D-U-N-S Number for Apple Developer: How to Get One
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If you enrol your company in the Apple Developer Program, Apple asks for a D-U-N-S Number. For many small teams this is the slowest step in getting an app onto the App Store, mostly because nobody warned them it existed. This guide explains what the number is, who needs one, how to get it and how long it takes. Apple's details below come from its own pages as of 12 February 2026.
Shipping on Android too? The Google Play version of this guide is Google Play Developer Account: Fee, Types and Verification.
The short version
- Companies and educational institutions need a D-U-N-S Number registered to their legal entity. Individuals do not, and it is optional for government organisations.
- It is free. Look your organisation up through Apple's D-U-N-S page before requesting a new one.
- Allow up to 5 business days for Dun & Bradstreet to issue a number, then up to 2 business days for Apple to receive it.
- The details you give D&B must match your legal entity exactly, or enrolment will stall.
What a D-U-N-S Number is
As of 12 February 2026, Apple's help page D-U-N-S Number describes it as a nine-digit number that identifies business entities on a location-specific basis, assigned and maintained by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) and widely used as a standard business identifier. Apple uses it to check your organisation's identity and legal entity status when you enrol.
Who needs one
| You are enrolling as | D-U-N-S Number |
|---|---|
| An individual, sole proprietor or single-person business | Not needed |
| A company | Required, registered to the legal entity |
| An educational institution | Required, registered to the legal entity |
| A government organisation | Optional |
Source: Apple's D-U-N-S help page, as of 12 February 2026.
The key phrase is legal entity. Apple's help says many kinds of business can get a D-U-N-S Number, but to enrol as an organisation yours must be recognised as a legal entity, such as a corporation, limited partnership or limited liability company. DBAs, fictitious businesses, trade names and branches are not accepted. If you are a sole trader, you enrol as an individual and skip this whole guide. Our Apple Developer Program guide covers that choice.
How to get one
1. Check whether you already have one
Apple's help says D&B may already have assigned your organisation a free number, and links to a lookup tool so you can check before enrolling. Use it before you request anything, so you do not end up with two records for one company. Apple says the lookup asks for:
- Your legal entity name
- Your headquarters address
- Your mailing address
- Your work contact information
2. Request one if you are not listed
If your company is not found, the same flow lets you submit your details to D&B for a free number. Apple's help says a D&B representative may contact you for more information, such as your business type or number of employees, so keep your business registration documents to hand.
3. Wait, then wait a little more
As of 12 February 2026, Apple's help gives these timings:
- Allow up to 5 business days to receive your number from D&B. Apple says expediting the request does not shorten this.
- If it has taken longer than two weeks, email D&B.
- Once you have the number, allow up to 2 business days for Apple to receive your information from D&B before you enrol.
- If you update your D&B profile later, it takes up to two business days for Apple to see the change.
Add Apple's own enrolment checks on top, and a realistic plan for a new company is two weeks or more from "we need a D-U-N-S Number" to "we can upload a build". Start early.
When enrolment rejects it
"Your organization is not listed as a legal entity"
Apple's help explains that this message means D&B lists your business with a different legal status, such as a sole proprietorship, or that its legal status has not been verified. Check that you entered your legal entity name, not a trading name. If you are a sole proprietorship, enrol as an individual. If you believe you should be listed as a legal entity, Apple says to have your registration documents ready and contact D&B.
Details that do not match
Enrolment compares what you type with what D&B holds. Mismatches are often small, for example "Ltd" against "Limited", an old registered address or a missing suite number. Fix them at D&B, then allow the two business days for the update to reach Apple before you try again.
A checklist before you start
- Confirm your company is a registered legal entity, and have the registration document as a PDF.
- Write down the legal name and registered address exactly as they appear on that document.
- Make sure your website is live on your company's domain and you have a work email on the same domain. Apple checks both when you enrol an organisation.
- Look up your D-U-N-S Number through Apple's page. Request one if you have none.
- Enrol with an Apple Account in your own legal name, with two-factor authentication turned on.
How FeedbackKit fits in
The wait for D&B and Apple is a good time to build the parts of your app that do not depend on the App Store. As of 12 February 2026, Apple's membership comparison says a free Apple Account lets you test apps on your own devices, so you can wire in a feedback board and try it before your membership is approved.
FeedbackKit gives your users a place inside the app to post feature requests and vote on them. It has SwiftUI views for iPhone, iPad and Mac (Swift docs) and an SDK for Jetpack Compose on Android (Kotlin docs), plus SDKs for Flutter and React Native. If your company ships on both platforms, the requests from both land in one list. Here is how that looks in FeedbackKit, with sample data from a fictional hiking app:
One request list, every platform
When your membership comes through, our guide to publishing an app on the App Store takes you from there to release. To have a feedback board ready on launch day, start free.