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The big obvious mistake we made naming our app

What we cover:

• Naming The App
• How It Went
• The New Name
• Name Selection Checklist
• Conclusion

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Naming The App

We recently created and launched a new app called Morph. We debated long and hard about the name, even getting feedback from our TestFlight testers.

There were a heap of factors we considered when naming our app:

• Do we like it? ✅
• Is it easy to remember? ✅
• Does it match what the app does? ✅
• Is it easy to spell? ✅
• Easy to pronounce? ✅
• Is it nice and short to save ASO characters? ✅
• Could we find a half-decent domain name that included it? ✅
• Did it seem as though we could rank on Google for it? ✅
• Are there many other apps named Morph? ❓- there's a few, but we thought we could compete

How It Went

But, there was a BIG thing we didn't consider:

Are we going to be able to rank in the top couple of searches for our name? ❌❌❌

Even after thousands of downloads, we don't even rank for the search "morph" 😱

But, check out that difficulty, 97! Eeeeek. What were we thinking? Not our smartest move in hindsight.

It seems really obvious to us now, but clearly it wasn't so obvious in the moment. When we talked through why we picked Morph, despite a competition score of 97, we went back and revisited all the other names we considered. We had the original “what are we gonna name this app?” Conversation from Slack pasted into a Basecamp task. The conversation was SO long that we put it in ChatGPT and asked it to also just make a list of the actual names and strip out all the debate about each one.

We brainstormed 49 potential names. Yes, 49! 🤬

Each time we came up with a new idea we'd work our way through the list until we hit a deal breaker. That means we went through an average 50% of the checklist at the start of this post 49 times. We spent HOURS on this, and still screwed it up.

The big lesson? You don't need to just compete with apps named the same, you have to compete with anyone targeting that keyword.

DERP 🤦 <- Me 🤦‍♀️ <- Claire

Despite going through our checklist, we didn't consider that some of the factors on the list are more important than others. We are both very pattern-oriented thinkers. In the naming discussions the checklist was unintentionally grouped into questions around "how will we feel telling friends and family the name of the new app?" And then "and what about all these practical things".

The New Name

We've decided to test Metamorph as the new name, and have tried putting the most important stuff first in the list this time.

• Can we compete on that term in App Store search (so users can find it by name)? ✅
• Do we like it? ✅
• Could we find a half-decent domain name that included it? ✅
• Is it easy to spell? ✅
• Is it easy to pronounce? 🟠
• Is it easy to remember? 🟠
• Is it nice and short to save ASO characters? ❌
• Did it seem as though we could rank on Google for it? ✅
• Does it match what the app does? ✅

A search difficulty of 8 is hopefully more achievable.

Name Selection Checklist

Here's the list we will work through next time we make an app:

Non Negotiable's

• ✅ Can we compete on that term in App Store search (so users can find it by name)?
• ✅ Do we like it?
• ✅ Could we find a half-decent domain name that included it?
• ✅ Is it easy to spell?
• ✅ Is it easy to pronounce?
• ✅ Is it easy to remember?
• ✅ Does it seem as though we could rank on Google for it?

Nice To Haves

• ❓ Does it match what the app does?
• ❓ Is it nice and short to save ASO characters?

Conclusion

I'll say it again, naming an app HARD. Even with all our checklists and hours of debate, we still managed to trip over one of the most important things. Lesson learned: having a name you love isn't enough if no one can actually find it.

While we can't go back and fix Morph, we're feeling hopeful about Metamorph. A search difficulty of 8 feels way more achievable (fingers crossed).

If you're in the middle of naming your app, take it from us: don't just love the name, make sure it works for search too. And hey, if you screw it up like we did, at least you'll have a good story to tell. 😉

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About The Author

Stuart is Co-founder & Co-CEO of Appbot. Stuart has been involved in mobile as a developer, blogger and entrepreneur since the early days of the App Store. He built the 7 Minute Workout app in one night and blogged the story of growing the app to 2.3 million downloads before exiting to a large fitness device company. Previously he was the co-founder of the Discovr series of applications which achieved over 4 million downloads. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

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