Shopify's app naming rule, and why my app got renamed twice
Keith Pillay · 5 October 2026 · 2 min read
Naming an app feels like a creative decision. For a public Shopify app, it's also a compliance one.
The rule
Shopify's App Store requirements include 4.1.2, effective mid-July 2026: every app must have its own unique, recognisable name that leads with your distinctive brand identifier.
Shopify's own worked example makes it concrete. A name like "QTeck Announcement Bar" is the pattern to follow, and "Announcement Bar QTeck" is the one to avoid. Even the wrong example contains a real brand word. It's simply in the wrong position.
Where my app stood
My working title was "Image Size Checker". That's a pure descriptor, with no brand word at all, which is exactly the pattern the rule exists to stop. And since it's a mandatory requirement, not a soft best practice, and it applies to new submissions, it wasn't something to hope would slide.
I found it during a pre-submission audit where I re-read the requirements on Shopify's own pages, and not from the summaries in my earlier research.
What I did
The options were to keep the name and accept the risk, add a brand word, or decide later. I chose to lead with the name of my own company, Storko, which was already the name of my Shopify Partner organisation. It's a real brand I own, not a made-up word to satisfy the rule.
First rename: Storko Image Size Checker. It followed the rule's worked example (brand first, descriptor after), stayed under the 30-character limit, and kept the words merchants are likely to search for.
Why a second rename
Once the app grew past images into catalogue-data checks and a health score, "Image Size Checker" no longer described it. I renamed it again to Storko Product Health Scanner, so the name matched the product.
Renaming twice in one day sounds messy. It was the right order: fix the compliance problem first, then fix the accuracy problem once the scope settled.
Checks I ran on the name
- Uniqueness. I searched the App Store for similar names. There were apps with near names (a couple of "Stork" variants), but nothing called Storko, and it's genuinely my own existing brand.
- Length. Under the 30-character limit.
- Consistency. App name fields should be similar between the Developer Dashboard and the submission form, so I updated the dashboard config at the same time as the code.
- Everything that said the old name. The in-app headings, the landing page, the listing copy, the privacy policy page and the reviewer instructions all had to change together. I did a search across the whole project rather than trusting memory.
Takeaways
- Check naming rules before you fall in love with a name.
- Use a brand you actually own, not an invented token.
- Rename when the product's scope changes, so the name stays honest.
- Search every file for the old name. A half-renamed product looks careless in review.
This was one finding from the pre-submission audit I describe in Part 3 of the build story.
