Apple and Google Play want a business website
To publish an app under your company's name, both Apple and Google ask for a working website on a domain your organisation owns. A social media page or a parked domain is refused. This is what each one checks.
Quick answer
Apple's organisation enrolment requires a website that is "publicly available and functional" on a domain associated with your organisation, plus a work email on that same domain and a D-U-N-S number. Apple refuses social media links, sites with minimal content and registrar parking pages. Google Play organisation accounts also need a D-U-N-S number and a website, which you verify through Google Search Console. A simple one-page site on your own domain that names the company and describes the app meets both. Enrolling as an individual avoids the website requirement, but your personal name is then shown as the seller.
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Decide: organisation or individual
Both stores let you enrol as an individual, which needs no website and no D-U-N-S number. The trade-off is visible: your own name appears as the seller on the store listing. Apple also requires an organisation account to be a legal entity; it does not accept trading names, DBAs or branches. If you want the company name on the listing, you need the organisation route and everything below.
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Get a D-U-N-S number first, because it is the slow part
Apple and Google both use Dun & Bradstreet's nine-digit D-U-N-S number to confirm that your organisation exists and where it is. It is free to request, but Google warns it can take up to 30 days. Check whether your company already has one before you apply, and make sure the legal name and address on it match your company records exactly, because both stores compare them.
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Put up a real website on your own domain
Apple's wording is specific: the website must be "publicly available and functional" and its domain must be associated with your organisation. Apple states it will not accept links to social media pages, sites with minimal content, or pages that show a message from a domain registrar. A coming-soon page will fail. A single page that names the company, says what it does and describes the app, with contact details, is enough.
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Set up a work email on the same domain
Apple asks for a work email address associated with your organisation's domain. A Gmail or Outlook.com address does not meet that. If you only need to receive the verification emails, forwarding from [email protected] to your existing inbox works; if you will correspond as the company, set up a proper mailbox.
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On Google Play, verify the site in Search Console
Google asks organisation accounts to prove they control the website by linking it to the developer account through Google Search Console. Add the site to Search Console first. Then send the verification request from the Identity page of the developer console. If the same Google account owns both, it is approved automatically; otherwise the site's owner in Search Console gets a request to approve.
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Add the support and privacy pages the listing will need
The website is not only for enrolment. When you submit the app, both stores ask for a support URL and a privacy policy URL that load publicly. Putting those on the same site now saves a second round of work later, and it is the same site the review team will look at if they have questions about who you are.
Tips & best practices
- Use the exact legal company name on the website, the D-U-N-S record and the enrolment form. Mismatches cause most delays.
- Make sure the site loads over HTTPS without a password. Check it in a private browsing window before you submit.
- Government bodies are exempt from the D-U-N-S requirement on both stores, and Apple waives the fee for some nonprofits and schools.
- Apple's programme costs 99 USD per membership year, priced locally in some regions.
Common questions
Can I use my app's landing page on a free subdomain?
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Apple requires the domain to be associated with your organisation, and pairs it with a work email on that domain, so a free subdomain on someone else's platform is risky. Buy your own domain and point the site at it. That also gives you the email address Apple asks for.
Does the website need to be finished?
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It needs to be real, not complete. Apple refuses sites with minimal content and registrar parking pages, so a placeholder fails. A single page with your company name, a description of what you do, the app, and contact details is the minimum that reads as functional.
I already have an individual account. Can I switch?
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Both stores have a route to change account type, and both then ask for the organisation requirements: D-U-N-S number, legal entity details and a website. Google states you must provide and verify your organisation website before changing the account type to organisation.
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