How to Create a Provisioning Profile for iPhone

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: June 24, 2020 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to create an app provisioning profile with Apple's Developer program. A provisioning profile is needed in order to prepare an app for public release. In order to create a provisioning profile, you'll need an Apple Developer account, which costs $99 USD per year.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Creating a Standard Profile

1
Go to the Apple Developer website. If you don't have an Apple account, you'll need to create one before you can create a provisioning profile.
2
Enter your Apple ID email address and password. These are the credentials you use to log into your iCloud account or the App Store.

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3
Click Sign In. As long as your email address and password correlate to each other, you'll be logged into your Developer account.
4
Click Account. It's in the top-right side of the page.
5
Click Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. You'll see this option in the middle of the page.
6
Click All. It's below the "Provisioning Profiles" heading.
7
Click +. You'll find this option in the top-right corner of the page.
8
Click iOS App Development. This option, located beneath the "Development" heading, will gear your profile toward iPhone app creation.
9
Click Continue. It's near the bottom of the page here.
10
Click an app ID when prompted. Doing so will select it for your provisioning profile.
11
Click Continue.
12
Select development certificates. Each certificate you click will be selected.
13
Click Continue.
14
Click iPhone. This will create the provisioning profile specifically for an iPhone platform.
15
Type in a profile name. This name should be something that will help you keep track of the reason you have the provisioning profile, especially if you have multiple profiles for different devices or projects.
16
Click Generate. It's next to the "Profile Name" field.
17
Click Done. Doing so will complete the process and create your provisioning profile.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Creating an Ad Hoc Profile

1
Go to the Apple Developer website. An Ad Hoc profile differs from a standard provisioning profile in that an Ad Hoc profile can be used to test apps without first needing to have downloaded Xcode.
2
Enter your Apple ID email address and password. These are the credentials you use to log into your iCloud account or the App Store.
3
Click Sign In. As long as your email address and password correlate to each other, you'll be logged into your Developer account.
4
Click Account. It's in the top-right side of the page.
5
Click Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles. You'll see this option in the middle of the page.
6
Click All. It's below the "Provisioning Profiles" heading.
7
Click +. You'll find this option in the top-right corner of the page.
8
Click Ad Hoc. It's below the "Development" heading.
9
Click Continue. It's at the bottom of the page.
10
Click an app ID. This app ID must match the one you used during the app development.
- If you only see XC Wildcard here, click it instead.
11
Click Continue.
12
Click a distribution certificate to use. This option will appear near the middle of the page.
- If you don't have a distribution certificate, you'll need to create one before you can continue.
13
Click Continue.
14
Click iPhone. This will create the provisioning profile specifically for an iPhone platform.
15
Type in a profile name. This name should be something that will help you keep track of the reason you have the provisioning profile, especially if you have multiple profiles for different devices or projects.
16
Click Continue. You may need to wait for a few minutes before your profile is completely set up.
17
Click Done. Doing so will create your Ad Hoc provisioning profile with your applied settings.