feat(ios): prepare for TestFlight / App Store distribution

[tabilzad]

What

Makes the iOS app ready for TestFlight and App Store submission. All changes are code-complete and require no manual decision to merge — except the three items listed below under Your decisions.

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Changes

iosApp/iosApp/Info.plist — ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption = false

Required for every App Store / TestFlight upload. Without this key Apple holds the binary and asks for clarification before it appears in TestFlight. The value is false because the app uses only standard HTTPS (Ktor + NSURLSession/Darwin engine), which qualifies as exempt encryption under U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR §740.17(b)(3)(i) — standard security protocols). No annual self-classification report is required.

iosApp/iosApp.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj — Release CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY → "Apple Distribution"

"Apple Development" certificates are issued for development-device trust only — they cannot produce a binary accepted by App Store Connect. The Release configuration now correctly targets "Apple Distribution" (the modern umbrella identity that covers both the old "iPhone Distribution" and the newer App Store certificate type). Debug builds keep "Apple Development" unchanged for day-to-day device testing.

iosApp/ExportOptions.plist — distribution export config template

xcodebuild -exportArchive requires an options plist. This provides a ready-to-use file targeting app-store / upload. Inline comments document how to switch to ad-hoc (registered-device distribution without TestFlight) or enterprise. DEVELOPMENT_TEAM is intentionally omitted — each maintainer passes their own Team ID at build time so no personal/org ID is ever committed.

.github/workflows/ci.yml — Release compile coverage

Adds two steps to the existing ios CI job:

1. linkReleaseFrameworkIosArm64 — ensures the Release KMP framework compiles (different Kotlin/Native optimisation tier from Debug)
2. xcodebuild -configuration Release -sdk iphoneos CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO — compile-checks the Xcode project under the same code path that a real distribution build would use, catching Release-only errors before they surface in a submission attempt

iosApp/README.md — TestFlight / App Store Distribution section

Documents:

• Prerequisites (Apple Developer Program membership, App Store Connect app record, Apple Distribution cert + provisioning profile)
• Full archive + export CLI workflow
• Version bumping strategy (the four places that must stay in sync)
• Encryption declaration rationale (why ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption = false is correct and sufficient)

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Decisions (required before first TestFlight upload — not needed to merge this PR)

#	What	Where	Why
1	Create the App Store Connect app record	appstoreconnect.apple.com → My Apps → +	Bundle ID com.garfiec.librechat.ios must be registered before any build can be uploaded. Free with a paid Apple Developer Program membership.
2	Set DEVELOPMENT_TEAM when archiving	Xcode → Signing & Capabilities, or DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=XXXXXXXXXX on the CLI	Your 10-character Team ID cannot be committed — it would break every other contributor's build. Pass it at archive time as shown in the README.
3	CI signing automation (optional but recommended for scale)	New PR — Fastlane Match + GitHub Actions secrets	Automating signing in CI (certificate + provisioning profile stored as repo secrets via fastlane match) is a non-trivial separate PR. The current CI job verifies the build compiles clean; actual IPA export and upload require signing secrets that are outside the scope of this PR.

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Testing

# Verify Debug still works (simulator)
./gradlew :shared:linkDebugFrameworkIosSimulatorArm64
xcodebuild -project iosApp/iosApp.xcodeproj -scheme iosApp \
  -sdk iphonesimulator -destination 'generic/platform=iOS Simulator' \
  -configuration Debug build CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO ARCHS=arm64

# Verify Release compiles clean (device, no signing)
./gradlew :shared:linkReleaseFrameworkIosArm64
xcodebuild -project iosApp/iosApp.xcodeproj -scheme iosApp \
  -sdk iphoneos -destination 'generic/platform=iOS' \
  -configuration Release build CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO ARCHS=arm64

[github-actions]

Android debug APK

Artifact: librechat-android-debug-59
Download: librechat-android-debug-59.zip
Retention: 90 days
Commit: 4579f503ae80656d055af40131190cfded70cfb7

Download requires a GitHub login. Installs over previous debug builds without uninstalling (stable signing key).