Lazy ASOCan I change my app name, and what happens to rankings?
Updated 14 November 2026
Yes. You can edit the name freely until you submit the app to review. After that you change it when you create a new version, and the name has to be 2 to 30 characters. Plan for a quiet first week: one of our apps lost about 90% of its search impressions for 4–5 days after a metadata release, then recovered past the old level within about a week.
How to change it
- In App Store Connect, create a new version of the app (or open the version that is still editable).
- Open App Information and edit the name for each localization you want to change. 2 to 30 characters.
- If it is refused, another account or another of your apps already uses it in that localization. Apple's answer for your own apps: update the other app's name or remove it.
- Submit the version. The name goes live when the version is released.
Apple's wording: you can edit the name until you submit the app to App Review; later you can change it when you create a new version or the version status allows editing. Names are set per localization, so each language needs its own change.
What happens to rankings
Search matches the words in your name, so a new name means new words are matched and old ones are not. That is why a rename can move you up for one search and out of another.
What we saw on one of our apps after a release that changed name, subtitle and keywords:
| Period | Search impressions a day |
|---|---|
| Before the release | 350–554 |
| Days 2 to 4 after it | 76–100 |
| About a week later | above the old level |
That is a drop of about 90% for 4–5 days. It was a normal re-index, not a break. The rise afterwards was concentrated in the storefronts where the text changed. This is one app, so treat it as an example, not a rule. Do not roll back on day three.
Before you rename
- Put the search people type first. Names that start with the search reached the top 10 in 5–10% of cases for new apps; "Brand: search" after a colon in 1–3%, about the same as no search in the name. Research
- Keep the words you already rank for if they bring users. Look at your positions before you drop them.
- Check the new name is free to rank with the free name check and that App Store Connect accepts it.
- Change as little else as possible in the same release, so you can tell what moved the numbers.
The steps for a good name are in how to name an iOS app. For how the name fits the other fields, see character limits for every field.
Lazy ASO checks your current positions daily and measures the new name before you upload it. Try the name check.