Knowledge Base

Apple recently announced that starting April 1, 2022, they will make changes to the maximum validity lifecycle on all S/MIME certificates. 

Please see Apple’s Policy Requirements for additional S/MIME information https://www.apple.com/certificateauthority/ca_program.html


Question:  Will existing 3+ year certificates have to be revoked?
Answer:  No. The change only affects certificates issued after 1st April 2022.

Question:  Can I reissue my 3+ year certificate?
Answer:  Yes, although the resulting certificate will never be valid for longer than 1185 days.

Question:  Does this only affect Apple hardware and products?
Answer:  No. The duration limit is a requirement of Apple's root CA program, and as such, Sectigo must adhere to it for all publicly trusted S/MIME certificates we issue, no matter if they are used on Apple products or not.


For additional assistance please contact:
Apple  https://www.apple.com/contact/
Sectigo Support & Validation https://sectigo.com/support-ticket
Root Causes Podcast  https://sectigo.com/resource-library/root-causes-187-apple-limits-term-for-s-mime-certificates