Lazy ASOCan I use competitor names in App Store keywords?
Updated 14 November 2026
No. App Store Review Guideline 2.3.7 bans packing metadata with trademarked terms or popular app names, and Apple's keyword rules say not to include names of other apps or companies. Apple may change your keywords or act on the app. Target the job people want done, not a rival's brand.
What Apple says
Guideline 2.3.7, Accurate Metadata:
"Choose a unique app name, assign keywords that accurately describe your app, and don't try to pack any of your metadata with trademarked terms, popular app names, pricing information, or other irrelevant phrases just to game the system."
It continues that Apple may modify inappropriate keywords at any time or take other steps to prevent abuse. Subtitles "should not ... reference other apps".
App Store Connect says the same for the keyword field: do not include names of other apps or companies.
| Rule | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 2.3.7 Accurate Metadata | Trademarked terms and popular app names in any metadata, subtitles may not reference other apps |
| 4.1(c) Copycats | Another developer's icon, brand or product name in your icon or name, without approval |
| 5.2.1 Intellectual Property | Protected third-party material such as trademarks, including in metadata |
| App Store Connect keywords | No names of other apps or companies |
What can happen
- Apple edits or removes the keywords.
- The version is rejected in review.
- The trademark owner files a complaint, and your app can be pulled.
The upside is small too. A searcher who types a rival's brand wants that app. You are a stranger in that result.
What to target instead
- The job: what the user wants done, in the words they type for it.
- Searches with real demand and an open name. See how to find keywords.
- The category word at the start of your name. In our scan of new apps, a name that starts with the search reached the top 10 in 5 to 10% of cases, against 2 to 3% when the search was not in the name. Numbers in what gets a new app to the top.
Brand searches are a trap for data too
A search that is just a rival's brand looks popular in lists. The people typing it will not switch. Lazy ASO takes brand searches out of its name suggestions and keeps trademarks and review-risk searches in a hidden list, so a name check does not push you toward them.
We have not measured how competitor names in keywords change ranking, so we give you Apple's rule, not a number. Also see how to name an iOS app and whether an app name is taken.
Check your name free on Lazy ASO.