Creating a provisioning profile and certificate to download or distribute an iPhone app

If the provisioning profile (.mobileprovision) and certificate (.cer) are not configured correctly you might get the following error when clicking Build > Build in XCode:

Code Sign error: The identity ‘iPhone Developer’ doesn’t match any valid certificate/private key pair in the default keychain

Using the wizard:

Click on this blog post to create and configure the provisioning profile and certificate with the wizard

Manual configuration:

There are 2 types of provisioning profiles/certificates. Click the appropriate tab in the iPhone Developer Program Portal

1. Development – used during development to download the app to a physical iPhone (not needed when running with simulator)
2. Distribution – used to distribute on iPhone App Store

If you don’t want to use the entire wizard, you can create and configure each individually this way:

1. Drag and drop the certificate (.cer) into the Keychain Access program (Spotlight > “Keychain Access”)
   • File can be generated at iPhone Developer Program Portal Certificates
     • The request for the certificate must first be generated locally so it can be uploaded to the portal:KeyChain Access > Certificate Assistant > Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority
   • Use the Development certificate instead of the Distribution Certificate
2. Drag and drop the provisioning profile (.mobileprovision) into the XCode > Windows > Organizer (or double click it)
   • File can be generated at iPhone Developer Program Portal > Provisioning