Standalone Build Error: "There was an error with this build"

Hey team… i keep getting this error when i try to build standalone iOS builds. The error doesn’t provide any details so it’s kinda hard to debug on my end.

Other reports if this same issue seem require some build specific debugging on the expo side so that’s why i’ve creating this ticket.

Here’s the error details:

...
[exp] Published
[exp] Your URL is

https://exp.host/@josebrowne/mastery
[exp] Building...
[exp] Build started, it may take a few minutes to complete.
[exp] Build ID: f6d8731a-1888-4325-aef2-51efcce0a262
[exp] Run `exp build:status` to monitor it.

$ exp build:status
[exp] Making sure project is set up correctly...
[exp] Your project looks good!
[exp] Checking if current build exists...

[exp] ============
[exp] Build Status
[exp] ============

[exp] iOS: There was an error with this build.

Any help greatly appreciated.

I am having the same issue. Specifically [exp] iOS: There was an error with this build.

Build ID: 9954eb74-ce63-453b-9b90-917795a0772e

It could be that your bundleIdentifier is already used. Your bundle identifier must be unique for the iOS store, so it’s possible that you chose one that is already used. Try some variation or making your bundle identifier in your app.json a little more unique and see if that works

@joelwass But i’ve been using this same bundle identifier for the past few weeks and have been able to build without any issues. In fact app is already in the app store – just need to deploy an update.

did you use a new version number?

Just bumped both app version and ios build number and still same error. I even cleared all certificates and started from scratch… Still Same error. :-/

Can you paste your app.json file?

@dikaiosune: Sure:

{
    "expo": {
        "name": "Mastery",
        "description": "Track and manage mastery of any skill",
        "privacy": "public",
        "slug": "mastery",
        "sdkVersion": "20.0.0",
        "version": "1.0.2",
        "orientation": "portrait",
        "primaryColor": "#cccccc",
        "icon": "./src/assets/img/app-icon.png",
        "notification": {
            "color": "#000000"
        },
        "loading": {
            "backgroundImage": "./src/assets/img/loading_bg@3x.png",
            "splash": {
                "image": {
                    "ios": {
                        "backgroundImage": "./src/assets/img/loading_bg@3x.png"
                    }
                }
            },
            "hideExponentText": true
        },
        "packagerOpts": {
            "assetExts": ["ttf", "mp4"]
        },
        "ios": {
            "supportsTablet": true,
            "bundleIdentifier": "com.josebrowne.mastery",
            "buildNumber": "7"
        },
        "facebookScheme": "[****]",
        "hooks": {
            "postPublish": [{
                "file": "sentry-expo/upload-sourcemaps",
                "config": {
                    "organization": "jose-browne",
                    "project": "mastery-app",
                    "authToken": "[****]"
                }
            }]
        }
    }
}

This is the latest Build ID: ef049cab-4824-46b2-944b-97bbf5208921

Thanks for pasting those! It looks like we had a small bug when falling back to a default background color. We’ll get a fix for this deployed soon, in the meantime you can specify a white background color under your ios splash configuration.

[exp] Checking if current build exists…

[exp] No currently active or previous builds for this project.
[exp] Checking for existing Apple credentials…
[exp] Validating Apple credentials…
[exp] Credentials valid.
[exp] Validating distribution certificate…
[exp] Validating app id…
[exp] Validating push certificate…
[exp] Starting build process…
[exp] Publishing…
[exp] Building iOS bundle
[exp] Building Android bundle
[exp] Analyzing assets
[exp] Uploading assets
[exp] No assets changed, skipped.
[exp] Building sourcemaps
[exp] Uploading JavaScript bundles

[exp] Running postPublish hook: sentry-expo/upload-sourcemaps
[exp] Created release 17.9.3-r.J6zpyYoEP3.

[exp] > Analyzing 4 sources

Rewriting sources
Adding source map references
Uploading source maps for release 17.9.3-r.J6zpyYoEP3

Source Map Upload Report
Minified Scripts
~/main.android.bundle (sourcemap at main.android.map)
~/main.ios.bundle (sourcemap at main.ios.map)
Source Maps
~/main.android.map
~/main.ios.map

[exp] Published
[exp] Your URL is

https://exp.host/@

[exp] Building…
[exp] Build started, it may take a few minutes to complete.
[exp] Build ID: ab30a55a-6419-4080-ad99-b41eb30508b0
[exp] Run exp build:status to monitor it.

[exp] Checking if current build exists…

[exp] ============
[exp] Build Status
[exp] ============

[exp] iOS: There was an error with this build.

