How to Fix “Signed with Invalid Entitlements” in Xcode

The application was signed with invalid entitlements.

The application's signature contains invalid entitlements.

Entitlements specified in your application's Code Signing Entitlements file do not match those specified in your provisioning profile.

What does “signed with invalid entitlements” mean?

Entitlements describe special capabilities granted to an application through code signing.

For example, App Groups may appear as:

<key>com.apple.security.application-groups</key> <array> <string>group.com.example.myapp</string> </array>

Push Notifications involve:

aps-environment

The application can request only entitlements permitted by the signing profile.

If the app requests:

group.com.example.myapp

but the profile authorizes another group, the signed entitlement configuration is not valid.

Common situations where this error appears

• After adding App Groups
• After enabling Push Notifications
• After adding Associated Domains
• After enabling Keychain Sharing
• After changing iCloud configuration
• After enabling Sign in with Apple
• After manually editing an .entitlements file
• After switching from automatic to manual signing
• After changing the bundle identifier
• After changing the development team
• When using an old provisioning profile
• When an extension uses a stale profile
• When Debug works but Archive fails
• When local builds work but CI fails
• When only Ad Hoc or distribution signing fails

Common causes

1. The provisioning profile and requested entitlements do not match

For example, the app requests:

com.apple.security.application-groups = [ group.com.example.myapp ]

while the profile allows:

com.apple.security.application-groups = [ group.com.example.other ]

2. The provisioning profile predates a capability change

A profile created before App Groups, Push Notifications, or another capability was enabled may not contain the required entitlement.

3. An entitlement was added manually

For example:

<key>com.apple.developer.associated-domains</key> <array> <string>applinks:example.com</string> </array>

may have been added without enabling Associated Domains for the App ID.

4. The App Group identifier is wrong

The application may request:

group.com.example.debug

while the App ID is associated with:

group.com.example.production

5. The bundle identifier changed

A profile for:

com.example.oldapp

should not be reused for:

com.example.newapp

6. The development team is wrong

A profile issued by another team can result in mismatched application identifiers, keychain groups, and other signing entitlements.

7. application-identifier is inconsistent

The signed entitlement commonly has a value resembling:

TEAMID.com.example.myapp

A different Team ID or bundle identifier indicates a signing mismatch.

8. keychain-access-groups is inconsistent

Apps using Keychain Sharing need access-group values compatible with the team and provisioning profile.

9. aps-environment is incorrect

Push-notification entitlements depend on the provisioning profile used for the signed build.

A manually hard-coded value such as:

<key>aps-environment</key> <string>development</string>

can create problems in distribution configurations if it does not match the signing assets.

10. Associated Domains is not permitted by the profile

The application requests:

com.apple.developer.associated-domains

but the App ID or provisioning profile does not support the capability.

11. An iCloud container belongs to another application

The iCloud container identifiers in the entitlements need to match the configuration associated with the App ID.

12. An extension has invalid entitlements

The main app and its widgets or other extensions are separate signed executables.

A valid main app does not compensate for an incorrectly signed extension.

13. Debug and Release use different entitlement files

Debug: MyApp-Debug.entitlements

Release:
MyApp.entitlements

The Release file may contain an old or invalid value.

14. An .xcconfig overrides CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS

CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS = Config/Old.entitlements

can cause Archive to use an unexpected file.

15. CI uses an outdated provisioning profile

Automatic signing may work locally while CI continues using a manually stored .mobileprovision file from an older capability configuration.

16. A script modifies entitlements during the build

PlistBuddy, sed, file-generation scripts, or other automation can change the values that Xcode eventually signs.

17. A wildcard App ID is used for a capability that requires an explicit App ID

A wildcard such as:

com.example.*

does not support every capability.

18. A managed capability has not been granted

Some capabilities require approval from Apple. Manually adding their entitlement keys does not bypass the provisioning requirement.

What to check first

1. Open Signing & Capabilities

Project → Target → Signing & Capabilities

Check:

• Team
• Bundle Identifier
• Automatically manage signing
• Enabled capabilities

2. Check Code Signing Entitlements

Search Build Settings for:

Code Signing Entitlements

The underlying setting is:

CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS

3. Identify the failing target

The error may originate from:

MyApp MyWidget ShareExtension NotificationService

rather than the main app target.

Solution 1: Enable automatic signing

When appropriate, enable:

Target → Signing & Capabilities → Automatically manage signing

Select the correct team and configure capabilities in the same tab.

Xcode can then manage compatible signing assets and provisioning profiles.

Solution 2: Remove and re-add the capability

For App Groups, for example, remove the capability and add it again with:

+ Capability → App Groups

With automatic signing, this can refresh the entitlement and provisioning configuration.

Solution 3: Verify App ID capabilities in the Developer portal

Open:

Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles → Identifiers → App ID

and confirm that the required capability is enabled for the correct bundle identifier.

