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Provisioning profiles for Xamarin.Mac apps

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Provisioning profiles allow a developer to incorporate several macOS (formerly known as Mac OS X) specific features (such as iCloud and Push Notifications) into their Xamarin.Mac apps. They must create, download and install a Mac Provisioning Profile for each application they are developing that use these features.

The Apple Provisioning Portal

Development provisioning profile

A Development Provisioning Profile allows a Mac App Store-targeted app to be tested on the specific computers that have been set-up in the profile. This is particularly relevant when using macOS features like iCloud and Push Notifications.

Note

The developer must have already created a Mac Development Certificate before they can create a Development Provisioning Profile. Complete the details as shown on this screenshot to generate a Development Provisioning Profile that can be used to create builds. There must be a valid Mac Development Certificate available for selection in the Certificate box, and at least one system registered for testing.

Do the following:

  1. Select the type of Provisioning Profile that to create and click the Continue button:

    Selecting the profile type

  2. Select the ID of the Application to create the profile for and click the Continue button:

    Selecting the app ID

  3. Select the developer ID used to sign the profile and click Continue:

    Selecting the developer ID

  4. Select the computers that this profile can be used on and click Continue:

    Selecting the allowed computers

  5. Now, enter a Profile Name and click the Generate button:

    Screenshot shows entering the Profile Name into the provisioning window.

  6. Click the Download button to download the new profile:

    Screenshot shows Download button for the profile.

  7. Development provisioning profiles are installed to the Profiles Preferences pane of the Mac's System Preferences application:

    Screenshot shows the Install verification dialog box.

  8. The Profile Preferences pane will show all installed profiles:

    Showing all installed profiles

  9. The profile will also appear in the Developer Certificate Utility in case it needs to be downloaded again:

    The Developer Certificate Utility

A new Development Provisioning Profile will need to be created for each new app or when a new computer is being added to test on.

Production provisioning profile

Production provisioning profiles are required to build a package for submission to the Mac App Store.

Do the following:

  1. Select the type of profile to create and click the Continue button:

    Selecting the type of profile

  2. Select the ID of the app to create the profile for and click the Continue button:

    Selecting the app ID

  3. Select the company ID to sign the profile and click the Continue button:

    Selecting the company ID

  4. Enter a Profile name and click the Generate button:

    Generating the profile

  5. Click Download to get the provisioning profile file (extension .provisionprofile):

    Downloading the profile

  6. Drag it into the Xcode Organizer or double-click it to install. The profile will then appear in the Xcode Organizer:

    Installing the profile

  7. The provisioning profile will also appear in the list:

    Showing the installed profiles

If the developer ever changes the features being used by an App ID (eg. enabling iCloud or push notifications) then they should re-create the provision profiles for that App ID.