Unable to upload iOS app with Application Loader

Question

Tired of banging of head against the wall with Apple, so I'm asking the question here.

Application Loader gets stuck at "Uploading package to iTunes Store...", showing 616 bytes of 37.7 MB (0 bytes/sec). Screenshot:

It stays this way for about 20 minutes and then displays an indeterminate error message:

An exception has occurred: The transport has been detected as having stalled and has been aborted. Please try again.

On one occasion the progress bar jumped to 10MB and it appeared to be uploading for a while, and then the error message appeared.

The error message does not show any information pertaining to the problem, or provide any hints as to the cause of the problem, or a potential solution. One line of the error hints at a "diagnostic mode" but provides no further information. Screenshot below:

I did try a workaround recommended elsewhere, of setting "https.proxyPort=80" in the "net.properties" file. This had no effect.

Application Loader has persistently given problems in the past, on other networks and computers, for no apparant reason. The internet connection I am on at the moment is fine. Every other site and service I use works perfectly. I am able to upload and download files from other servers, and I was able to submit the same app through Google Play without any problems.

Contacting Apple was not helpful. The first email response said that I need to verify the address and ports are accessible, and linked to the Using Application Loader document.

When I asked Apple what it meant to "verify", they responded that they were unwilling to assist, and recommended searching online for solutions.

I posted this same question on the dev forums and have received no response. Other posts on the internet suggest "going to the library", or "upload from your phone", neither of which are practical solutions.

Are there any known solutions to the problem? How can I go about diagnosing the issue? What is the "diagnostic mode" referred to in the error?

Answer 1

I found a workaround by playing roulette to find out which Transfer Protocol to use in Application Loader.

I used telnet to try to connect to each IP address and port mentioned in the "Using Application Loader". This is as close as I could come to verifying which IP addresses and ports were accessible.

An example of a successful connection looks like this:

MacBook-Pro:build luke$ telnet x.x.x.x 443
Trying x.x.x.x...
Connected to xyz.apple.com.
Escape character is '^]'.


Connection closed by foreign host.

The blank lines are hitting enter until the connection is closed by the server.

An unsuccessful connection just hangs until it times out, e.g.:

MacBook-Pro:build luke$ telnet x.x.x.x 443
Trying x.x.x.x...



telnet: connect to address x.x.x.x: Operation timed out
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host

I used this approach with all the IP addresses and ports listed in the document. In this case it turned out that DAV was inaccessible. The IP and port associated with one of the other transfer protocols was available, so I used that.

To change the transfer protocol, go to Preferences > Advanced, then tick the relevant box. Un-tick the other boxes for the protocols which are not accessible.