App Bundle Naming Rules: iOS vs. Android

tldr; For cross-platform projects, stick strictly to lowercase letters, numbers, and dots. Android allows underscores but rejects dashes. iOS allows dashes but rejects underscores. Both allow multiple dots (e.g., com.drawk.retro.dudedrop).

Dots and Segments

Both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store fully support multiple dots in their identifiers. Using a deeply nested structure like com.drawk.retro.dudedrop is perfectly valid across the board.

Android (Google Play) Rules

Android uses the Application ID (traditionally tied to the Java package name).

• Required Segments: Must have at least two segments (meaning a minimum of one dot).
• Valid Characters: Uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores (_).
• Invalid Characters: Dashes (-) are strictly prohibited.
• Starting Characters: Every individual segment between the dots must begin with a letter (e.g., com.drawk._retro is invalid).

iOS (App Store) Rules

Apple uses the Bundle Identifier, strongly encouraging a reverse-domain format.

• Valid Characters: Alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), dots (.), and hyphens (-).
• Invalid Characters: Underscores (_) are strictly prohibited.

The Cross-Platform Strategy

When managing build configurations in engines like Unity, maintaining a single Application/Bundle ID simplifies deployment pipelines.

• Avoid using special characters entirely.
• Stick to standard alphanumeric characters and dots.
• This prevents validation failures during automated builds and store submissions.

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