z7P62XVNWC has the name Developer ID Application: <TeamName> (Z7P62XVNWC). User ID When you first sign in to the Developer website, it generates a unique User ID for your Apple Account. This User ID uses the 10-character format. For example, UT376R4K29 is the User ID for an Apple test user. When the Developer website issues a certificate to a user, it sets the Subject Name > User ID field to that user’s User ID. It uses the same value for that user in all teams. Team Member ID When you join a team on the Developer website, it generates a unique Team Member ID to track your association with that team. This uses the 10-character format. For example, EW7W773AA7 is the Team Member ID for User ID UT376R4K29 in Team ID Z7P62XVNWC. When the Developer website issues a certificate to a user on a team, it embeds the Team Member ID in the Subject > Common Name field. For example, an Apple Development certificate for User ID UT376R4K29 on Team ID Z7P62XVNWC has the name Apple Development: <UserName> (EW7W773AA7). IMPORTANT This naming system is a common source of confusion. Developers see this ID and wonder why it doesn’t match their Team ID. The advantage of this naming scheme is that each certificate gets a unique name even if the team has multiple members with the same name. The John Smiths of this world appreciate this very much. Bundle ID A bundle ID is a reverse-DNS identifier that identifies a single app throughout Apple’s ecosystem. For example, the test app associated with this post has a bundle ID of com.example.tn3NNNapp. If two apps have the same bundle ID, they are considered to be the same app. Bundle IDs have strict limits on their format. For the details, see CFBundleIdentifier. If your macOS code consumes bundle IDs — for example, you’re creating a security product that checks the identity of code — be warned that not all bundle IDs conform to the documented format. And non-bundled code, like a command-line tool or dynamic library, typically doesn’t have a bundle ID. Moreover, malicious code might use arbitrary bytes as the bundle ID, bytes that don’t parse as either ASCII or UTF-8. WARNING On macOS, don’t assume that a bundle ID follows the documented format, is UTF-8, or is even text at all. Do not assume that a bundle ID that starts with com.apple. represents Apple code. A better way to identify code on macOS is with its designated requirement, as explained in TN3127 Inside Code Signing: Requirements. On iOS this isn’t a problem because the Developer website checks the bundle ID format when you register your App ID. App ID prefix An App ID prefix forms part of an App ID (see below). It’s a 10-character identifier that’s either: The Team ID of the app’s team A unique App ID prefix Note Historically a unique App ID prefix was called a Bundle Seed ID. A unique App ID prefix is a 10-character identifier generated by Apple and allocated to your team, different from your Team ID. For example, Team ID Z7P62XVNWC has been allocated the unique App ID prefix of VYRRC68ZE6. Unique App ID prefixes are effectively deprecated: You can’t create a new App ID prefix. So, unless your team is very old, you don’t have to worry about unique App ID prefixes at all. If a unique App ID prefix is available to your team, it’s possible to create a new App ID with that prefix. But doing so prevents that app from sharing state with other apps from your team. Unique app ID prefixes are not supported on macOS. If your app uses a unique App ID prefix, you can request that it be migrated to use your Team ID by contacting Apple > Developer > Contact Us. If you app has embedded app extensions that also use your unique App ID prefix, include all those App IDs in your migration request. WARNING Before migrating from a unique App ID prefix, read App ID Prefix Change and Keychain Access. App ID An App ID ties your app to its provisioning profile. Specifically: You allocate an App ID on the Developer website. You sign your app with an entitlement that claims your App ID. When you launch the app, the system looks for a profile that authorises that claim. App IDs are critical on iOS. On macOS, App IDs are only necessary when your app claims a restricted entitlement. See TN3125 Inside Code Signing: Provisioning Profiles for more about this. App IDs have the format <Prefix>.<BundleOrWildcard>, where: <Prefix> is the App ID prefix, discussed above. <BundleOrWildcard> is either a bundle ID, for an explicit App ID, or a wildcard, for a wildcard App ID. The wildcard follows bundle ID conventions except that it must end with a star (*). For example: Z7P62XVNWC.com.example.tn3NNNNapp is an explicit App ID for Team ID Z7P62XVNWC. Z7P62XVNWC.com.example.