Solution 4: Regenerate the provisioning profile

For manual signing, regenerate the profile after changing App ID services or capabilities.

Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles → Profiles → Profile → Edit → Generate

Solution 5: Make Xcode use the new profile

Download the regenerated profile and verify that the current configuration uses it.

If you specify a profile manually, inspect:

PROVISIONING_PROFILE_SPECIFIER

Solution 6: Remove unnecessary entitlements

If the application no longer uses a capability, remove the corresponding entitlement rather than expanding the profile unnecessarily.

Solution 7: Avoid unnecessary manual entitlement editing

For supported capabilities, first try:

Signing & Capabilities → + Capability

Xcode can add the appropriate entitlement keys and reduce configuration mistakes.

Solution 8: Correct App Group identifiers

<key>com.apple.security.application-groups</key> <array> <string>group.com.example.myapp</string> </array>

Verify that the exact same App Group is associated with the App ID.

Solution 9: Configure Push Notifications through Signing & Capabilities

Signing & Capabilities → + Capability → Push Notifications

For manual signing, update the App ID and regenerate the provisioning profile.

Solution 10: Do not unnecessarily hard-code aps-environment

Avoid manually forcing:

<key>aps-environment</key> <string>development</string>

without understanding the signing configuration.

Configure Push Notifications and use a compatible provisioning profile instead.

Solution 11: Configure Associated Domains correctly

Add Associated Domains from:

Signing & Capabilities → Associated Domains

and configure entries such as:

applinks:example.com

Solution 12: Check Keychain Sharing

Inspect:

keychain-access-groups

for incorrect team prefixes or access-group values.

Solution 13: Match the bundle identifier

Inspect:

PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER

and make sure the profile corresponds to that App ID.

Solution 14: Match the development team

Check:

DEVELOPMENT_TEAM

against the team that owns the profile and App ID.

Solution 15: Compare Debug and Release

For each configuration, inspect:

• CODE_SIGN_STYLE
• CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS
• DEVELOPMENT_TEAM
• PROVISIONING_PROFILE_SPECIFIER
• PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER

Solution 16: If only Archive fails, inspect Release

Open:

Product → Scheme → Edit Scheme → Archive

and verify the signing configuration used by that build configuration.

Solution 17: Check every extension separately

For each target, verify:

• Bundle Identifier
• Team
• Provisioning Profile
• CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS
• Signing & Capabilities

Solution 18: Decode the provisioning profile

security cms -D \ -i MyApp.mobileprovision \ > /tmp/profile.plist

Then display the permitted entitlements:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy \ -c "Print :Entitlements" \ /tmp/profile.plist

Solution 19: Inspect the entitlements actually signed into the app

codesign -d \ --entitlements :- \ /path/to/MyApp.app

This is often more useful than inspecting the source .entitlements file because it shows the final signed result.

Solution 20: Compare the profile with the signed application

Compare:

security cms -D -i MyApp.mobileprovision

codesign -d --entitlements :- MyApp.app

Pay particular attention to:

• application-identifier
• com.apple.developer.team-identifier
• keychain-access-groups
• com.apple.security.application-groups
• aps-environment
• com.apple.developer.associated-domains

Solution 21: Inspect embedded.mobileprovision from the archive

The app bundle in an archive normally contains:

MyApp.app/embedded.mobileprovision

Decode the actual embedded profile:

security cms -D \ -i /path/to/MyApp.app/embedded.mobileprovision \ > /tmp/embedded-profile.plist

This verifies which profile was truly used rather than which one you expected Xcode to use.

Solution 22: Check application-identifier

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy \ -c "Print :Entitlements:application-identifier" \ /tmp/profile.plist

Verify that the team prefix and bundle identifier are correct.

Solution 23: Update CI provisioning profiles

If local builds work but CI fails, replace any stale .mobileprovision files stored in the CI environment.

If you use a signing-asset management system, verify that the latest regenerated profile has been published to it.

Solution 24: Check CI entitlement settings

A CI-specific .xcconfig may point:

CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS

to a different file from the local configuration.

Solution 25: Inspect resolved signing settings with xcodebuild

xcodebuild \ -project MyApp.xcodeproj \ -scheme MyApp \ -configuration Release \ -showBuildSettings | grep -E "CODE_SIGN|ENTITLEMENTS|PROVISIONING|DEVELOPMENT_TEAM|PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER"

Solution 26: Refresh stale local provisioning profiles

If automatic signing appears to reuse an outdated profile, review the profiles under:

~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles/

and remove only unwanted profiles before rebuilding so Xcode can request an updated profile.

Solution 27: Do not rewrite entitlements during the build

Avoid changing the active signing file during xcodebuild with commands such as:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy ... sed -i ... cp generated.entitlements MyApp.entitlements

Solution 28: Use configuration-specific entitlement files

For example:

MyApp-Debug.entitlements MyApp-Staging.entitlements MyApp-Release.entitlements

and select them through CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS rather than rewriting one source file.

