Generating signed release builds

If you've executed the app on an emulator or even on your device, chances are pretty good you've already generated a debug build; this is the default setting for the Cordova apps. To generate a release build, you have to explicitly request it. To generate a release build that is suitable for deployment, you also need to sign it. By signing the app, you will allow other devices to ensure that the app really did come from you and reduce the potential of others tampering with your app.

In this section, we'll cover how to create builds and sign them. Since the signing steps are different on each platform, we'll cover them in separate subsections.

Managing the iOS signing identities

In order to sign your code (for debug or release), you need a signing identity. On iOS (where all the builds are signed regardless of their debug status), you have at least two identities: a development identity and a distribution identity. These identities uniquely...