iOS - watchOS App publishing issue CFBundleIdentifier collision

Question

After the app uploading I receive the following email

We identified one or more issues with a recent delivery for your app, XXX. Please correct the following issues, then upload again.

ITMS-90806: CFBundleIdentifier collision - Each bundle must have a unique bundle identifier. The bundle identifier 'org.cocoapods.CocoaLumberjack' is used in the bundles '[CocoaLumberjack.framework, CocoaLumberjack.framework]'

CocoaLumberjack is a third party library that I've already used in the past a lot of times without any problem, I am pretty confused.

It is not related to the framework's .plist keyword CFBundlePackageType as it is specified in this question/answer Framework CFBundleIdentifier Collision. The CocoaLumberjack bundle package type is "Framework" (CFBundlePackageType = FMWK). CocoaLumberjack is a wide used third party library added to my project using cocoapods.

The issue is probably related to the watchOS target in my app bundle. The CocoaLumberjack library is used in both iOS app and watchOS app and it is causing the issue about the bundle identifier duplication.

CFBundleIdentifier collision is detected by Apple Connect server if sharing framework between iOS target and Watch Extension.

target 'App' do
 platform :ios, '9.0'
 # Pods for App
 ...
 pod 'CocoaLumberjack/Swift', '~> 3.5.3'
 ...
end

target 'AppWatch Extension' do
 platform :watchos, '5.0'
 # Pods for Watch Extension
 ...
 pod 'CocoaLumberjack/Swift', '~> 3.5.3'
 ...
end

The iOS app is using the library and the watchOS extension is using the same library. They are using different libraries but CocoaLumberjack is the only one present in both.

I have already published my app a lot of times in the past without any issues with the same libraries configuration. I guess that the Apple has changed some constraints about bundle identifier in the last few days.

The same issue is present also using Carthage.

Answer 1

As a temporary workaround I have manually renamed the bundle identifier in the watchOS extension then the app publishing is working fine but it does not look like a nice solution, especially if you are running the build on a CI system.

A better option is to add a specific post install operation in pod file:

post_install do |installer|
 installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|
  if target.name == 'CocoaLumberjack-watchOS'
   target.build_configurations.each do |config|       
    config.build_settings['PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER'] = 'org.cocoapods.${PRODUCT_NAME:rfc1034identifier}-$(PLATFORM_NAME)'
   end
  end
 end
end

or if you have to handle multiple libraries:

post_install do |installer|
 watchosLibs = ['Lib1-watchOS', 'Lib2-watchOS', 'Lib3-watchOS']
 installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|
  if watchosLibs.include? target.name
   target.build_configurations.each do |config|
    config.build_settings['PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER'] = "org.cocoapods.${PRODUCT_NAME:rfc1034identifier}.${PLATFORM_NAME}"
   end
  end
 end
end

Pay attention to rename pods bundle identifier because some libraries don't behave correctly otherwise.

I suggest to rename only the libraries rejected by Apple in order to minimize the possible issues.

Currently there are some different open threads about this issue:

• On Apple forum (currently no more available)
• On Cocoapods github project

A similar issue is present also using Carthage instead of Cocoapods

• On Carthage github project

If Apple will not change this new policy about bundle identifier then a more clean solution will probably come from cocoapods team.

Answer 2

Apparently Apple changed the validation process. It looks like they don't allow to platform specific frameworks within an app to have the same identifier.

There's a post on the forum about this as well: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/122048

If you're running into this issue because you're using Cocoapods you could patch your Podfile to append the Platform Name to the bundle identifier so that they'll be always unique (source):

post_install do |installer|
  installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|
    target.build_configurations.each do |config|
      config.build_settings['PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER'] = 'org.cocoapods.${PRODUCT_NAME:rfc1034identifier}-$(PLATFORM_NAME)'
    end
  end
end

If you have multiple targets in your app you can change the watchOS targets in your scheme in XCode and append .watchos to the identifier as well.