Before The IPA: Preparing iOS Signing | Community Feed

The hardest part of iOS CI is not writing YAML — it is getting the Apple signing assets prepared correctly. This guide separates the Apple-side preparation into concrete, sequential steps so you know exactly what to create and why each piece matters.

What you will learn

How to create and register an App ID in Apple Developer
How to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) via Keychain Access
How to create an Apple Distribution certificate and export it as a .p12
How to create a provisioning profile that ties the certificate and App ID together
How to create an App Store Connect API key for automated profile downloads in CI
How to verify that all signing assets are aligned before moving to the GitHub Actions workflow