Build

A build is one uploaded binary. A version is the marketing number users see. Many builds can belong to a single version, and the two are tracked by different keys.

In Info.plist, CFBundleShortVersionString is the version, the 1.4.2 on your product page. CFBundleVersion is the build, an internal counter that can be 17 or 1.4.2.17 or a timestamp. Xcode labels them Version and Build, and every third-party toolchain renames them again, which is most of the confusion.

The rule that bites is uniqueness. A build number must never repeat within a version. Upload 1.4.2 (3) twice and the second attempt fails outright, even if the first was rejected, deleted or expired. Apple keeps the pairing forever. The fix is always to increment, never to reuse.

Builds arrive in App Store Connect as Processing, which takes minutes to a couple of hours, then become available to attach to a version or send to TestFlight. Processing can also fail, and the failure comes by email as an ITMS- code rather than showing usefully in the console.

A rejected submission does not invalidate the build. If App Review rejected your metadata rather than your binary, the same build attaches to the corrected version with no rebuild.

See also: App Store version, IPA, metadata rejection.