iOS signing fails after transferring apps to new Apple Developer account

MarcoCol · February 20

Hi everyone,

I’m currently trying to rebuild and publish some existing iOS apps with GameSalad after moving them to a new Apple Developer account, and I’m running into signing issues.

Here is my setup and what I already did:

Background

The apps were originally published under an old Apple Developer account.
The apps have now been transferred to a new Individual Apple Developer account via App Store Connect.
I created on the Mac a new macOS user account specifically for the new developer account to avoid conflicts with old certificates.
Using Unity / Xcode uploads using the new account already work correctly (TestFlight upload succeeds).

Certificates

On the new account I created completely new certificates:

✅ Apple Distribution certificate (with private key visible in Keychain)
✅ Apple Development certificate (also valid)
Both certificates are installed in Keychain → My Certificates with private keys.

Provisioning Profiles

For each app I created new profiles:

Type: App Store Connect (Distribution)
Correct Bundle Identifier
Linked to the new Apple Distribution certificate
Downloaded fresh from developer.apple.com

When I double-click the .mobileprovision files, Xcode opens and imports them.

However:

The provisioning profiles do not appear as files in
~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles
If I manually copy them there, they disappear immediately.

GameSalad Issue

Inside GameSalad (Publish → iOS → Sign App):

I receive errors like:

No provisioning profiles found matching developer identity
Could not Find Bundle Name in plist

It looks like GameSalad cannot detect the installed provisioning profiles, even though they are valid and Xcode recognizes them.

What works

Xcode automatic signing works
Archiving and uploading via Xcode works
Certificates and profiles are confirmed valid in Apple Developer portal

What doesn’t work

GameSalad signing step cannot find provisioning profiles.

Questions

Does GameSalad still expect provisioning profiles as physical files in the old MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles folder?
Is there a known issue with profiles after transferring apps between Apple Developer accounts?
Is there a recommended workflow for rebuilding transferred apps with GameSalad?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated — I suspect this is related to newer Xcode profile handling vs. GameSalad’s signing process.

Thanks!

Armelline · February 20

1. GameSalad cannot sign for you anymore. You need to use https://www.iosappsigner.com/ - you pick the correct certificate, provisioning profile and IPA file and it'll sign it for you much as Gamesalad did. This will be why you're having problems.

2. No, new account = entirely new app, new certificate, new profile, new bundle ID (unless you're able to remove the old one I guess but not sure if that's even possible). Then it should work fine.

3. Only insofar as you do all the same stuff just on the new account with the new certificate.

A few other minor notes worth mentioning:

If you open up Keychain access and search for your certificate, does it show as valid (i.e. "This certificate is valid")? I know you said it's valid, but it being created validly and it being recognised in keychain as valid aren't the same thing so I want to be sure.

Do not trust double-clicking provisioning profiles to be enough to install them. Open Xcode, go to Settings>Accounts, select the Team and click "Download manual profiles."