Publishing a Mob app to the App Store / TestFlight

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iOS publishing is driven by mob_dev. This page is a quick orientation; the detailed step-by-step (with screenshots, troubleshooting, and all the Apple-portal gotchas) lives in mob_dev:

Full guide: Publishing to TestFlight (iOS)

TL;DR

iOS publishing is two phases — a one-time setup, then a three-command release loop you'll do for every build.

One-time setup (per app)

  • Pick a real bundle ID — com.example.* won't fly with Apple
  • Update ios/Info.plist — bundle ID, display name, semver version
  • Update android/app/build.gradle — applicationId to match
  • Strip unused permissions from Info.plist (camera/mic/location/etc. that the framework template scaffolds but your app may not use)
  • Register the App ID at developer.apple.com — manual web-portal step
  • Create an Apple Distribution certificate — Xcode → Settings → Accounts → Manage Certificates → +
  • Create an App Store provisioning profile — at developer.apple.com — bind cert + App ID
  • Install the profile — double-click the downloaded .mobileprovision
  • Run mix mob.provision --distribution — verifies cert + profile, generates the signing project
  • Create the App Store Connect app record — at appstoreconnect.apple.com — pick your bundle ID from the dropdown
  • Generate an App Store Connect API key — Team Keys, App Manager role, download .p8 (one-time only)
  • Configure mob.exs with the API key (see detailed guide for the exact block)

Per-release flow

mix mob.provision --distribution   # idempotent; only when profile expires
mix mob.release                    # builds _build/mob_release/<App>.ipa
mix mob.publish                    # uploads to App Store Connect (TestFlight)

After upload Apple processes the build for 5–15 min before it shows in the TestFlight tab. Add testers there.

Common surprises

  • Bundle ID can't be com.example.* — Apple validates the prefix
  • App ID registration is manual — mix mob.provision can't auto-create it (Apple's API limitations under xcodebuild). One-time web step.
  • Distribution cert is separate from your dev cert — Xcode Settings creates it
  • Profile names don't matter — mob_dev discovers profiles by UUID, so name them however you like
  • The .p8 API key downloads once — Apple doesn't store the private half
  • mix mob.publish goes silent for several minutes — altool is uploading. Use --verbose to see progress.

Known limitation (mob 0.5.10)

The release pipeline produces a signed .ipa and uploads it to App Store Connect successfully, but Apple's automated validator currently rejects the build because Mob bundles the OTP runtime tree (containing .so/.a files Apple doesn't allow) and uses test-harness NIFs that reference private UIKit selectors.

The build IS sideload-able to a connected device via Xcode for ad-hoc testing.

The framework work to clear App Store validation (switch to statically linked libbeam.a, compile out test-harness NIFs in release mode, fix Info.plist + IPA packaging) is tracked separately. See the detailed guide's "Known limitation" section for the specific errors and the static-link approach.

For everything else — exact button clicks at developer.apple.com, the specific Apple errors and how to read them, what to do when a step fails — see the detailed mob_dev guide.