We have been trying to submit an app to the iTunes store using Application Loader for three days and keep getting stuck at the "Authenticating with the iTunes store" step.
We have read many forums (including stackoverflow) and tried what was suggested:
making a new provisioning profile
using different or multiple versions of Application Loader
changing proxy settings
rebooting the Mac
uploading at a different time of the day, etc.
We have even left it running overnight and have not had success with getting past this step. Unfortunately, no feedback is given about what the issue may be, and we have not gotten any error messages. We have submitted multiple apps without any difficulty in the past but are completely stuck this time!
How were you able to solve it?
This only started happening to me today (May 2017) and no answers in this thread solved my issue. The resolution for me was from here;
https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/76803
Open Terminal. Change to home directory,
cd ~
Move the current transporter directory,
mv .itmstransporter/ .old_itmstransporter/
Invoke the following file to let Transporter update itself.
"/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Application Loader.app/Contents/itms/bin/iTMSTransporter"
Wait till it updates, then open Xcode and attempt upload.
You have to agree to a new sign up in Application Loader. Select "Application Loader" under the "Xcode -> Open Developer Tool" menu (the first menu to the right of the Apple in the menu bar). Once you open Application Loader there will be a prompt to agree to new terms and then to login again into your iTunes account. After this any upload method will work.
Just wait. In a few minutes all will be ok.
Dec 10th 2019, Xcode Version 11.2.1, MacOS X 10.15.1
I was facing exactly same issue yesterday and I thought it might be network issues, at least it looks like so. But this morning I had tried couple different networks and several VPN connections, none of them is working!
The highest voted answer here asks me to reset a cache folder named .itmstransporter under my home dir, the run a program iTMSTransporter under a specific folder, but I can't find both of them.
But soon I figured that it is the cache folder for the people who uses the legacy uploader program: Application Loader, which is deprecated by Apple and can be no longer found in Xcode 11. Then I found that the latest Xcode has located iTMSTransporter here:
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/SharedFrameworks/ContentDeliveryServices.framework/itms/bin/iTMSTransporter
And its cache folder is here:
/Users/your_user_name/Library/Caches/com.apple.amp.itmstransporter/
I removed my existed cache folder, and run iTMSTransporter without any parameter, it soon started to output logs and download a bunch of files, and finished in 2 or 3 minutes. Then I tried again to upload my ipa file, it works!!!
CONCLUTION:
Either the old Application Loader, or the latest Xcode, uses a Java program iTMSTransporter to process the ipa file uploading.
To function correctly, iTMSTransporter requires a set of jar files downloaded from Internet and cached in your local folder.
If your cache is somehow broken, or doesn't exist at all, directly invoking iTMSTransporter with functional parameters such as --upload-app in our case, iTMSTransporter DOES NOT WARN YOU, NOR FIX CACHE BY ITSELF, it just gets stuck there, SAYS NOTHING AT ALL! (Whoever wrote this iTMSTransporter, you seriously need to improve your programming sense).
Invoking iTMSTransporter without any parameter fixes the cache.
A functional cache is about 65MB, at Dec 10th 2019 with Xcode Version 11.2.1 (11B500)
I was stuck at "Authenticating with the iTunes Store" today. I had used the same version and build number as a previous submission. After I updated the build number, the upload went fine. I don't know if it's related, or if it was a coincidence.
I had the same issue for months, I just removed hotspot shield and private tunnel applications from my computer and tried to upload my app and everything worked just fine. so I suggest if you have installed any VPN application on your computer, remove the application and then try uploading your app from either application loader or xcode's organizer.
Try answer mentioned in this Reference Link, it really worked for me and for others as well.
Mentioning answer here as well.
Open Terminal and run:
cd ~
mv .itmstransporter/ .old_itmstransporter/
"/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Application Loader.app/Contents/itms/bin/iTMSTransporter"
iTMSTransporter will then update itself, then you can try uploading in XCode again or via application loader.
