Apple Developer Account Setup and Certificates
Register an Apple Developer account, create an App ID, generate a distribution certificate in Keychain Access, and download a provisioning profile from the developer portal.
The Apple Developer Program
To distribute an iOS app on the App Store, you need an Apple Developer Program membership, which costs $99 per year. This grants you access to App Store Connect (to manage your listings and builds), the Developer Portal (to manage certificates and devices), and the ability to distribute apps to the public. Without membership, you can only run apps on your own registered devices.
Creating an App ID
An App ID (also called a Bundle ID) uniquely identifies your app in Apple's ecosystem. It follows reverse-domain notation: com.yourcompany.appname. You register it in the Developer Portal under Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles > Identifiers. The Bundle ID must match the ios.bundleIdentifier value in your app.json exactly — a mismatch prevents the app from being signed and submitted.
// app.json
{
'expo': {
'ios': {
'bundleIdentifier': 'com.yourcompany.myapp',
'buildNumber': '1'
}
}
}
// This must exactly match the App ID registered in
// developer.apple.com/account/resources/identifiersAll lessons in this course
- Apple Developer Account Setup and Certificates
- Configuring Signing with EAS Build
- Preparing App Store Metadata in App Store Connect
- Submitting for Review and Responding to Rejections