* is a wildcard App ID for Team ID Z7P62XVNWC. VYRRC68ZE6.com.example.tn3NNNNappB is an explicit App ID with the unique App ID prefix of VYRRC68ZE6. Provisioning profiles created for an explicit App ID authorise the claim of just that App ID. Provisioning profiles created for a wildcard App ID authorise the claim of any App IDs whose bundle ID matches the wildcard, where the star (*) matches zero or more arbitrary characters. Wildcard App IDs are helpful for quick tests. Most production apps claim an explicit App ID, because various features rely on that. For example, in-app purchase requires an explicit App ID. Code-signing identifier A code-signing identifier is a string chosen by the code’s signer to uniquely identify their code. IMPORTANT Don’t confuse this with a code-signing identity, which is a digital identity used for code signing. For more about code-signing identities, see TN3161 Inside Code Signing: Certificates. Code-signing identifiers exist on iOS but they don’t do anything useful. On iOS, all third-party code must be bundled, and the system ensures that the code’s code-signing identifier matches its bundle ID. On macOS, code-signing identifiers play an important role in code-signing requirements. For more on that topic, see TN3127 Inside Code Signing: Requirements. When signing code, see Creating distribution-signed code for macOS for advice on how to select a code-signing identifier. If your macOS code consumes code-signing identifiers — for example, you’re creating a security product that checks the identity of code — be warned that these identifiers look like bundle IDs but they are not the same as bundle IDs. While bundled code typically uses the bundled ID as the code-signing identifier, macOS doesn’t enforce that convention. And non-bundled code, like a command-line tool or dynamic library, often uses the file name as the code-signing identifier. Moreover, malicious code might use arbitrary bytes as the code-signing identifier, bytes that don’t parse as either ASCII or UTF-8. WARNING On macOS, don’t assume that a code-signing identifier is a well-formed bundle ID, UTF-8, or even text at all. Don’t assume that a code-signing identifier that starts with com.apple. represents Apple code. A better way to identify code on macOS is with its designated requirement, as explained in TN3127 Inside Code Signing: Requirements. App Group ID An app group ID identifies an app group, that is, a mechanism to share state between multiple apps from the same team. For more about app groups, see App Groups Entitlement and App Groups: macOS vs iOS: Working Towards Harmony. App group IDs use two different forms of reverse-DNS identifiers: iOS-style This has the format group.<GroupName>, for example, group.tn3NNNapp.shared. macOS-style This has the format <TeamID>.<GroupName>, for example, Z7P62XVNWC.tn3NNNapp.shared. The first form originated on iOS but is now supported on macOS as well. The second form is only supported on macOS. iOS-style app group IDs must be registered with the Developer website. That ensures that the ID is unique and that the <GroupName> follows bundle ID rules. macOS-style app group IDs are less constrained. When choosing such a macOS-style app group ID, follow bundle ID rules for the group name. If your macOS code consumes app group IDs, be warned that not all macOS-style app group IDs follow bundle ID format. Indeed, malicious code might use arbitrary bytes as the app group ID, bytes that don’t parse as either ASCII or UTF-8. WARNING Don’t assume that a macOS-style app group ID follows bundle ID rules, is UTF-8, or is even text at all. Don’t assume that a macOS-style app group ID where the group name starts with com.apple. represents Apple in any way. Some developers use app group IDs of the form <TeamID>.group.<GroupName>. There’s nothing special about this format. It’s just a macOS-style app group ID where the first label in the group name just happens to be group Starting in Feb 2025, iOS-style app group IDs are fully supported on macOS. If you’re writing new code that uses app groups, use an iOS-style app group ID. This allows sharing between different product types, for example, between a native macOS app and an iOS app running on the Mac. Managed Capability Request ID Managed capabilities must be assigned to your account by Apple before you can use them. You apply for these using the Capability Requests tab on the Developer website. For more details, see New Capabilities Request Tab in Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. When you make such a request, the Developer website assigns it a request ID, using the 10-character format. For example, M79GVA97FK is the request ID for an Apple test request. These request IDs are purely administrative; they have no build-time or run-time impact. App Store Connect API Keys The App Store Connect API authenticates requests using API keys. For the details, see Creating API Keys for App Store Connect API. Each API key has an associated issuer and key ID. The issuer is a UUID, for example, c055ca8c-e5a8-4836-b61d-aa5794eeb3f4. The key ID uses the 10-character format, for example, T9GPZ92M7K. These identifiers have no run-time impact, but they might be relevant when you’re building your app. For example: If your continuous integration (CI) uses the App Store Connect API, it will need an API key and its associated identifiers. If you notarise a Mac product, you might choose to authenticate using an App Store Connect API key and its associated identifiers. For an example of how to do that with notarytool, see TN3147 Migrating to the latest notarization tool. Revision History 2026-02-25 Added the Managed Capability Request ID and App Store Connect API Keys sections. Added UUID to the list of format. 2026-02-17 Corrected a minor formatting problem. 2026-01-06 First posted.
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