iOS: Pre install SSL certificate in keychain - programmatically

Question

I want to install/save a certificate in the keychain before the user visits the site. I have a HTTPS server, and my app authenticates the user before they go to https://mysite.

Is there a way that I can install/save the certificate via a POST request in the keychain or can I copy that certificate (the file) to the resource bundle to mark it trusted?

Answer 1

Once you have the server certificate in der format you can try the following code:

+ (void) addCertToKeychain:(NSData*)certInDer
{
    OSStatus            err = noErr;
    SecCertificateRef   cert;

    cert = SecCertificateCreateWithData(NULL, (CFDataRef) certInDer);
    assert(cert != NULL);

    CFTypeRef result;

    NSDictionary* dict = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:
                          (id)kSecClassCertificate, kSecClass,
                          cert, kSecValueRef, 
                          nil];

    err = SecItemAdd((CFDictionaryRef)dict, &result);
    assert(err == noErr || err == errSecDuplicateItem);

    CFRelease(cert);
}

It will add the certificate to the keychain sandbox of your application i.e. no other application will trust your cert.