Overview  

You received a notification about your iOS Distribution Certificate which will no longer be valid in 30 days. This article explains why this happens and what you can do about it.

Diagnosis

You received the following alert/warning: 

Your iOS Distribution Certificate will no longer be valid in 30 days. To generate a new certificate, sign in and visit Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles.

Certificate: iOS Distribution
Team ID: <Team ID>

An iOS Distribution certificate identifies your team/organization within a distribution provisioning profile and allows you to submit your app to the Apple App Store. The Distribution Certificate allows you to sign up your app for final distribution via the App Store, or for testing purposes via the Ad Hoc version. It will be applied to all apps submitted through this account.

The above message is just notifying you that this certificate is due to expire in 30 days.

If your Apple Developer Program membership is valid, when your Distribution Certificate expires your existing apps on the App Store will not be affected. However, you will no longer be able to upload new apps or updates signed with the expired or revoked certificate to the App Store.

Notes:

• The iOS Distribution Certificate expires after 1 year.
• The iOS Distribution Certificate comes into play during the upload process. It's not the same as a push notification certificate, so it will have no effect on the push notification failing when it expires.

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Prerequisites

• Apple Developer Account
• CSR file

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Solution

• The iOS Distribution Certificates are automatically renewed when the Apps are loaded to the Customer's Apple Developer Account. Therefore you are highly suggested to republish your iOS app.

• Alternatively, please follow the instructions provided by Apple to generate a new iOS Distribution Certificate: 

1. Log in to Apple Developer.
2. Click on 'Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles'.

3. The next screen should default to the "Certificates" section.

4. Click on the '+' button to add a new certificate.

5. Select 'iOS Distribution (App Store and Ad Hoc)' from the Software options, then click 'Continue'.

6. Click 'Continue' again.

7. Click 'Choose File' and select the CSR file you previously created (Check the Create a certificate signing request KB article). Then click 'Continue'.

8. Click the 'Download' button to download a .cer file.

9. Double-click the .cer file to install it in Keychain Access.

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Testing

Your iOS Distribution Certificate will be renewed and you will be able to publish new iOS apps on the Apple Store even after the 30-day period has passed.

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Related Articles

• Publish iOS app