I am struggling with uploading my Mac-only app to TestFlight. I used to do this with Xcode 13.4.1 for a while without trouble, but now I have built the app with Xcode 27.1 and am getting issues such as ITMS-90885 and ITMS-90288 and I cannot figure out how to make it work.
I have now at least realized that I seem to need to create a new provisioning profile because the one was using is missing some entitlement(s).
To create a new profile, I need to create also a new certificate at https://developer.apple.com/account/resources/certificates/add
But there's already my first hurdle: There are two types that allow upload the to MAS: "Apple Distribution" and "Mac App Distribution". Which one should I choose? I even googled for help but found nothing more than what the above website says. It's not clear what the difference is when I only want to submit to the MAS, and whether choosing the wrong one may already be part of the problem I'm having now with uploading my app.
Can someone please explain in more detail if they're having exclusive behavior when using them to upload Mac apps to the MAS and TestFlight?
It doesn’t really matter but, in general, I recommend Apple Distribution.
Historically, there was separate iOS and macOS development signing identities and separate iOS and macOS distribution signing identities. A while back [1] those got unified into Apple Development and Apple Distribution, which work for both platforms. It’s easier to use these unified ones, which is why I recommend them, but the old ones continue to work.
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Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
[1] I vaguely recall this change was in Xcode 11, and lo! it’s actually in the release notes. Search Xcode 11 Release Notes for 45527608.