Moving iOS developer and distribution certificates and provisioning profiles from one computer to another is a simple process, but it may end up being a real pain if done incorrectly.

Exporting Certificates from Keychain

Follow these steps on your old computer to export your certificates:

  1. Open Keychain Access.
  2. Right click on your developer certificate.
  3. Select “Export”, choose the Personal Information Exchange (.p12) format, set a password, and choose a location to export your certificates to.
  4. Repeat steps two and three for your distribution profile.

Don’t worry about moving provisioning profiles for now, Xcode 4 has some handy feature to help with that.

Importing Certificates

On your new computer, ensure you set up your system and Xcode with your developer Apple ID.

  1. Open Keychain access and go to File, Import and select your exported certificates.
  2. Enter the password you set earlier to import your certificates. This may take some time.
  3. Open Xcode after importing your certificates and open the organizer (Command+Shift+2).
  4. Check that your Teams and their respective certificates appear in the organizer’s sidebar.

Importing Provisioning Profiles

This is the easiest part. After you’ve confirmed that your certificates are seen by Xcode, simply go to the Provisioning Profiles tab in the organizer sidebar, press the glorious refresh button in the bottom right corner, enter your Apple ID credentials, and wait for Xcode to sync up your profiles.

Xcode Organizer Refresh Provisioning Profiles