There is no magic fix. Itunes is just working bad. Lately is having more and more issues and it takes more and more to update and send an ipa to the store.
I had this issue with AppLoader and Xcode organiser too and after trying multiple times it just went through.
Changing network connection helped.
Turned off wifi on my phone
Enabled 3G
Created HotSpot
Connected my mac to the hotspot and got through the authetication issue
In my case, I hadn't agreed to the newest Developer Agreement. Just run Application Loader once, click on [Accept] to agree, then quit the Application Loader and the Upload to App Store should work fine.
Following worked for me.
Open another instance of Application Loader.
( Select "Application Loader" under the "Xcode -> Open Developer Tool" menu)
"Agree" to the terms.
After completing Step 2. First instance of Application Loader proceeded to the next step and build got submitted.
I have also encounter the same issue. One possible solution is to go to Xcode -> Preferences -> Accounts and from the left menu select on App ID then click on the View Details and tap on the refresh button. while reloading you will get following error
The selected team's agent, 'ADMIN NAME' must agree to the latest
Program License Agreement.
If you will not get above error, Following solution will not work.
It means that you need to login into the developer account using Admin login and accept that latest agreement.
Then you will be able to upload binary on the app store.
The updated answer for Xcode 11.x.x and Transporter application, open terminal:
rm -rf ~/.itmstransporter/
"/Applications/Transporter.app/Contents/itms/bin/iTMSTransporter"
Wait a while
Problem solved!
I'm running MacOS Mojave 10.14.6, Xcode 11.3.1 and Transporter 1.1.1, and always got stuck at the Authentication with App Store stage, no matter how long I wait, I tried uploading using Xcode, using xcrun altool, Transporter, nada.
Finally I got it working by exporting the ipa file to a new Macbook (10.15.3, Xcode 11.3.1, Transporter 1.1.1), and used the Transporter app to upload it there.
The key difference is the Transporter tool on my new Macbook asked for a 6-digit code as authentication while the old Macbook did not, I suspect the authentication token on my old device expired but the system didn't ask for a new one when trying to upload the app. I had 2-FA enabled.
So I think forcing a manual re-authentication when you upload the app is the answer, the only other difference is the MacOS version, but I didn't test if it'll make a difference.
I solved the problem by removing ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.amp.itmstransporter.
For safety, renaming will be better,
cd ~/Library/Caches
mv com.apple.amp.itmstransporter com.apple.amp.itmstransporter.old
Then, xcrun altool uploaded my ipa successfully.
By the way, I'm using Xcode 11.x & 12.2, macOS Catalina.
In 2020 Dec, the fix did finally worked for me was restarting my mac.
Today I ran into this issue, on Xcode 11.2.1 I solved it by going to Xcode -> Preferences -> Accounts -> Tapped on the '-' next to my Apple ID, then signed in again. This fixed it for me!
In April 21, 2021, I followed #DawnSong's answer, outlined in the image below but I also restarted my Mac and voila it worked.
Spec
Xcode 12.4
macOS Big Sur 11.2.3
You may try to relogin your ITC account via Application Loader.
Just try a different Internet connection. I tried all the solutions above but none worked. However, when I tried using my cellular connection (instead of my DSL connection that stands behind a firewall), it worked immediately.
It might be a network issue. If you are running inside a virtual machine (e.g. VMWare or VirtualBox), try setting the network adapter mode from the default NAT to Bridged.
All i did was duplicate my Application Loader.app in /Applications and
ran both Application loaders at the same time.
this solution is out there, it used to work for me, but today not even that! what I did and worked is that (2 instances) + uploading with XCode (organizer). Had to try a couple of times and it worked.
hope this helps someone, this bug has been there for quite a lot of time now() an apple doesn't seem to care too much
Another reason could be that you have changed the machine from which you're submitting the app. Or the user account on the machine. The new machine may lack the private key and/or certificate for the App Store. Although a certificate with the correct name is displayed in Xcode.
