iOS

Building Requirements

To build an iOS app:

• macOS latest version
• Xcode latest version
• Apple Developer Account
• Cocoapods

Open the project

Make sure you open the .xcworkspace and not .xcodeproj

Certificates and capabilities

– Click on the First Project in the left side nav
– Go to “Signing and Capabilities”
– Add Capability “Push notifications”
– Add Capability “App Groups”
– Turn off automatic signing for both Debug and Release
– Then turn on automatic signing for both Debug and Release and select your developer account
– Add a group with the name group.my.identifier.shareextension (replace my.identifier with com.yourdomain.app):

– Click on the First Project in the left side nav
– Go to “Signing and Capabilities“:

– Add Capability “App Groups”
– Turn off automatic signing for both Debug and Release
– Then turn on automatic signing for both Debug and Release and select your developer account
– Add a group with the name group.my.identifier.shareextension (replace my.identifier with com.yourdomain.app):

Push Notifications Certificates

– Go to https://developer.apple.com/ and go to Identifiers

– Select your app identifier and find Push notifications on the list:

– Create both certificates and download them:

– Double click on the downloaded certificates so they are loaded in the Keychain Access
– Open Keychain Access
– Go to My Certificates
– Find both certificates:

– Click Export and choose .p12 as file format:

– Make sure you know which certificate is for Development and Production
– Go to Firebase console and go to the project you previously created.
– Open Cloud Settings:

– Upload Production and Development certificates accordingly:

Submission and Testing

– Run the project on the simulator and try logging in
– Use the app and test out if the project has been properly configured
– Open Terminal.app and navigate to the project folder with “cd” command
– Run the command:

sh prepare-production.sh

This script prepares the needed libraries for production. You will no longer be able to run the app in the simulator/test device unless you run:

sh prepare-test.sh

to revert back libraries.

– Go to https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/ and create a new app:

– Go to XCode and select target build “Generic iOS Device“

Distribution

– Make sure you have distribution certificates for your account (you can check if you have them here: https://developer.apple.com/account/resources/certificates/list)

– If the list is empty, create one:

– Pick “Apple Distribution“

– Then, go to https://developer.apple.com/account/resources/profiles/list

Click + and add the profile for your identifiers your_app_id.shareextension and your_app_id for the app store:

– Name your profile so you differentiate it easily by adding a suffix “distribution”
– Click continue to finish the wizard
– Make sure you have profiles for both identifiers

Once you have this list of profiles you can proceed with setting up the signing settings

You will have to configure your Debug and Release profiles to match. They should look like this:

Notice the Signing certificate for Debug and Release: Debug(Apple Development) Release(Apple Distribution)

Both targets must have proper certificates configured

XCode will complain if the certificates are not properly configured. If you need help with that, you can contact us via Tickets or live Chat.

Then go to Product > Archive

– Click Distribute App

– The app will be validated and uploaded to https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/

After this step, you will be asked to confirm your certificates again, please select the ones you set up initially:

After this step, you will see the final step

– After the upload, the processing may take up to an hour.
– You will get an e-mail after the build has been processed by Apple.
– After the submitted app has been processed you can start filling up the information and prepare for submission. Apple will require you to provide a test account which they’ll use to review the app

NOTE: There’s a known issue with TestFlight that it might say that processing is not complete, in order to fix the problem logout and login again. Sometimes it may take between 30 minutes to a few hours to complete.

– Apple may ask you to answer some questions about the App.

We prepared the answers for you. Replace placeholders APP_NAME, COUNTRY_REGION, SERVICE_PROVIDER_SIGNUP_LINK, and SERVICE_PROVIDER_WEBSITE with your own.

1. What is the purpose of the app?
APP_NAME is the All-in-one Communication Suite designed for Small and Medium Enterprises in COUNTRY_REGION(optional) for their modern-day communication needs.

2. Who is your target audience?
Small and Medium Enterprises and individuals

3. Is this app built for a specific company and its internal use? If yes, which company?
No

4. Or is the app built for internal use for your company?
No

5. How do users obtain an account?
By signing up to SERVICE_PROVIDER_SIGNUP_LINK and purchasing the hosting service for their domain. After signup, they can create an account via admin interface.

6. If users create an account to use your app, are there fees involved?
User pays for the service monthly or yearly via the SERVICE_PROVIDER_WEBSITE

7. Does your app access any paid content or services?
The user only pays for the service monthly or yearly via the SERVICE_PROVIDER_WEBSITE

8. What are the paid content or services, and what are the costs?
Costs are N to N $ as listed on the website SERVICE_PROVIDER_WEBSITE

9. Do individual customers pay for the content or services?
Yes, they can purchase the service via SERVICE_PROVIDER_WEBSITE as there is no requirement to be a business.

10. If no, does a company or organization pay for the content or services?
N/A

Known issues on IOS

If the build process in Xcode fails, you can try to fix it by:

1. Installing cocoa pods on your machine – https://cocoapods.org/
2. Correcting the build settings for the Swift version – make sure you select Swift Version 4

If you get any of the following errors:

• Unsupported Architectures. The executable contains unsupported architectures ‘[x86_64, i386]
• Invalid Segment Alignment. The app binary does not have proper segment alignment
• The binary is invalid. The encryption info in the LC_ENCRYPTION_INFO load command is either missing or invalid, or the binary is already encrypted

 

These errors happen if you forgot to run sh prepare-production.sh before starting the submission to the Apple Store as explained here.