CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ioscordovatelerikprovisioning-profilemobileprovision
William Smith
William Smith

Reputation: 1959

In an Enterprise iOS app, how to replace the *.mobileprovision file on device after existing profile expired, but without re-signing the IPA?

We have a series of iOS Enterprise applications that were built with Telerik Cordova (discontinued in May 2018). Those apps are in the process of being converted to a new platform, but in the mean time they must continue to service client needs.

The distribution certificate the apps were built with is valid for another 14 months or so, but the provisioning profiles expire in a few days. Since these are Enterprise apps they will expire with the profiles.

Unfortunately, Telerik can no longer rebuild the apps using an updated profile for us. We have re-signed the apps using new provisioning profiles (using both iReSign and Terminal). When we try to side-load the resulting IPAs through the XCode Devices panel, we get an error stating that the entitlements do not match and the apps are not installed.

The question was raised as to whether or not we not need to re-sign the apps since the certificates are still valid. Perhaps it would be possible to just replace the .mobileprovision file on the device somehow? I gave it a try using iTunes Sync but I cannot confirm whether the file actually went to the device or not.

Question: Is it possible to just update the *.mobileprovision on the device without re-signing the app? If so, could someone please give me the steps or direct me to a link to perform the steps?

Alternate Question: Otherwise, any thoughts on how to resolve my Entitlements issue? The app only needs Push Notifications, but Game Center and In-App Purchases are also enabled. These are reflected in the App ID and provisioning profile, and the distribution certificate is of type Apple Push Services.

I should point out that I am not an admin on the Apple Developer portal for the project as I am an outside consultant, so my portal access is strictly read-only.

Thanks in advance for any direction provided!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 696

Answers (1)

Paulw11
Paulw11

Reputation: 114773

If the applications were distributed to the devices by an MDM, then you can push a new provisioning profile to them using the MDM.

If the applications were installed over the air from a web server or directly using iTunes or Apple Configurator, then you need to replace the entire application package on the device. This requires the app to be re-signed, since the changed .mobileprovision file will change the package signature.

If you don't have the original, app ID with matching entitlements in the developer portal, then you will need to delete the existing application from the device before installing the new, re-signed application. You won't be able to do an in-place upgrade.

Upvotes: 3

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