Migrating Identifier from non-team prefix within single account

Question

mateusz-matrejek OP

Created Mar ’25

Replies 3

Boosts 0

Participants 3

Hello,

In our Account we have an iOS app with an explicit identifier "ABC123.com.some.app" that is using non-team prefix which is DEF456. It has also explicit identifiers for Widgets bundle and Notification Service.

Due to non-team prefix, it can't access e.g. shared keychain and data put there by our other apps. Since we are working on features that require these capabilities, we would like to update the app identifier, so it is prefixed with our team id DEF456.

Initially, we thought that the process would require steps like:

Create new app, team-prefixed identifier(s) for app and all things that need them
Recreate the provisioning profiles with new App Identifier
Roll out the app using with new profiles via App Store

but when trying to create the new identifier with com.some.app and team id prefix DEF456 we are getting following error:

An App ID with Identifier com.some.app is not available. Please enter a different string.

Can anybody advise us how to correctly perform such change and what steps are required from our end?

We would like to keep our existing App Store entry, ratings and smoothly switch users. We are aware that this kind of migration results in loss of Keychain access.

Thanks for any advice on that!

Answered by DTS Engineer in 831864022

Can anybody advise us how to correctly perform such change and what steps are required from our end?

Reach out to Developer Program Support and ask them to change the prefix of your App ID to be your Team ID. Start at Apple > Developer > Contact Us.

Two things:

If your main app includes a bunch of app extensions, include all of those App IDs in your request as well as the App ID of your main app.
Changing your App ID prefix is not without consequences. I talk about this more in App ID Prefix Change and Keychain Access.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Boost

Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Mar ’25

Recommended

Can anybody advise us how to correctly perform such change and what steps are required from our end?

Reach out to Developer Program Support and ask them to change the prefix of your App ID to be your Team ID. Start at Apple > Developer > Contact Us.

Two things:

If your main app includes a bunch of app extensions, include all of those App IDs in your request as well as the App ID of your main app.
Changing your App ID prefix is not without consequences. I talk about this more in App ID Prefix Change and Keychain Access.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

1

Answer 2

mateusz-matrejek OP

Apr ’25

@DTS Engineer Is that possible to have access to both current identifier and the migrated one, so I can test migration path and possibly release a fix to the version using legacy identifier if things go sideways? Or should I just request new identifiers when I feel my pre-migration version reached satisfying adoption rates?

Also, does migrating identifier affects ability to send notifications to older versions? Didn't find any info on that.

0

Answer 3

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

May ’25

Sorry I didn’t respond earlier. I wasn’t notified of your reply )-:

Is that possible to have access to both current identifier and the migrated one … ?

No.

Lemme explain how the process works:

You contact Apple Developer Program Support to request the App ID prefix change. Do this via Apple > Developer > Contact Us.
They change the prefix.
This doesn’t affect your apps as deployed on user devices.
But it does affect your development process. You need to rebuild all your provisioning profiles to pick up the new prefix.
You can then continue developing your app as you normally would, including submitting to App Store Connect and hence TestFlight.
Once you release a version to your users, they start upgrading. At that point the prefix changes on their local copy of the app.

The inclusion of TestFlight in step 5 means it’s possible to test how the new version of your app deals with the change.

Also, does migrating identifier affects ability to send notifications to older versions?

I discussed this with DTS’s APNs expert and his experience is that this doesn’t cause significant problems on that front. However, I’m not the right person to give you definitive answers here. My advice is that you start a new thread about this in App & System Services > Notifications.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

0