ios - Do I have to connect an iPhone to my Mac in order to create a provisioning profile?

Question

I have enrolled to Apple Developer Program to release my first app. My app's bundle ID is the same at developer.apple.com, at appstoreconnect.apple.com and in my XCode project. However, XCode still gives the error in "Signing & Capabilities" tab:

Failed to create provisioning profile.

There are no devices registered in your account on the developer website. Plug in and select a device to have Xcode register it.

And another error:

No profiles for ‘com.xxx.yyy’ were found

Xcode couldn't find any iOS App Development provisioning profiles matching ‘com.xxx.yyy’.

First error message made me think that a physical connection to an iPhone is required to create a provisioning profile.

I have never connected a physical device to my Mac before. I made my tests by iOS simulator. I was planning to do my physical device testing via Testflight.

Do I have to physically (via a USB cable) connect an iPhone to my Mac in order to create a provisioning profile? If not, what might be wrong?

Is it required to have provisioning profile in XCode to be able to use Testflight or publish an app to App Store?

Answer 1

Do I have to physically (via a USB cable) connect an iPhone to my Mac in order to create a provisioning profile?

Yes, if you want to use automatic signing. An automatic provisioning profile unites a computer and a device and an app; it says that this computer is allowed to build this app onto this device. Until Xcode sees the device, it can’t create the profile.

The alternative is to switch to manual signing. It’s more work but now you can generate the profiles yourself.