Publishing to App Store

[tommybanana1967go]

Hi

I can produce an In House App fine and publish to an attached iPad whilst doing so and test there.

Using the exact same Animate .fla file

When I try and produce an app for the Distribution to the App Store

If I try to publish to a connected iPad I get this error:

iPad: The device has encountered an unexpected error. Installation Error: ApplicationVerififcationFailed.

This happened whether I used an App store provisioning profile or an Ad Hoc one.

I can publish ok if I don't try to publish to a connected iPad.

Then when I try and load onto the iPad using Xcode I get:

A valid provisioning profile for this executable was not found.

I found a thing about Assets.car so I created one of those and had it in the root directory and also attached it as a file in the included files in the AIR for iOS General section.

Can any help me work out what I am doing wrong.

[ASWC · Accepted solution]

You need dev certificate and profile to work and develop locally, you need distribution certificate and profile to upload to appstore. You also need to switch on/off the <Entitlements>, on for appstore, off for dev.

[Flipline]

If you're publishing a build for the App Store, you can't test that on your own devices locally, it's only for submission to the App Store and that version can only be played if it's retrieved from the App Store.

We'll usually publish an Ad Hoc version to test locally on devices, since it's functionally nearly the same as an App Store build, and it can be installed on your own devices.  If you're using Animate, you'd switch iOS deployment type to "Ad hoc", and then use your Distribution Certificate and an Ad Hoc provisioning profile.

For the App Store build you'd use your Distribution Certificate and your App Store provisioning profile (and switch deployment type to Apple App Store), and as long as everything worked correctly on your device with the Ad Hoc build then the App Store build should be fine as well.  If you really want to test that App Store build you would first have to upload it to the App Store through Xcode / Application Loader, and then you should be able to test it using Apple's beta-testing system with TestFlight.

[tommybanana1967go]

Thanks so much for the reply.

Is can I check.

You use the same .p12 certificate.

But make an ad hoc provisioning profile for the same APP ID.

Set the target to ad hoc.

Do you have an Ipd attached and post publishing add it to the iPad for testing?

I am trying this and I am still getting the same error.

Can I Ask:

1) Which version of AIR SDK are you using? Does it matter?

2) Have you created an Assets.car file and if so how are you linking it into the AIR comp[iler?

3) DO you think it has anything to do with not having the correct number or sizes of App Icons or Launch Screen images?

[tommybanana1967go]

Can you please also explain:

"You also need to switch on/off the <Entitlements>"

where do you do that?

Best & Thanks Again

[Flipline]

That's correct, we're using the same distribution p12 file and using an Ad Hoc Provisioning Profile with that app ID.

Is the iPad you're trying to test on already registered on the Apple Developer site, and selected in your Ad Hoc provisioning profile as a device that app is allowed to be installed to?  I've seen that error before if I try installing an Ad Hoc build on a device that we didn't include in the provisioning profile, but as long as that device is tied to that provisioning profile we haven't had that issue ourselves.

We're using AIR 32, but the version shouldn't really matter.  We did include Assets.car, but leaving it out wouldn't give you an error when installing -- it just wouldn't show your app icon on newer iOS versions.  Leaving out icons and launch images also shouldn't give any error when testing on your own device, so I don't think that would be the issue (though you'd want all of the icons and launch images sorted out before submitting to the App Store).

[tommybanana1967go]

Thanks for your help. Yes iPad is registered on Apple Dev site.

1) Could you explain about Entitlements? I can't see these.

2) Are you linking to Assets.car in the Air for iOS general tab adding it in the included files?

Best Tommy Banana

[Flipline]

You shouldn't have to worry much about Entitlements, when you package for the App Store it automatically adds a "beta-reports-active" key to your Entitlements (which is required by Apple for submitting to the App Store), and it doesn't add this for Ad Hoc or development builds. AIR handles all of this on its own now so you shouldn't have to do anything on your end (more details here).

Yes you should add Assets.car to the included files in that Air for iOS section, where you already see your SWF and XML file listed.

You mentioned you were able to test on your device before, was that using "Device Testing" deployment with the Development Certificate p12 and a Development provisioning profile?

Which version of AIR are you using?  It looks like there was an issue back in AIR 29 and earlier, so if you're using an older version of AIR you'd likely want to upgrade to a newer version to see if that helps -- you can download a newer AIR SDK, then in Animate go to Help > Manage Adobe AIR SDK and click the "+" button to point to that new version.

[ASWC]

Entitlements are not automatically added depending on AIR SDK version you are using. It's important to link features to SDK versions or else you are just setting people up for confusion and failure.

Also adHoc version are (for quite some time) no longer needed for itune submission, it's still a publishing option in AIR, but it's an useless one now. You either build for device for testing (dev certificate+profile) or build a release version (prod certificate+profile), adhoc have no place in there anymore.