Solution 29: Replace wildcard App IDs when necessary

Some capabilities require an explicit App ID such as:

com.example.myapp

rather than:

com.example.*

Solution 30: Verify managed-capability approval

Some capabilities require Apple approval before their entitlements can appear in an eligible provisioning profile.

Do not manually add such entitlement keys as a workaround for a capability that has not been granted to the App ID.

If the error involves App Groups

Check:

com.apple.security.application-groups

in this order:

1. App Groups in Signing & Capabilities
2. The group identifier in the source entitlements
3. The App Group in the Developer portal
4. The App ID-to-group association
5. The regenerated provisioning profile
6. The entitlements in the final code signature

If the error involves Push Notifications

Inspect:

aps-environment

Then:

1. Enable Push Notifications in Signing & Capabilities.
2. Enable Push Notifications for the App ID.
3. Refresh or regenerate the provisioning profile.
4. Sign a fresh build with the updated profile.

If the error involves Associated Domains

Inspect:

com.apple.developer.associated-domains

Configure the capability in Signing & Capabilities and update manual provisioning assets when necessary.

If the error involves Keychain Sharing

Compare:

keychain-access-groups

between the provisioning profile and the final signed application.

If the error involves iCloud

Check values such as:

• com.apple.developer.icloud-container-identifiers
• com.apple.developer.icloud-services
• com.apple.developer.ubiquity-kvstore-identifier

and verify that the containers, App ID, provisioning profile, and entitlements all belong to the intended application.

If the app installs in Simulator but not on a device

Simulator execution does not exercise the same provisioning requirements as a physical device.

For device-only failures, prioritize checking:

• The provisioning profile
• The development team
• The App ID
• The bundle identifier
• The final signed entitlements

If Debug succeeds but Archive fails

This commonly indicates a Release-specific signing mismatch.

Inspect the Archive configuration and compare its provisioning profile, CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS, team, and bundle identifier with Debug.

If local builds work but CI fails

Check for:

• An outdated CI provisioning profile
• A stale signing certificate
• A different Team ID
• A different bundle identifier
• A CI-specific .xcconfig
• A script that rewrites entitlements during the build

Will Clean Build Folder fix it?

Not when the signing assets or entitlements are genuinely incompatible.

You can run:

Product → Clean Build Folder

after fixing the signing configuration, but cleaning does not authorize an invalid entitlement.

Should you delete DerivedData?

If the signing configuration has already been corrected and stale build artifacts are suspected, you can try:

rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/*

as a secondary step.

It does not fix a provisioning profile that lacks the required entitlement.

What you should avoid

Adding more entitlements does not necessarily fix signing. In fact, requesting an entitlement that the provisioning profile does not authorize is a common cause of this error.

Also avoid manually hard-coding signing-generated values such as application identifiers or team identifiers unless you have a specific documented reason.

Fast troubleshooting checklist

1. Identify the target reporting the error.
2. Open Signing & Capabilities.
3. Check automatic signing.
4. Verify the Team.
5. Verify the Bundle Identifier.
6. Check CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS.
7. Remove stale or unnecessary entitlement keys.
8. Check App ID capabilities in the Developer portal.
9. Regenerate the profile after capability changes.
10. Verify App Group identifiers.
11. Check Push Notifications.
12. Check Associated Domains.
13. Check every extension target.
14. Decode the provisioning profile with security cms.
15. Inspect the signed app with codesign.
16. Compare the profile and signed entitlements.
17. Compare Debug and Release.
18. Replace stale CI profiles.
19. Stop scripts from rewriting entitlements during the build.
20. Create a fresh build or archive after fixing the configuration.

Summary

Xcode’s “signed with invalid entitlements” error means that the entitlements signed into the application are not valid for the App ID or provisioning profile used to sign the build.

Common causes include outdated provisioning profiles, manually added entitlement keys, mismatched App Group identifiers, incorrect teams or bundle identifiers, and incomplete Push Notifications, Associated Domains, Keychain Sharing, or iCloud configuration.

Start with Signing & Capabilities, the selected Team, the Bundle Identifier, and CODE_SIGN_ENTITLEMENTS.

With automatic signing, configure supported capabilities through Xcode and allow it to refresh provisioning assets. With manual signing, update the App ID configuration and regenerate the provisioning profile after capability changes.

If the cause is unclear, decode the provisioning profile with security cms and inspect the final application’s signed entitlements with codesign -d --entitlements :-. Comparing those two outputs is one of the most effective ways to identify the exact mismatch.

Clean Build Folder and DerivedData cleanup are secondary measures. The real fix is to align the app’s requested entitlements, App ID capabilities, provisioning profile, and final code signature.