Enterprise Distribution Provisioning Profile Expiration

Question

Our company enterprise provisioning profile is set to expire in a month, but our distribution certificate is set to expire in a few more years. What are our options?

Do I need to regenerate a new provisioning profile and create a new build that I have to redistribute?

Or is there a simpler option like just sending out the new provisioning profile I generate? or better yet I don't have to do anything?

Thanks

Answer 1

So generating a new provisioning profile will not invalidate any of the apps out there on devices. Simply generate the new provisioning profile, build a new version of the app with the new provisioning profile, and just make sure all your users / testers update to the new version of the app.

Alternatively, you could generate the provisioning profile and then distribute the profile to all the devices through MDM (if you're using an MDM solution) or by email (not a great experience). Basically the app will continue to run as long as the new provisioning profile gets on the device before the old one expires, whether that's through MDM, manually, or by installing a new version of the app with the provisioning profile in the .app payload. Or if your users download any app with the new provisioning profile, assuming that provisioning profile is set up with a wildcard app ID, that will also correct it (see information about that here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/29121777/3708242).

Basically, you need to do something before the provisioning profile expires (the sooner the better) and get that new provisioning profiles on the device (through one of the options above).