[Flipline]

You're right, I should have specified that Entitlements are automatically added in AIR 31+, if you're using an older version of AIR you'd need to update.

I suppose it depends on what kind of apps you're developing, but ad hoc builds are most definitely important for us for local testing.  Dev builds have wildly different performance compared to an adhoc/appstore build in our games, usually running at 20-24 fps in a dev build vs. 30 fps in an adhoc.  Since adhoc and appstore builds are virtually identical we'll switch to an adhoc build at the end of development for performance tuning, so we have a better idea of how it'll run for the end user, because dev builds definitely don't give us that.  We make heavy use of vector graphics in gpu mode, so I'm not sure if that performance disparity with dev/adhoc for us is related to that, but we see a big difference.

[ASWC]

Ouch! yeah vector graphics ... Mobile device don't like those one bit. Since some of our app came from legacy Flash apps we took the extra steps to convert everything to raster and run in GPU mode (if we really need super perf we go direct mode and Stage3D) and perf is very good. Also we took that step in order to make later conversion to other tech easier (most having no vector graphic support) which is what happened when we converted to HTML5 and WebGL.

[tommybanana1967go]

So currently if I use a Development .p12 Certificate and Provisioning profile  I can publish ad hoc and load onto the iPad.

If I use a Distribution .P12 and Provisioning Profile I get a Installation Error:ApplicationVerificationFailed error if I try to post-publish onto an attached iPad even when using the ad hoc target and selecting the registered device.

Can I assume that if the app functions ok in ad hoc testing on the Development certificate that I am ok to submit it to the App Store?

Also if the Ad Hoc output isn't loadable onto an iPad (other than via AppleStore) there is no point in exporting to the AdHoc target when using a distribution certificate.

NB I am using the latest version of Animate CC 2019 and AIR SDK 32.0.0 .89.

Best Tommy Banana

[tommybanana1967go]

Final point:

If post-publishing to attached device and Ad Hoc target don't work with a Distribution certificate it would be MUCH better if they were disabled in Animate CC to avoid all this confusion.

[Flipline]

Very strange that it's not working for you, we haven't had issues like that -- when you're using the Ad Hoc deployment are you also using an Ad Hoc Distribution provisioning profile?  (different from the dev provisioning and the App Store Distribution provisioning profiles)?

I only suggested an Ad Hoc build because it uses the same Distribution Certificate p12 as the App Store build (it's the only other build option that will allow it, and the only one that can be installed locally), and it's a good way to test that your .p12 file was generated correctly if the Ad Hoc version installs to your device.

You could try submitting an App Store build to Apple without further testing though, and if something was wrong with your certificate or provisioning they'd give you a rejection message.

[ASWC]

Dev cert + profile + adhoc > to Ipad = OK

Dist cert + profile > to Ipad = NOPE! Dist are only for submitting to itunes!

Dev + adhoc > to itunes = I don't think a dev cert would work but I don't submit adhoc anymore (useless) so I forgot.

No point publishing adhoc = exactly, I haven't used this adhoc target in a long time, Apple itself has made it useless.

I develop locally in simulator or directly on Ipad using my DEV cert + profile.

I submit to apple for testflight or for publishing with my DIST cert + profile.

The adhoc target used to be used to publish for testflight but this is not required anymore. You had to submit a adhoc for testing from itunes and when ready to publish send a dist version. Now you can send a dist version for both, testing and live publishing.

[tommybanana1967go]

ASWC is right.

On Animate CC 2019 AdHoc is only working with a Devt Certificate and Prov Profile.

I now have the app up on Apple Store Connect and I am testing it in Testflight on my iPad so all is good. I can test it that way before submitting for review.

You seem to need have the Assets.car attached (helpful info on that here AIR Native Extension Tutorials by airnativeextensions  ) but also the 72x72 and 156 x156 icons added within the Air for OS Icons panel in Animate CC.

NB I get a warning saying the iOS SDK is version 12 - which seems wrong as I am using AIR SDK 32 - but it is only a warning so the app load goes ahead ok.

So for anyone in my position who finds this:

1) Publish to your iPad using a Devt certificates and Provisioning Profile with Ad Hc as the target to test locally.

2) After that once you use a Distribution Certificate and Provide Profile you need to upload to Apple Store Connect and then use the Testflight app on your iPad to download the app to test.

PS The Application Loader application is inside X-Code 10.0, click on the left most Menu (Xcode) and select Open Developer Tools - Application Loader is launched from there.

Many thanks ASWC and Flipline for your help on here!

Best Tommy Banana

[tommybanana1967go]

Where is Application Loader?

By the way I phoned Apple Develop support and asked where to find Application Loader and was told that it wasn't Apple Software.... !!!

[Leo Kanel]

Application Loader is part of xcode. You need to have xcode installed in your mac, and then go to xcode - developer tools - application Loader, connect with your credentials and upload your app.