.app Domains: The Encrypted Home for Your App
.app is a generic top-level domain operated by Charleston Road Registry Inc., Google's domain registry arm, listed as the sponsoring organisation in the IANA root zone record. It was delegated to the root zone on 29 June 2015 and opened to general availability on 8 May 2018. The registry describes it as a more secure domain for apps: mobile and web applications, download pages and product landing pages.
Its defining feature is a technical rule rather than a registration restriction: the extension sits on the HSTS preload list, so every connection to a .app address is made over HTTPS. Google Registry's registration policy requires registrars to disclose this clearly before purchase. Plan your certificate ahead of time — without an SSL certificate a .app site will not load in a browser.
.APP Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Charleston Road Registry Inc. (Google Registry)
- Delegated to the root zone 29 June 2015
- General availability 8 May 2018
- Technical requirement On the HSTS preload list — HTTPS mandatory
- Restrictions None; open to all in general availability
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .app domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.app Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$24.99 /year -
Transfer
$24.99 /year -
Renewal
$29.99 /year -
Restore
$240.00 -
Late Renewal
$5.00
Included With Every .app Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.app Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .app domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .app address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .app domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $5.00 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .app returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.app Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.app Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .app domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.app Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .app Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No, .app is open to everyone in general availability. Google Registry's launch document states that from 8 May 2018 all available names could be registered at standard pricing. You need no product live in an app store and no proof that you are a developer. The app-focused positioning describes the registry's intended audience.
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Yes, on .app HTTPS is a requirement rather than a choice. The extension sits on the HSTS preload list, so browsers connect to every .app address over HTTPS only. Google Registry's registration policy requires registrars to disclose this separately before purchase. Without a valid SSL certificate the site will not open, and the rule cannot be disabled per site.
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That is precisely what the extension is positioned for. An app landing page usually carries a store download link, a sign-in form or an account-linking flow. Because HTTPS is mandatory on .app, none of those can run over an unencrypted connection. The name itself also tells visitors at a glance that the page belongs to an application.
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The split is audience, not technology. Both are run by the same registry and both require HTTPS. .app reads as the address of a product — the application a user downloads and runs — while .dev reads as the address of the development work, a portfolio or documentation. If your product and developer pages are separate, using both is a sensible arrangement.
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Ask your current registrar to release the transfer lock and give you the EPP code, then start from the domain transfer page. The HTTPS requirement persists after the move, so confirm in advance that your certificate will remain valid in the new environment. You can check its state with the SSL checker.
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You can, though teams publishing applications should think it through. With the service on, a lookup returns the privacy provider's details instead of yours and ownership stays with you. On the other hand, consistency between store listings and domain records makes some verification processes easier. Review the current state with whois search.
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