Is it possible to publish an iOS app without owning an iPhone? No provisioning profiles found on Xcode

Question

I am building a iOS app using React Native and have finished building the app. I have already enrolled in the Apple developer program and paid their annual fee. However I am having difficulty archiving it so I can submit it to Apple for review. The error messages I keep getting are:

MY_APP requires a provisioning profile. Select a provisioning profile for the "Release" build configuration in the project editor.
Code signing is required for product type 'Application' in SDK 'iOS 10.0'

First I setup a provisioning profile by creating a Certificate Authority on my MacBook and then on developer.apple.com, I setup a distribution profile with my certificate. I then downloaded it and added to my Keychains. However when I open Xcode (version 8.0) and I look at my accounts in Xcode > Preferences > Accounts, for some reason there are two of my emails and both of them are empty.

Any help is appreciated.

P.S. the error message is not SQL! 😂

Answer 1

If you are using XCode 8.0 then you just need to choose one profile in the General Tab of your App Target. On the same tab you will see a check box Automatically Manage signing. Just select that XCode will manage it.

Answer 2

Click on your project (top level), go to build settings -> signing -> provisioning profile and set it to your distribution profile. Make sure your bundle id matches the one in your distribution profile.