Creating a signed .ipa for Xamarin projects

You can easily create a signed IPA for your Xamarin project with Bitrise. All you need to do is set the relevant inputs of our Xamarin Archive step!

Before you start

Before setting up IPA export, make sure that:

  • your code signing files have been collected: we recommend using our codesigndoc tool.
  • you have the Certificate and profile installer step in your workflow.

If you're all set, proceed to setting up IPA export in your workflow:

  1. Make sure that you have the Xamarin Archive step in the app's Workflow Editor and select it.

  2. Set the Xamarin solution configuration input of the step to the Xamarin project Configuration you want to use (for example, Release).

  3. Set the Xamarin solution platform input to iPhone.

    You can control the code signing type in your Xamarin project by setting the code signing configurations in Xamarin Studio.

    Select export method for Xamarin Archive for iOS

If you wish to use more than one code signing type (for example, to create both Ad-hoc and App Store signed apps), create more than one Release configuration in Xamarin Studio. Set the separate configurations to the types you want to use.

Tip: copy/clone an existing Release configuration

You can Copy the existing Release configuration in Xamarin Studio, to have an identical base configuration, where you only change the code signing settings. For example, Copy the Release|iPhone configuration with the name ReleaseAppStore, set the code signing to App Store for this ReleaseAppStore configuration, and specify this configuration as the Xamarin solution configuration input of the Xamarin Archive step.

Changing code signing configurations in a Xamarin project

Don't forget to run codesigndoc again if you change code signing configurations in your Xamarin project, or to manually collect and upload the signing files required for the configurations you want to use!