How to Choose an App Store Name (30-Character Limit)

Quick answer: An App Store app name can be 2 to 30 characters long. The strongest names pair a short, easy-to-spell brand with one descriptive keyword, such as "Penny Ledger: Budget Tracker." Keep the brand first, avoid trademarks, prices and competitor names, and make sure the name matches your icon. Apple indexes the name for search, and you can change it only with a new version.

Your app name is the largest text on your product page and the first thing people read in search results. Apple's App Store Connect help sets the hard limits, and the App Review Guidelines set the content rules.

Three App Store rules trip up first-time developers most often:

• Guideline 2.3.7: don't pack metadata with trademarked terms, popular app names, pricing information or irrelevant phrases "just to game the system."
• Guideline 2.3.8: terms like "For Kids" and "For Children" are reserved for apps in the Kids category, and your name and icon should be similar enough not to confuse people.
• Guideline 2.3.10: don't include names of other mobile platforms or app marketplaces.

Apple's own advice is to choose "a simple, memorable name that is easy to spell and hints at what your app does," and to avoid generic terms or names too similar to existing apps. That leaves three workable formulas.

For most indie and early-stage apps, brand + keyword is the best default. The brand gives people something to remember and search for later; the keyword helps new users understand the app and adds an indexed term. Once your brand is well known, you can drop the keyword part and move it to the subtitle.

Separators that work

A colon, dash or en dash between brand and keyword all read clearly: "Corelab: Home Workouts," "Corelab - Home Workouts." Pick one and use it in every localization. A colon plus a space costs two characters and a spaced dash costs three, so the colon is usually the cheapest option.

1. Brainstorm 20 brand candidates. Aim for one or two short words that are easy to say and spell. Read each one aloud; if someone would misspell it after hearing it, cross it off.
2. Check the stores. Search the App Store and Google Play for each candidate. App Store Connect will tell you if a name is already taken when you create the app record.
3. Check trademarks. Search the official trademark database for your main markets, such as the USPTO in the US or EUIPO in the EU. If the stakes are high, ask a trademark attorney before you invest in a brand.
4. Check the rest of your footprint. A matching domain and social handles make the brand easier to find outside the store.
5. Choose your keyword suffix. Pick the most relevant, highest-value phrase from your ASO keyword research. It should describe the core job of the app, not a minor feature.
6. Fit it into 30 characters and preview it. Put the brand first so it survives truncation in tight layouts, then read the full name next to your icon and App Store subtitle as a searcher would see them.

All of these are hypothetical apps. Each name keeps the brand first and uses a keyword phrase people actually type.

Pair the name with the subtitle, not against it

The name and subtitle are both indexed, so don't spend characters on the same word twice. A few hypothetical pairs:

Then fill the 100-character keywords field with terms that appear in neither.

• Keyword stuffing. "Budget Planner Money Tracker Finance Bills" is 42 characters, unreadable and exactly what Guideline 2.3.7 warns against.
• Borrowing a competitor's name. "Alternative to [Big App]" or "[Big App] for Teams" invites a rejection and a trademark complaint.
• Prices or promos in the name. "Free," "Sale" or "50% Off" belong in promotional text or in-app offers, not in the name.
• A name that doesn't match the icon. If the icon shows a bird and the name is about budgets with no brand link, people hesitate. See our app icon design tips for building a consistent pair.
• Hard-to-spell brands. People who hear about your app need to be able to type it into search.
• Generic names. "Notes" or "Weather" alone are almost impossible to stand out with and may be too similar to existing apps.

You can rename an app on the App Store when you submit a new version. Your ratings and reviews stay with the app record, but consider the trade-offs:

• Search visibility for your old keyword may change, because the indexed text changed.
• Returning users look for the brand they know, so keep the brand and change only the keyword part when you can.
• Update your icon, screenshots and home-screen display name together so everything still matches.
• Change one indexed field at a time and watch App Store Connect Analytics, so you can tell what moved your numbers.

On Google Play, the title lives in your store listing, so you can edit it without shipping a new release; listing changes still go through Google's review. For every other field there, see our Google Play store listing guide. For how the name fits into a full optimization plan, read the App Store Optimization guide.