In this case, go to https://developer.apple.com -> certificates, use the plus sign (+) to add a new certificate (distribution), and follow the steps to request a certificate for the private key on your current machine. After installing the certificate, authentication may work.
For me I tried almost all the suggestions given above but the problem still reoccurred after the first success in uploading to App store. Until I found this website. In summary, do the following
Open terminal
Run this command:
rm -rf ~/.itmstransporter/
“/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/Application
Loader.app/Contents/itms/bin/iTMSTransporter”
Note: this command(which is different from others above) will delete your ITMSTansporter folder and create a new one and ensure that xcode is quitted before running this command.
3. Start Xcode and all should be well.
Using Xcode 12.3 Distribute App and xcodebuild both got stuck today at this point.
I finally was able to solve this. Peeking around my system I found 3 versions of iTMSTransporter.
Printing the version of each using ./iTMSTransporter -version gives the following results:
/Applications/Transporter.app/Contents/itms/bin/ has version 2.0.0
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/SharedFrameworks/ContentDeliveryServices.framework/Versions/A/itms/bin/ has version 2.1.0
/usr/local/itms/bin/ has version version 1.9.3
So it looks that old version in /usr/local/itms was used by Xcode. After deleting /usr/local/itms I was able to upload my binary within Xcode 12.2 and using the xcodebuild command line tool.
Check your firewall
Network settings - (Check with network admin, usually they have blocked apple services unknowingly)
Check your system data/time.
I had same sort of issue, I resolved it by getting direct access to internet.
Also check Application Loader logs to see at which point it gets stuck.
I think I followed all the approaches given, but none worked for me.
My own approach that seems to work for me is to go thru the initial steps to upload a binary, then, after selecting the binary, do NOT click Send; instead close the window, and in the new window that will appear, start anew: hopefully it will go thru.
Found the solution:
I was uploading the build, Every activity went well except “Authenticating with the iTunes store”.
I disconnected my LAN cable and Connected my MAC with my mobile hotspot. and authentication problem was solved. If you have a limited internet plan then as soon as you pass authentication stage, again connect your LAN so that it will upload the app from you LAN cable's internet connection.
my upload failed each time when I uncheck the "include bitcode" option when uploading. So I checked the "include bitcode" option and upload went well.
Check your Firewall, If it is "On" then just Off it, then try
I've just enabled sandboxing in my OS X application, and now my Core Audio code doesn't work. In particular, when I call AUGraphAddNode, it returns the error invalidComponentID, saying just "The operation couldn't be completed". A number of other Core Audio calls seem to work correctly before that, though.
It doesn't seem to be a direct sandbox violation, as there aren't any messages from sandboxd in Console, but it definitely works when I turn off sandboxing. Anyone know why this would possibly happen? The only thing I can imagine is that maybe it's trying to read files that I don't have access to, although I would think that would give me a sandboxing error.
Update:
To clarify, I've tried enabling every sandbox entitlement and the issue still occurs.
I've also narrowed down the issue somewhat. That call only fails if I try to add a node with the component type kAudioUnitType_MusicDevice and subtype kAudioUnitSubType_DLSSynth.
Update 2:
I've figured out a hacky workaround. If I add a temporary exception entitlement to enable read-write access to the user's entire home directory, the error no longer happens. This is obviously not ideal, so I'm continuing to search for better options. I tried to narrow down the access required by adding entitlements for more specific subdirectories, but that didn't work.
I recently submitted the app I was having this issue with to the app store, and it was rejected for using the temporary exception entitlement mentioned in the last update to my question. I was pointed to this article discussing this exact issue.
It turns out that there's another entitlement that's unfortunately not documented in the standard sandboxing documentation: com.apple.security.temporary-exception.audio-unit-host. This will allow audio units, like the DLSSynth, which require permissions greater than the host environment's sandboxing allows, to run in the host environment, provided that the user grants permission at run time.
