Uploading an iOS .ipa File from Ionic Appflow Package to App Store Connect

Support Note

Please note that the Ionic Customer Success team is not responsible for troubleshooting failed iOS or Android application uploads to the Apple App Store / App Store Connect or Google Play Store. 

Issues with the upload process should be researched by the developer responsible for uploading. If you believe your issue is related to Appflow, please contact us.

This post is for informational purposes only. 

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Application Loader is Gone

Some of our users have noticed that as of Xcode 11, the Application Loader - the macOS application / utility which made it possible to take an IPA file from the Appflow Package service and upload it to App Store Connect for submission to the App Stores or TestFlight - is no longer available in Xcode.

With Xcode 11, there are two other options for uploading your IPA files from Appflow.

Option 1 - Transporter App 

The first option is a new application called Transporter (announcement link), which is available for macOS on the Mac App Store (US Link) or under the Apple Developer Portal's Tools downloads section. The Transporter app provides a simple drag-and-drop Mac UI to drop your IPA file into the app, validate it and deliver the application to App Store Connect.

To upload from our Package service, simply download the .ipa file from the Appflow Dashboard and drag-and-drop into the Transporter application. Transporter will tell you if there are issues with the file and allow you to verify the app prior to delivering to App Store Connect.

Note: Before using Transporter, ensure you have logged into the Apple Developer Portal and accepted any and all agreements, terms of service, etc from Apple as part of your Apple Developer License agreement. Otherwise, your iOS application(s) may not upload appropriately (and the errors provided by Transporter may be misleading in this scenario!).

Option 2 - Xcode CLI Commands

The alternative option is to make use of the Xcode Command Line Tools to manually upload the IPA file to App Store Connect. This process is more involved and does not provide a nice GUI like Transporter, so we recommend trying Option 1 first. If you are interested in using the Xcode Command Line Tools command instead of Transporter, we recommend checking out StackOverflow articles (like this one) and Apple's Xcode Command Line Tools documentation.