An ad hoc provisioning profile is a distribution provisioning profile that allows your app to be installed on designated devices and to use app services without the assistance of Xcode. It’s one of the two types of distribution provisioning profiles that you can create for apps. (You use the other type of distribution provisioning profile to upload your app to App Store Connect.) An ad hoc provisioning profile ensures that test versions of your app aren’t copied and distributed without your knowledge.
When you’re ready to distribute your app to testers, you create an ad hoc provisioning profile specifying an App ID that matches one or more of your apps, a set of test devices, and a single distribution certificate.
Each device in an ad hoc provisioning profile is identified by its unique device ID (UDID). The devices you register and add to a provisioning profile are stored in your developer account. Each individual or organization can register a limited number of devices per product family per year for development and testing.
When you export your app using an ad hoc provisioning profile, the ad hoc provisioning profile is included in the app bundle and the iOS App (IPA) file is signed with the distribution certificate. The app launches on a device if the app’s bundle ID matches the App ID, the signature matches the distribution certificate, and the device is in the device list of the ad hoc provisioning profile.
