Apple App Store Company Name Change
What I want to talk about in this article is something that is not very well known but important. There is only a one-time permission to edit company names that appear in the AppStore app store. If the company is new and not new to mobile software, it probably already has an AppleStore account. For this reason, I would like to share this information, as most of us are unlikely to encounter it.
In order to publish an application on the Apple App Store (AppStore), certain steps must be followed. These steps differ for individual accounts and company accounts. The subtitle that appears in the app store includes the name of the individual in individual accounts and the company’s trade name in company accounts.
In order for Apple to identify your company, you must register it with the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS). This can be done through private companies or through the Apple website. You will need to provide the company’s official documents with your application.
Once approved, you will be given a 9-digit DUNS number. With this number, you can open a developer account and proceed to the app publishing phase.
This is where the important part starts
When downloading apps from app stores, one of the most important factors is the subtitle under the app name. This gives users a quick insight into the content of the app and helps them understand what the app is about.
For example, two major food ordering apps, Yemeksepeti and Getir, have the following company wording in their subtitles
- Yemeksepeti: “Yemek Sepeti Elektronik İletişim Perakende Gıda Lojistik A.Ş.”
- Getir: “Getir”
The wording in the food basket application is very ugly. It could have said “Yemeksepeti”. You may think of the following here. Getir may have taken “Getir” as a commercial title. No, it is not. When Getir’s website is examined, the title is “Commercial Title: Getir Perakende Lojistik A.Ş.”.
Since there are expressions covering the working areas of companies in commercial titles, titles that do not appeal to the eye are formed. For example, some of these are; FOOD — TOURISM — CONSTRUCTION — LIVESTOCK — INDUSTRY — TRADE — LOGISTICS etc.
Note that the names that appear in app stores may differ from trade names.
So how to change a trade name?
After preparing your application, you log in to https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/ for publishing. Since it will be your first application, you will see a blank screen. By pressing the “+” button in the Apps section, you open the screen to create your application.
This is the part where the tail breaks off. Only in the first application creation phase, the “Company Name” section that I mentioned in the image above appears. There is no return of the name you will write here. It is a section that you can see only once. The name you write will be your company name displayed on the Appstore. You have no chance to change it later. It is stated that you can only cancel and return to the commercial title.
You will no longer see this field in your second app that you will publish after your first app. You can see this situation in the image below.
App names and subtitles should be carefully chosen to impress their target audience in app stores.
If the company is trying to brand its own name (e.g. Getir & Disney+), it is a better approach to write the brand name instead of the company’s trade name.
Yes, we have come to the end of another article. Feel free to ask anything you have in mind, I would like to answer as much as I know.
You can contact me at ikbalyasar@gmail.com.
See you in the next article…
