Validating Archive in Xcode 5 with an Ad Hoc Provisioning Profile

Question

I am trying to distribute an iPhone app for beta testing using an ad hoc provisioning profile.

I am getting what appears to be a typical issue in Xcode when you attempt to validate an archive that uses an ad hoc provisioning profile. It is the same code signing issue that several other Stackoverflow users have sought advice about. A couple (out of many) of the threads I've read:

Xcode 5 - Can no longer validate archives

Signing identity problems in XCode 5

I have tried "all" of the recommendations I've seen on SO to resolve this issue (there are many other threads beyond the two I've referenced above that I've walked through step by step), but when I read through all of the replies on this specific thread (Xcode 5 - Can no longer validate archives) there's a reply by "Ade" that resonates with my experience.

To quote Ade:

"It looks like Apple disabled the ability to validate with just an ad hoc provisioning profile in XCode 5.

"If you wish to validate an app that is intended only for Ad Hoc distribution, you must also have an App Store provisioning profile for the app too, against which to validate it."

Abe communicates my exact experience: I cannot validate the archive with the ad hoc provisioning profile, but CAN validate the archive as soon as I create an archive with the App Store Distribution Provisioning Profile.

So my question is: contrary to what Apple suggests here (https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/AppDistributionGuide/TestingYouriOSApp/TestingYouriOSApp.html) is it true that in Xcode 5 you cannot validate an archive using an ad hoc provisioning profile because of code signing issues? I'd like to know if this is true is so that I can go ahead and distribute the ad hoc version of the app for beta testing WITHOUT validating the archive. And once I'm done beta testing, as long as the archive created with the App Store Distribution Provisioning Profile validates, I can confidently submit the app to the App Store.

Answer 1

No. You can always validate the archive as long as you have the Right version of the app with the Right bundle ID on iTunes connect after the app is in Waiting For Upload status.

I dont know about other developers. I always have 3 provisioning profiles for all the apps that I developed. Under the release, I always toggle between Ad-Hoc or Distribution. I use ad-Hoc most of the time, including validating, send the IPA to testflight for Beta Testers and etc. After all the satisfies testings, then only I will change the final version to distribution profile and compile a new archive. Then I will validate again and submit to app store.