Like many others, I’m experiencing a Unexpected CFBundleExecutable Key error when trying to upload my app to TestFlight via Xcode. Unfortunately, I’ve tried many of the things suggested so far, and haven’t found a solution.

As is, I can build my project locally, but as soon as I Project –> Archive and build my app there, and I click Distribute, I get the following errors:

Unexpected CFBundleExecutable Key. The bundle at 'Payload/wanderly.app/Frameworks/Lottie.framework/LottiePrivacyInfo.bundle' does not contain a bundle executable. If this bundle intentionally does not contain an executable, consider removing the CFBundleExecutable key from its Info.plist and using a CFBundlePackageType of BNDL. If this bundle is part of a third-party framework, consider contacting the developer of the framework for an update to address this issue.

If I delete Lottie from my project, I still get a similar issue:

Unexpected CFBundleExecutable Key. The bundle at 'Payload/wanderly.app/Frameworks/React.framework/AccessibilityResources.bundle' does not contain a bundle executable. If this bundle intentionally does not contain an executable, consider removing the CFBundleExecutable key from its Info.plist and using a CFBundlePackageType of BNDL. If this bundle is part of a third-party framework, consider contacting the developer of the framework for an update to address this issue.

Which is weird, since many of the reports of this error are about libraries, but this is related to core React/ReactNative (this is a ReactNative app).

I’ve tried a variety of different things so far:

1. Completely cleaning my project (delete pods, node_modules, etc) + Clean Build Folder, and no dice.

2. As some solutions have mentioned, I’ve also looked at Copy Bundle Resources, and there’s no erroneous files. I’ve also set ENABLE_BITCODE to NO.

3. As most solutions have mentioned, I’ve tried going to the info.plist for each package to try to remove the CFBundleExecutable key, but have been unable to find reference to the mentioned executable OR it doesn’t seem to work if I remove it. This is perhaps the most ambiguous / challenging aspect, since there are many places where the .plist can be found, and other answers don’t seem to connect the dots enough for me.

3a) If I do a Cmd + Shift + O for info.plist in Xcode, I get a list of files, but none of them exactly match the bundles listed in my errors.

You’ll also notice that these all have the Bundle OS Type Code already set to BNDL, and there’s not mention of the CFBundleExecutable key / Executable Name.

3b) I’ve also looked directly into the created “Archive”, for an archive, I right click to “Show in Finder”, and then right clicked on the .xcarchive to “Show Package Contents” –> dSYMs –> Lottie.framework.dSYM –> “Show Package Contents” –> Contents –> Info.plist, and that doesn’t contain anything like what I’m looking for:

3c) I’ve also looked into Pods directly in XCode, and looked at related Targets. In the settings it’ll show a “Info.plist File” location like /project_root/ios/Pods/Target Support Files/lottie-ios/ResourceBundle-LottiePrivacyInfo-lottie-ios-Info.plist. Openning that file doesn’t show a CFBundleExecutable / Executable Name key:

3d) I’ve also tried searching my project under Pods for mentions of CFBundleExecutable, and got the following output:

MacBook-Pro-2 ios % grep -r "CFBundleExecutable" Pods/**/*.plist

Pods/Target Support Files/Pods-wanderly-wanderlyTests/Pods-wanderly-wanderlyTests-Info.plist:  <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
Pods/Target Support Files/Pods-wanderly/Pods-wanderly-Info.plist:  <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
Pods/hermes-engine/destroot/Library/Frameworks/macosx/hermes.framework/Versions/0/Resources/Info.plist: <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
Pods/hermes-engine/destroot/Library/Frameworks/universal/hermes.xcframework/ios-arm64/hermes.framework/Info.plist:  <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
Pods/hermes-engine/destroot/Library/Frameworks/universal/hermes.xcframework/ios-arm64_x86_64-maccatalyst/hermes.framework/Versions/0/Resources/Info.plist:  <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
Pods/hermes-engine/destroot/Library/Frameworks/universal/hermes.xcframework/ios-arm64_x86_64-simulator/hermes.framework/Info.plist: <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>

which doesn’t mention any of the named bundles mentioned in the error.

3e) I’ve also looked up wanderly.app in Finder. If I right click and got to “Show Package Contents”, I get to a directory where I actually see the packages in the error. If I open the info.plist for each, I actually see the keys and the issue where it includes CFBundleExecutable key and the CFBundlePackageType, and I can delete / edit these files (delete CFBundleExectable and adding BNDL). But when I change them, nothing changes… I think because this directory is related to my locally running build, not the archive that I’m trying to upload.

I’m the most optimistic about this last strategy, but I’m missing the link to how to get these changes to be part of what build I’m trying to upload to TestFlight.

Can anyone help me connect the dots here? I’d really appreciate it.