Your app name is taken on the App Store. Now what?

You create the app record in App Store Connect, type the name you’ve been planning for months, and get: “The app name you entered is already being used.” Search the App Store and nothing comes up. Here is what’s going on and what you can do.

Why a name can be taken with no app live

Apple treats an app name as in use as soon as someone creates an app record with it, long before anything is published. Developers often reserve names for projects that never ship, and deleting an app record doesn’t free its name straight away. Developers on Apple’s forums report names staying blocked for days after the old record was removed.

So the App Store search tells you which names are live, not which ones are free to use. The only way to know if a name is available in App Store Connect is to try it.

Your options

1. Add a word. The name field allows 30 characters, and many apps use a short descriptor: “YourName: Budget Planner” instead of “YourName”. Your brand stays the same everywhere else.
2. Use the subtitle. The subtitle (also 30 characters) sits under the name on your product page and is where the descriptive words belong, so you can keep the name itself short.
3. Claim it, if you own the trademark. Apple’s error message says that if you have trademark rights to the name, you can submit a claim to have it released. This works for a registered mark you own, not for a name you simply had first.
4. Ask the holder. If you can find who reserved it, for example a company with the matching domain, some will release a name they’re not using.
5. Pick another name. If a live app in your category already uses it, this is usually the right call, because two similar apps in the same category split searches and reviews, and invite complaints.

Check before you get attached

The time to find out is before the logo, the domain and the launch tweet. A few checks catch most problems:

• Search both stores for the name, its plural and close spellings, in more than one country.
• Try the name in App Store Connect early. Creating an app record also reserves it for you.
• Register the bundle ID you want at the same time. It’s permanent once you publish.
• Check the trademark registers for software (classes 9 and 42).

Renameproof checks both stores, the bundle IDs and the domains in one go, and opens the websites on any taken domains so you can see who is already using the name.