iOS App Expiration
All signing credentials must be renewed periodically before they expire.
For iOS apps, this means that either the distribution certificate or the distribution provisioning profile used to sign the app has expired. If the app includes extensions and is signed with multiple provisioning profiles, the expiration date is based on the date of the certificate or provisioning profile due to expire the soonest.
- Distribution certificates expire after 2 years.
- Distribution provisioning profiles expire after 1 year.
Expired Apps
Users cannot install expired apps from an App Catalog, and cannot run expired apps that are already installed. In fact, if an installed app is allowed to expire, it crashes at launch. To prevent interruption to your users, you must renew credentials and re-sign apps BEFORE an app expires.
Expiration Status
iOS apps with expired credentials are highlighted on the Applications page:
| Status Tag | Description |
|---|---|
 | This tag warns you when an iOS app is due to expire in 60 days or fewer. |
 | This tag identifies an iOS app that is signed with expired credentials. |
Optionally, you can enable the Expiration Date column on the Applications page. The Expiration Date column is hidden by default so you must use the Show/hide columns menu to display it.
You can also view the expiration date on the Signing page for the app or under Signing Credentials on the Settings page.
Additionally, App Management notifies administrators about apps due to expire. Notification emails are sent 60 days before an app expires, 45 days before, 30 days before, and then every day until the app either expires or is re-signed with new credentials.
Which Credential is Expiring: Profile or Certification?
Here's a quick way to narrow down which credential is about to expire: If you're notified about 1 or 2 apps, it's likely the provisioning profile. If you're notified about a large number of apps, or even all of your apps, it's probably the distribution certificate.
You can always check the expiration date of the certificate or provisioning profile to be sure, but this gives you a good indication when you first receive a notification or see a status tag.
Action Plan for Expiring Apps
You should renew signing credentials and re-sign the apps with the updated profile and your distribution certificate as soon as possible before they expire.
Remember, each app must be signed with a unique distribution provisioning profile, but you should use the same distribution certificate for all provisioning profiles.
The following procedures give a high level overview of how to proceed based on which credential is expiring. Click the links for detailed tasks.
For an expiring distribution provisioning profile
- Renew the provisioning profile in the iOS Dev Center.
- Download the new profile.
- Re-sign the app with the updated profile.
- Notify users about the updated app.
For an expiring distribution certificate
- Create a new distribution certificate in the iOS Dev Center.
- Renew the provisioning profile in the iOS Dev Center and be sure to choose the new distribution certificate you just created.
- Download the new profile.
- Re-sign the app with the updated profile.
- Notify users about the updated app.
The iOS Dev Center allows you to revoke old distribution certificates. Do not revoke the old certificate before it actually expires. Doing so will cause installed apps to function improperly and interrupt service to your users.