SessionCloud Portal
Creating Certificates and Profiles for the App Store

Please note you will need an active Apple Company Developer account and an Apple Mac computer.

Firstly login to your Apple Developer portal. In the main view browse to the 'Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles' view. We first need to create a certificate.

Apple Developer Portal

Create Apple Distribution Certificate

Tap the Add certificate button and then select the Apple Distribution certificate radio button and then tap 'Continue'.

Create New Certificate

You will then need to upload a certificate signing request. This can be created with the 'KeyChain Access' tool on your Mac. Follow the steps in the below screenshot from the Apple Developer site to create your CSR. You can then upload the saved CSR.

Signing Request

Tap confirm to create the certificate. This will need to be renewed after twelve months.

Uploading Certificate

Create App Identifers and App Group

Next you need to create an application Identifier for the main application and also the associated messaging extension. The messaging extension allows text messages to be received via Push notifications. The value for application Identifier must be the same as the entry in the portal.

AppStore page

In the main 'Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles' view select Identifiers and Add a new Identifier. Select the App Ids radio button, then for the type, select 'App' and tap continue again. In the Register an App Id view enter the value from the portal as an explicit Bundle Id. In the capabilities section below ensure the App Groups and Push Notifications checkboxes are ticked. You can type in anything suitable in the Identifier description box.

Register an App Id View

Repeat this for the msg extension App Id. Register a new App Id by using the same Identifier used for the main application but with '.msgextension' as the suffix. Set App Groups and Push notifications as the capabilities.

Entering Message Extension

Finally create an Identifier for the App Group. Select the App Groups radio button.

ProjectDetail

Create an explicit Bundle Id using the main application Identifier but with 'group.' prefix. Fill in a suitable description and tap Continue.

Register a New Identifier Page

Return to the main Identifiers view and select the main application Identifier created earlier. This will bring up the Edit your App Id Configuration view. Then select the Edit box next to the App Groups capability and select the App Group created from before. Repeat this for the Messaging Extension Identifier. Now both these Identifiers are part of the same App Group. This step is important so if you have any doubts as to whether this has been done correctly please contact us and we will be happy to assist.

Now that the required Identifiers have been created, finally we need to create two Provisioning profiles, one for the main application and the second for the messaging extension. In the 'Certificates, Identifiers and Profiles' view select Profiles and then create a new Profile. Select the App Store radio button in the Distribution section.

Register a New Provisioning Profile

Tap Continue, select your main application Identifier in the next section, tap Continue again and select your Certificate. Give the profile a name and then generate and download your new profile. The name of the profile will be used in the portal.

Repeat this to create a provisioning profile for the messaging extension, this time select your Messaging Extension Identifier and again give this profile a suitable name. You now should have a certificate and two profiles to upload in the SessionCloud portal to build your iOS softphone.