Xcode could not launch app. Process launch failed: 4294967295

Question

I'm developing an iOS 8 app in Xcode 6.0.1 and running it on my iPhone 5 (which has iOS 8.0.2 on it). Before I updated to iOS 8.0.1 and Xcode 6.0.1, I never got the error I'm getting. However, now, sometimes when I try to run my app from Xcode onto my iPhone, this error message pops down from the top of the Xcode window:

Could not launch "[app name]". Process launch failed: 4294967295

It appears that this error only occurs when I first run the app from Xcode onto my device (i.e. if I close the error message in Xcode, but I don't close the app on my phone--so the app's still up on my phone--I don't get this error when I click the run button again in Xcode). However, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of consistency because sometimes the error message doesn't drop down even when I launch the app onto my phone for the first time from Xcode (i.e. without the app already being up on my phone).

Also, I have tried several solutions, none of which have completely fixed the error:

1. Clean out the build, clear out DerivedData, restart my mac, and reopen Xcode.
2. Get a new certificate for the app from apple after accepting their new iOS 8.0 license agreement.
3. Make sure that, when I install 3rd party Cocoa pods, the Podfile specifies iOS 8.0 platform.
4. Set the app's deployment target and build settings for iOS 8.0

I can't seem to figure out how to get this error to consistently stay away even after trying the above-mentioned solution attempts. Again, I can still run the app on my phone normally sometimes, but every couple of runs it displays the strange error message in Xcode and only opens the app on my phone but won't link it with Xcode (for console output, etc).

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

We have encountered this before. The cause was we were using Distribution provisioning profile on Development.

You need to use a Development provisioning profile if you want the debugger to link to your XCode.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Have you tried disconnecting the device and rebooting it?

When I have seen this, the app was always running, but Xcode was not able to attach the debugger to the process (or attach it quickly enough.)