The article was written on May 11, 2017, moving here
CER Certificate and MobileProvision Document
Developing iOS requires a CER certificate and a MobileProvision description file
1,.CER certificate
Developer’s Trust Certificate (equivalent to your ID card).
2. MobileProvision Document
Contains the CER certificate, application Bundle Identifier, and device ID.
Xcode can only be debugged if you install this file (note: the mobileprovision here if it’s distribution it won’t be tested on a real machine, Only if it’s uploaded to the AppStore and approved can it be downloaded from the AppStore and installed on iOS devices).
Generally speaking, as long as there is the above certificate file, you can debug on the real machine.
3、.p12
If you need to give the certificate to someone else, you can export the corresponding certificate from the local keychain as a. P12 certificate and issue it to someone else. P12 contains the.cer certificate and.mobileprovision file above.
(Note that Developer’s certificate can only be used for testing; Distribution certificates can only be used to upload to the AppStore and cannot be installed on iOS devices until they are online. Inhouse certificate requires device trust).
II. Two IOS certificates
2.1 $99
This account can be used to upload an App Store arraignment and publish.
This kind of account has the difference between individual and company:
Personal account: after the App Store, the developer directly displays the applicant’s name for personal use. For each kind of Apple product, there are 100 test permissions for each kind of device. IPhone, iPad, Mac, etc.
Company account: the App developer on the App Store displays the company. Under the company account, multiple test sub-accounts can be added to support Xcode testing on the real machine, but the sub-accounts do not have the permission to upload to the App Store. Similar to personal account permissions, there are 100 test machine permissions for all kinds of devices, such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc.
2.2 $299
This account can only be used for internal use of the enterprise, testing devices are unlimited, but can not be used to upload the App Store, which is often referred to as the In-house certificate (the package printed with this certificate can run on any iOS device, do not need Apple’s verification and signature).
2.3 similarities and differences between
For $99, you can configure an ad-hoc certificate and publish a certificate (for the AppStore certificate);
The $299 model can be configured with ad-hoc and in-house certificates, but not AppStore certificates. Don’t get me wrong. This is both an AppStore upload and an in-house account. These are two different accounts.
2.3.1 Development/Commissioning Certificate
1. Can’t publish to Apple Store for sale.
2. Apple review is not required.
You can use any known private API.
4. It can be installed on any Apple device without any signature or authentication.
5, User installation only needs one IPA file, no certificate and signature file.
Certificate Issue (Distribution)
App Store – $99
Publish to the AppStore;
This is what we call a distribution certificate, which can be uploaded to the AppStore for review, approved, and then distributed on the AppStore for everyone to download, install, and use.
It is important to note that this certificate package cannot be installed on any non-jailbroken iOS device until the AppStore releases your app, and can only be installed on all devices after the AppStore releases it.
Ad Hoc – $99, $299
Publish to a specified device;
The published package needs to be installed through iTunes.
100. Due to Apple’s restrictions, only 100 devices can be added to the developer site.
In House – $299
Publish to the company;
Clarify a few concepts
1. IDP: IOS Development Enterprise Program. Note that it’s $299/Year.
2. In House: It is only released inside the company and only used by internal staff.
In-house style features
1. Can’t publish to Apple Store for sale.
2. Apple review is not required.
You can use any known private API.
4. It can be installed on any Apple device without any signature or authentication.
5, User installation only needs one IPA file, no certificate and signature file.
6, you can put the package in a website, after downloading can be installed directly.