How do I transition from a paid membership to a free one?

Hey all! This is my first time posting to the forums, so feel free to redirect me if you need. My question is pretty simple (I hope)!

I previously had a paid developer account and I have since let that account expire. As I don't intend to distribute apps, only to develop them for personal learning purposes and only ever running them on my own devices, I think that all I need is a free account.

I had assumed that my paid account would be downgraded to a free account once it expired, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I can no longer run my in-development apps on my own device, and my membership center account page only offers to renew my paid account, not transition it to a free one.

In short: My paid developer account expired, and now I want to transition to a free account, but I don't know how. Help!

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nicholaswood
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This is the error I get in Xcode when attempting to run my app on a device: "Code Sign error: No matching provisioning profiles found: None of the valid provisioning profiles include the devices: Oracle".

Oracle is my phone's name. I'm guessing that I need to add this to my developer profile, but... how?

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nicholaswood
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No idea if there is a way to transition, but...if you create a 'free provisioning' account, you may want to use a new/unique Apple ID.


Free provisioning/testing on your device:


• From within Xcode 7.x (Mac only), navigate to “Xcode—->Preferences—->Accounts.” Hit the '+' icon below left to add your Apple ID. After you add your account, it will show within the main account window on the right.

• Select your account, hit the “View Details” button and wait for them to load.

• Now create the 'signing identity' used to create a provisioning profile used for device testing - Hit the “Create” button next to the 'iOS development' label. When completed, hit ‘Done’.

• Connect your device and select it as build destination via the 'active scheme' dropdown to the right of the play and stop icons.

• In target's 'General' tab/settings:

• a. Set app identifier you want for your free profile

• b. Set team id as your apple id

• c. Hit 'Fix Issue' button below the provisioning profile warning

• Run* your app with your device selected.


You may have to 'fix issue' more than once - keep at it so Xcode can step thru them as needed.


Note: What you can/can't do w/free provisioning is listed here: https://developer.apple.com/support/app-capabilities/


*If this is about creating an ipa to manually hand off, select Build For Archiving under the project menu, not ‘Run’.

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KMT
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v old post now, but for anyone else having problems going back to a free account - contact apple support.

In my case, it turned out I had an old iPhone registered to dev account from years ago, and had no way of unregistering it because the ability to manage devices is reserved for paid accounts.

Support removed it from my account, and I was able to build for my current iPhone straight away.

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esvee
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