Title: EAS iOS build fails with “iTunes service key is empty” on Windows

Question

FloorIQ OP

Created 2w

Replies 9

Boosts 5

Views 1.6k

Participants 9

Hello,

I’m trying to create an iOS TestFlight build for an Expo/EAS app on Windows.

The project is configured with:

Expo SDK 57

EAS CLI 24.1.0

iOS bundle ID: com.i3radleyy.flooriq

Apple Developer Program: active individual membership

Apple Team ID: R7GLN64JYP

The Bundle ID is registered in Apple Developer

The app record exists in App Store Connect

I am the Account Holder

The Expo configuration command succeeds and reports the correct bundle ID. EAS project initialisation also succeeds. However, when running the production build, Apple authentication fails after the Apple ID and password are accepted:

Authentication with Apple Developer Portal failed! Failed to set up credentials. iTunes service key is empty Error: build command failed.

I have also tried:

EAS_NO_VCS=1 EXPO_NO_KEYCHAIN=1

Git is not being used, and the project is being built from the correct app directory. The Apple Developer account and App Store Connect pages are accessible in the browser, and the Bundle ID is registered.

Is this a known EAS/Apple authentication issue on Windows? Is there a recommended way to provide the Apple signing credentials or use an App Store Connect API key so that EAS can create the iOS distribution certificate and provisioning profile?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Rvjobje OP

2w

Same issue here.

Answer 2

v3r5ace OP

2w

Yeah what I'm seeing is that expo tries to hit https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/olympus/v1/app/config?hostname=itunesconnect.apple.com which returns a 404, so it can't authenticate to Apple. Feels like something got changed or broken in the last day or so.

Answer 3

SamuelG99 OP

2w

Same problem here

Answer 4

csabarakasz OP

2w

same!

Answer 5

Vane1717 OP

2w

Same issue. Glad it’s not just me.

Answer 6

falenn OP

2w

Same issue

Answer 7

Vane1717 OP

2w

Apple updated their login page layout, which broke the automatic scraper inside Expo CLI and caused the ⁠iTunes service key is empty⁠ error. Setting ⁠export EXPO_APP_STORE_AUTH_SERVICE_KEY='...'⁠ in the terminal manually feeds Expo the public access key it was failing to scrape, allowing normal Apple ID authentication and certificate generation to succeed.

I used export EXPO_APP_STORE_AUTH_SERVICE_KEY='e0b80c3bf78523bfe80974d320935bfa30add02e1bff88ec2166c6bd5a706c42'

i fed that to the terminal and it fixed it.

temporary work around for anyone looking at this thread.

Answer 8

Nawaid786 OP

2w

Thanks for the workaround — EXPO_APP_STORE_AUTH_SERVICE_KEY did get me past the initial "iTunes service key is empty" error and login now completes successfully (password + 2FA, or even a restored cached session).

However, the very next step still fails intermittently with the same Apple 401 detected error, right after a confirmed successful login:

√ Logged in and verified › Team [name] ([Team ID]) › Provider [name] ([Provider ID])

Auth error: 'm', 'Apple 401 detected - You are either not logged in, your account doesn't have access to the requested data, or the page doesn't exist'

This happened twice in a row for me — once after a fresh password+2FA login, and once again immediately after restoring a valid cached local session (no credentials re-entered at all). So the login itself is genuinely succeeding; it's the follow-up call (linking the bundle identifier) that's separately 401'ing on Apple's side.

Setup: Expo SDK 54, EAS CLI 24.x, Windows 10, Apple Developer Individual account, bundle ID already pre-registered manually in Apple Developer Portal before attempting the build (to rule out creation-vs-linking as the issue — made no difference).

So the workaround helps get further, but doesn't fully resolve it — seems like there may be a second, separate instability on Apple's Developer Portal API beyond just the login page scraper issue.

Answer 9

KuroeKnight OP

6d

I tried using the API Key flow (where you provide a .p8 file) and I'm also getting the 'm' 401 error. It definitely is missing a step in it's scraper or something. Huge pain cause I'm trying to get new devices added for some internal testing...