Summary

The concept

• .IPA files are iOS and iPados app archive files that store iOS/iPados apps. Each .IPA file consists of a binary and can only be installed on ARM-based iOS, iPados, or MacOS devices. Files with the .IPA extension can be uncompressed by changing the extension to .zip and unzipping. Most .ipa files cannot be installed on iPhone emulators because they do not contain binaries for x86, ARM ant of mobile phones and tablets. To run applications on the emulator, native project files can be opened using the Xcode SDK. However, some .ipa files can be opened on the emulator by extracting and copying over the .APP file found in the payload folder. Some simple applications can run on the emulator through this method.
• Apple Developer account is one of the most important processes in IOS application development, when running, debugging, exporting .ipa installation files or uploading apps to Testflight. There are 2 types of accounts

1. Apple Developer Program for Individuals ($99/Year): For individuals.
2. Membership Program for Organizations ($299/Year): For organizations and companies.

• Apple Distribution Certificates is a certificate that identifies whether the account has the authority to upload the app to the product’s appstore. For a $99 account, a maximum of 3 certificates can only be created.
• Apple Development Certificates are certificates used for development purposes only. Supports all devices, and can only create up to 12 certificates for a $99 account.

Instruct

1. Configure Fastlane and push the IPA to Firebase Distribution
2. Configure Fastlane and push Testflight

Configure Fastlane and push IPA to Firebase Distribution

Create an App Name for your Android project by clicking the Android icon on the Firebase dashboard

• Enter Apple bundle ID and click “Register app”

Download the file GoogleService-Info.plist and click “Next

After downloading, we open xcode with the command

open ios/ReactNativeDevOps.xcworkspace

Next we drag the downloaded file into xcode

Next, select the image and select OK

Next, select Next

Next, select Next

Continue to select ” Continue to console “

After successful registration, you will have the ios section on the dashboard page

So I have successfully registered iOS on Firebase

Next, we will enable Firebase Distribution

We select Firebase Distribution in the right menu, then select IOS

Next select Get started

So we have successfully enabled Firebase Distribution

Build .IPA

You need an Apple Developer Account to perform this step

1. Create Certificates Distribution:

We access the link to create: https://developer.apple.com/account then select Certificates

We open Keychain Access and select Certificate Assistant -> Request a Certificate From a Certificate Authority..

Next, enter your email and select Saved to disk

Select the newly created icon

Next select Apple Distribution and click Continue

Select the file CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest just created above

Click continue and download the created file

Double click on the newly downloaded file and import it into keychain accounts and check if the file has been imported

So the file has been imported, let’s continue to create Provisioning Profile Ad Hoc

We select the menu on the left Profiles

Continue to select Continue

Continue to select Continue

We select the newly created Certificate and click Continue

Select the device to be used, in this part we are building Ad Hoc so we need to add additional devices to the build

Next, choose a name for the file and select Generate then download the file

Double click on the newly downloaded file and import it into keychain accounts

Next we use the fastlane init command to add the iOS build kit

fastlane init

Next we choose number 4

Next we add the firebase_app_distribution plugin

fastlane add_plugin firebase_app_distribution

Continue updating the file ios->fastlane->Fastfile

# This file contains the fastlane.tools configuration
# You can find the documentation at https://docs.fastlane.tools
#
# For a list of all available actions, check out
#
# https://docs.fastlane.tools/actions
#
# For a list of all available plugins, check out
#
# https://docs.fastlane.tools/plugins/available-plugins
#

# Uncomment the line if you want fastlane to automatically update itself
# update_fastlane

ENV["FASTLANE_XCODEBUILD_SETTINGS_TIMEOUT"] = "180"
ENV["FASTLANE_XCODE_LIST_TIMEOUT"] = "180"

default_platform(:ios)

platform :ios do
   desc "Push a new beta build to firebase"
   lane :firebase do |options|

     clear_derived_data
     clean_build_artifacts

     build_app(
       export_options: {
         method: "ad-hoc",
         provisioningProfiles: {
           "com.reactnativedevops" => "Provisioning Profile react native depops"
         }
       }
     )

     puts "+---------------------------------+".bold.blue
     puts "|-- FIREBASE_CLI_TOKEN: #{ENV['FIREBASE_CLI_TOKEN']} 🚀 --|".bold.blue
     puts "|-- FIREBASE_APP_ID: #{ENV['FIREBASE_APP_ID']} 🚀 --|".bold.blue
     puts "+---------------------------------+".bold.blue


      firebase_app_distribution(
        app: "1:320882145170:ios:56b45da6b925693e65b34b",
        firebase_cli_token: "1//0gP2yENNqCT1oCgYIARAAGBASNwF-L9IrqQI9gih5h73FSmaozzyn0HSQXxS7Vyyav2h4zEk4ClMbgmz6CwbEShz_qJVMmTxiGas"
      )
     end
end

firebase_app_distribution part app vs firebase_cli_token, you can see in the previous post, I have instructions in the previous post, continue using the command fastlane firebase

fastlane firebase

So you have successfully built and uploaded to firebase. Let’s continue to log in to the firebase console to see if the file has been uploaded.

So I have successfully built, and uploaded the build version 1 to Firebase Distribution

Configure Fastlane and push Testflight

Step 1: Create identifiers

Continue selecting Continue

Select App and click Continue

Continue entering Description and **Bundle ID **

So we have successfully created identifiers for the app with the package name com.reactnativedevops

Continue to go to the appconnect home page to create a New App

So we have successfully created New App with app name React Native Devops

Continue updating the ios->fastlane->Fastfile file to add the new build config section

  desc "Push a new beta build to TestFlight"
     lane :beta do |options|

       clear_derived_data
       clean_build_artifacts

       build_app(
         scheme: "Release",
         export_options: {
           method: "app-store",
           provisioningProfiles: {
             "com.reactnativedevops" => "Provisioningdevopsstore"
           }
         }
       )

       upload_to_testflight(
         notify_external_testers:true,
         skip_waiting_for_build_processing:true

       )

     end

Continue updating the ios->fastlane->Appfile file to add the new build config section

# app_identifier("[[APP_IDENTIFIER]]") # The bundle identifier of your app
# apple_id("[[APPLE_ID]]") # Your Apple Developer Portal username
app_identifier("com.reactnativedevops") # The bundle identifier of your app

apple_id("tdduy.dev@gmail.com") # Your Apple email address

itc_team_id("") # App Store Connect Team ID
team_id("") # Developer Portal Team ID


# For more information about the Appfile, see:
# https://docs.fastlane.tools/advanced/#appfile

After updating, we use the command fastlane beta -verbose to build

fastlane beta -verbose

After the build was successful, my app was on testflight

So I have shared with you how to build for iOS through fastlane. Thank you for reading my article.