7 Steps to get your D-U-N-S Number (Apple and Google)

To become an Apple or Google Play Developer and launch a branded or white label mobile app, securing a D-U-N-S number is crucial. This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough of the necessary process. Whether it’s your company’s mobile app or a branded white label mobile app, you must have a valid D-U-N-S number.

Update: Google officially requires all new developers to have a D-U-N-S number! See their announcement.

2024 Update: ChipBot now supports white label iOS and Google apps for verified D-U-N-S customers.

Why do you need a D-U-N-S number? Apple and Google use it for business identification and verification when establishing partnerships, contracts, or transactions with other companies, as it helps ensure accuracy and credibility in business dealings. This is a mandatory requirement for releasing mobile apps.

Before we dive into the steps, these are the most common answers I hear from our customers about getting your D-U-N-S number. You want to know these before getting started with the steps.

Getting a D-U-N-S number takes 4-8 weeks. It requires multiple touchpoints from you. Not following up with DNB will lead to delays. Some will claim 2-4 weeks, but the average is always longer. Foreign companies can expect 6-12 weeks of waiting.

It’s free. But you will spend some time with phone and online support to get your application moving.

DNB supports several countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom. You can check if your country is supported by changing the country selector on the DNB website.

Register a legal entity in the US first and then apply for a D-U-N-S number under your incorporated US company. You can expedite this process with Stripe Atlas or Incfile.

To ensure you have full access to your D-U-N-S number, you want to acquire it directly from https://dnb.com/. Going through the Apple Portal directly makes it harder to manage the D-U-N-S number when you need it to release your mobile app to another store later.

It takes up to 7 days for D-U-N-S to process your initial application. Afterward, it takes 3 to 7 days for DNB to call you and verify your entity.

Not all regions are supported. Use the region selector and then look at their navigation to see if they offer a DUNS number product. It should always be free. Buying a DNB product does not help your approval process.

If your region is not supported, you must register a legal company entity in a region that is. You must have a physical mailing address to make this work. P.O. boxes will not work.

Go here to change your region: https://www.dnb.com/choose-your-country.html

This is straightforward. Here are some handy links to create your account quickly.

• United States businesses: https://www.dnb.com/duns/get-a-dnb-duns-number.html#search
• Canadian businesses: https://www.dnb.com/ca-en/duns-number/get-a-duns.html
• UK businesses: https://www.dnb.co.uk/duns-number/lookup/request-a-duns-number.html

If you are in a different country, follow the steps from step 1 and see if there’s a “get a D-U-N-S number” navigation item in your region.

Make sure the phone number is valid and active. DNB will need to call you to verify your identity and legal operation.

Two types of calls will come through:

1. Business verification call. Do not miss this. If you do, you may have to restart the whole process.
2. DNB sales upsell call. Answer this so you can get a name within sales. This can help because they can’t really sell you on their credit products without a valid DNB number and the sales associate has a direct link with DNB customer support.

Open up a support case ticket if you still see “Company Pending” on your company name after 7 days of your verification call.

Some note around this stage of the process.

• After you log in, your company name will actually say “Company pending”. If it remains like this after your verification call, you need to open a support ticket
• Failure to open a support ticket moves your account into limbo, and often need to restart the process.

DNB will not notify you promptly when you receive your D-U-N-S number. So, you should log in frequently to the dashboard and check the status. Use the case number within their live chat system to reference the status periodically.

This entire process is human-workflow driven. Mistakes can occur on the DNB side. Be vigilant in the process.

If you check your dashboard frequently, you should see this under your company profile. Sometimes the dropdown on the top left will have two items (pending company) and the new registered company.

🎉 If it’s there, congrats, you’re complete on the DNB side.

But wait, there’s more waiting!

It will take up to 7 days for Apple and Google to receive the D-U-N-S number. They receive manifest every so often from DNB, and it’s not a live connection. I found it helpful to go through the Apple side first, as their developer support is extremely helpful.

Lastly, if you’re an agency or entrepreneur considering having your own mobile app, check out our White Label SaaS program!