Apple distribution certificates

When publishing an app with Apple, you are required to use a distribution certificate.
Certificates can be managed by the Apple developer program account holder or admin.
When choosing which distribution certificate option to use, you have three options.

This is what they mean and when you should choose them:

1. Use distribution certificate details from your latest submissions 

Use the same certificate that you choose for the last submission.
This option will only be visible if you have made one or more submissions in your organization and will only be successful if the certificate is still valid and has not expired.

2. Generate a new distribution certificate

If you have no distribution certificates, or if you want to use a different one, you can generate a new certificate.
Keep in mind that an apple developer account can only have a maximum of 3 distribution certificates and enterprise accounts have a maximum of 2.
If you have reached the maximum number of certificates, you can revoke an existing certificate.
Note: Revoking a certificate used by an enterprise app will result in the enterprise app needing to be re-built. See more here.
To revoke a certificate see here.

3. Upload your own distribution certificate (.p12 file)

You can upload a different distribution certificate to use for this app submission. Use this option if you already have a .p12 file and don’t need to generate a new one. If you have reached the maximum number of distribution certificates that your account can have you have to upload one for Fliplet to use. 

The p12 file isn’t stored under your Apple Developer account, so you can’t download it again from here. Most likely your IT team will have the files available on their systems. 

FAQ

1. What do I do if my certificate expires?
   For existing Apple Business manager or public app store apps, no action is required.
   Expired certificates cannot be used for publishing a new version or building new apps, and you’ll need to generate a new certificate for this.
   For an enterprise app, you will be required to create a new certificate and re-publish your app.  See more here.
   
   
2. What do I do if my provisioning profile expires?
   
   If the provisioning profile is about to expire, you will need to:
   1. Log into your Apple Developer account
   2. Delete the provisioning profile that is expired/about to expire
   3. Request the app again in Fliplet Studio, in the publishing section. This will generate a new provisioning profile for you, however, Fliplet cannot generate a new one whilst you have the old one in your account and so the old profile should be deleted first
   4. Users will not be able to access the app after you delete the provisioning profile until you rebuild and distribute the new version of the app