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Developers guidelines | Signing applications
13 October 2006
Developer certificates
As a consequence of the Symbian OS v9 enhanced platform security, applications that require access to
restricted APIs can not be installed on targeted devices before they have been signed, which in turn
makes it impossible to test applications on real mobile phones during the development process. To take
care of this, special developer certificates can be achieved via the Symbian Signed programme. Devel-
oper certificates are valid for a number of of phones, identified by their IMEI number, and allow developers
to sign applications temporarily during development for installation and testing on real devices.
Testing on emulators does not normally require developer certificates.
ACS publisher ID
An application using capabilities in the extended or phone manufacturer approved sets, must be signed
with an ACS publisher ID certificate when a developer certificate is requested and when the finished appli-
cation is sent to be Symbian Signed. The ACS publisher ID is used to verify the identity of the developer
and to certify that the application has not been modified during upload to the Symbian Signed portal. An
ACS publisher ID is issued by Verisign and is valid for one year. It can be used to sign an unlimited number
of applications during that period. More information on how to acquire an ACS publisher ID and the costs
for it, can be found on http://www.verisign.com/products-services/security-services/code-signing/sym-
bian-content-signing/index.html
Publisher certifiers
ACS publisher IDs are only available to recognized organizations, for example registered companies.
Developers who are not qualified for an ACS publisher ID of their own, can use an alternate route for hav-
ing their applications signed. Publisher certifiers are organizations having the right to certify applications
for themselves or others, using their own ACS publisher ID. They are certified by Symbian to perform
application testing and finally make the application Symbian Signed. Normally this procedure is con-
nected with agreement between the developer and publisher that the application is to be distributed
through the sales channel of the publisher.
Signing freeware applications
Freeware applications can also be Symbian Signed via a procedure similar to the one described above for
publisher certifiers. One condition is that the application actually is freeware, that is, it is distributed and
can be used without any costs for the user. It is also required that the application displays a special free-
ware disclaimer at installation.
Details about the preconditions for freeware signing and the process for it, can be found on
https://www.symbiansigned.com/app/page/freeware
.