ios in-house distribution certificate expires

3
votes

My enterprise app is in production and my in-house distribution certificate and provisioning profile is about to expire in 2 days. I am not clear on below items. Can anyone help me understand them?

  1. I knew apps that are submitted in app store continues to work even after the provisioning profile and certificate expires. But I am not sure if it is the same with enterprise apps as well? Will the app which is already installed in production, continue to work after the certificate and provisioning profile expiry date?
  2. Should I revoke my certificate before it expires and create a new one as a replacement?
  3. If I revoke the existing certificate before the expiry date, will the apps which are already installed in production continue to work?
2
iosprovisioning-profilein-house-distribution

2 Answers

5
votes

All the answers for the questions that I asked is provided in the apple document in this pdf. For those who are too lazy to read the entire document to get the answer, below are the answers to my question from the document.

The document says

  1. Distribution provisioning profiles expire 12 months after they’re issued. After the expiration date, the profile is removed and the app won’t launch. When your distribution certificate expires, the app won’t launch. Your distribution certificate is valid for three years from when it was issued, or until your Enterprise Developer Program membership expires, whichever comes first.

  2. You can have two distribution certificates active at the same time; each is independent from the other. The second certificate is intended to provide an overlapping period during which you can update your apps before the first certificate expires. When requesting your second distribution certificate from the iOS Dev Center, be sure you don’t revoke your first certificate.

  3. Revoking a distribution certificate invalidates all of the apps you’ve signed with it. You should revoke a certificate only as a last resort—if you’re sure the private key is lost or the certificate is believed to be compromised.

1
votes
  1. It should stay at the screen but if you click on it, the app would close instantly
  2. Yes, create the new one, revoke the old one, then tell the users to install the new one with new provisioning.
  3. Yes, it will work. But after the expiry date, would be in #1 situation.