Are there any debugging logs that can explain?

[exp] iOS: There was an error with this build.

Yup… That seems to have done the trick… Thanks a lot :slight_smile:

i’m having the same error
[exp] Build ID: 44244733-f28c-4ff6-acef-b325edce4802

my app.json

{
  "expo": {
    "name": "Dance & Deals",
    "description": "Dance And Deals Application",
    "slug": "dance-deals-rn-app",
    "privacy": "unlisted",
    "sdkVersion": "19.0.0",
    "version": "0.1.0",
    "orientation": "portrait",
    "primaryColor": "#B47A1A",
    "icon": "./assets/icons/app.png",
    "loading": {
      "icon": "./assets/icons/loading.png",
      "hideExponentText": true,
      "backgroundColor": "#B47A1A"
    },
    "packagerOpts": {
      "assetExts": [
        "ttf",
        "mp4"
      ]
    },
    "ios": {
      "bundleIdentifier": "com.itsource.danceanddeals"
    },
    "android": {
      "package": "com.itsource.danceanddeals"
    },
    "facebookScheme": "fb422559601459258"
  }
}

removed backgroundColor under loading (splashscreen ?) didn’t work
@dikaiosune can you look at my server build logs ? thanks alot

@dikaiosune Hey Adam, could you also please look at your server logs for this Build ID: ab30a55a-6419-4080-ad99-b41eb30508b0?

Would anyone advise on Detaching to ExpoKit as a solution?

Hi @modenero – looks like you’re specifying an invalid team ID. Your team ID should be a 10 character ID, and can be fetched from Sign In - Apple

@flieks did you upload your own distribution certificate or let Expo generate it for you? It seems like whatever distribution cert we have for you is invalid.

Thanks @skevy I let expo generate it for me… I’m not expert in ios native dev. Should i make my own cert?

@skevy Thanks Adam, but I got another build error:
Build ID: 81980b46-25b4-4daf-9a93-882c3a3ac4e3

Deleted all the certificates ‘manually’ from Sign In - Apple. Had originally generated them separately from exp.

Then cleared the current credentials before building:

$ exp build:ios --clear-credentials

The following is the output:

[exp] Checking if current build exists...

[exp] No currently active or previous builds for this project.
[exp] Checking for existing Apple credentials...

We need your Apple ID/password to manage certificates and provisioning profiles from your Apple Developer account.
? What's your Apple ID? 
? Password? 
? What is your Apple Team ID (you can find that on this page: https://developer.apple.com/account/#/membership)
? 
[exp] Validating Apple credentials...
[exp] Credentials valid.

? Do you already have a distribution certificate you'd like us to use,
or do you want us to manage your certificates for you? true
[exp] Generating distribution certificate...
[exp] Distribution certificate setup complete.
[exp] Validating app id...
? Do you already have a push notification certificate you'd like us to use,
or do you want us to manage your push certificates for you? true
[exp] Fetching a new push certificate...
[exp] Push certificate setup complete.
[exp] Starting build process...
[exp] Publishing...
[exp] Building iOS bundle
[exp] Building Android bundle
[exp] Analyzing assets
[exp] Uploading assets
[exp] No assets changed, skipped.
[exp] Building sourcemaps
[exp] Uploading JavaScript bundles
Using manifest: 
[exp] Running postPublish hook: sentry-expo/upload-sourcemaps
[exp] Created release .

[exp] > Analyzing 4 sources
> Rewriting sources
> Adding source map references
> Uploading source maps for release 

Source Map Upload Report
  Minified Scripts
    ~/main.android.bundle (sourcemap at main.android.map)
    ~/main.ios.bundle (sourcemap at main.ios.map)
  Source Maps
    ~/main.android.map
    ~/main.ios.map

[exp] Published
[exp] Your URL is



[exp] Building...
[exp] Build started, it may take a few minutes to complete.
[exp] Build ID: 81980b46-25b4-4daf-9a93-882c3a3ac4e3
[exp] Run `exp build:status` to monitor it.

Now checking the status:

$ exp build:status
[exp] Checking if current build exists...

[exp] ============
[exp] Build Status
[exp] ============

[exp] iOS: There was an error with this build.

Looks like this was due to a small infra issue – I believe @skevy has patched the offending code and you should be able to try again.

oh thank the heavens, it worked! ahh, can feel the anxiety lifting.
@skevy thanks so much for patch
@dikaiosune thanks so much for the great support

what the hell does “infra” mean?

also, is there any plan to improve on the "There was an error" error message?

finally, do you guys take crypto donations?

cheers!