I'm not sure how long-term this solution is, given that this entitlement is also categorized as a temporary exception, but according to Apple this is the way to go for now.
If you are using Core Audio for microphone input, don't forget to add this to the sandbox entitlements in both your Target Summary and app entitlements file.
This error can occur in audio unit host apps that have been sandboxed.
On Xcode 11, you can turn off Sandboxing by removing it from the Signing & Capabilities tab:
I'm signing an app bundle using an Apple Developer ID certificate. I need to sign using the the command line tool since our build is automated and runs from our toolchain. 90% of the time it works fine with this command:
ws5:bin nick$ codesign -fs "Developer ID Application: <my name here>" MyApp.app
ws5:bin nick$ spctl --assess MyApp.app
ws5:bin nick$
Note: MyApp.app is not my real application name, and <my name here> is not the actual value.
So, maybe 1 in 10 times it intermittently fails with this error:
MyApp.app: The timestamp service is not available.
I've verified the .app gets through the quarantine mechanism with spctl --assess and by zipping it and downloading the signed file. I know that Apple doesn't officially recommend using codesign for developer ID certificates (according to a WWDC video) but we need to use it for automation and because our app is a strange combination of gcc and Qt build output.
Is the best strategy around this error to just retry until it works again? That's all I can think to do.
I cannot recommend the --timestamp=none workaround. If you do not timestamp your signatures, your binaries will become unsigned/invalid when the certificate expires. At least if you timestamp your signature, the verification will pass as long as the binary was signed while the certificate was still valid. This does not discount the certificate actually being revoked, but should keep you covered in case someone, possibly you, needs to use your archival copies some time past the certificate expiry.
If you don't have the Internet to timestamp your signature, you may as well disable signing altogether until your connection is back up.
EDIT: Or, assuming that your connection is up, but Apple's default timestamp server is being flaky, you could opt to supply your own valid timestamp server.
This problem does seem to arise from network/firewall issues. I was consistently getting this error before using a VPN to get to a less restrictive network. I wonder which server this codesigning tool is trying to access.
A workaround seems to be adding the --timestamp=none flag (to "Other Code Signing Flags" if you're using XCode).
I think this has nothing to do with the way you're signing. I built my project many times this afternoon, in Xcode, with no such problem. But this evening, while riding on a bus with no internet access, I tried to build three times and got this same error every time. So I closed my MacBook Air and we both took a nap. When I arrived home, with wireless internet back on, I was able to build again.
So, apparently, Xcode will not codesign, and therefore fails to build a codesigned app, unless it can reach a timeserver on the internet, or something like that. Quite annoying that the error message does not explain this! Is your internet access intermittent?
Obviously, the brute force workaround of removing the codesigning build phase would probably fix it. I also found an easier workaround, except that I would set a reminder to remember to turn that timestamp switch back on before building for shipping. Otherwise I presume your un-timestamped product might fail Mac App Store review or Gatekeeper.
This is tracked by Apple rdar://11785270 , a workaround that works for me is to run a project clean before every build.
Each time you try to do code signing it will interact with time.apple.com server.
Sometime we find issue in connection with apple time server and code signing fails.
Two things we can do when we face this issue -
ping time.apple.com
this will help us to check time server is working properly without any glitch.
If above step won't work, last option is to reboot the machine.
This is the saver step and it always work because it restart the local apple time client.
If you don't want to restart the system, then you can find how to restart local apple time client.
OR
On one terminal - run ping time.apple.com and on 2nd terminal tab run codesign command continuously, this always works. And don't forget to run security unlock-keychain login.keychain before codesigning command.
Different developers at my company have seen it several times today. Very annoying. It seems to be a resource issue on the Apple side. Our internet connectivity during the error was fine.
Clean your project + make sure you have an active internet connection. This just helped me at least.