Inconsistent app-name enforcement in the Built for Shopify review

Built for Shopify
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1

We’re currently going through the Built for Shopify review for our app, Flow Companion. The review team cited requirement 4.3.5 (Don’t impersonate Shopify) and asked us to remove the word “Flow” from the app name. We already raised the question of consistent treatment through Shopify Support, pointing to other apps in our category, but the review team didn’t comment on that point and simply restated that “Flow” has to go. We can’t discuss this with the reviewer directly, so we’d really appreciate guidance from the Shopify team here, because we’re unsure how the rule is meant to apply consistently.

Some context:

  • Flow Companion is a set of extensions built specifically for Shopify Flow - custom triggers and actions. “Flow” describes the platform our app integrates with and extends, and “Companion” is meant to signal that it accompanies and complements Shopify Flow, not that it is Shopify Flow.
  • Several third-party apps with similar functionality currently hold the Built for Shopify badge and use “Flow” as the leading word in their names, for example:

So our question is: how is the “Flow” naming restriction under 4.3.5 meant to be applied? If apps that lead with “Flow” can carry the BFS badge, what specifically makes our use in “Flow Companion” different? We’re happy to make reasonable changes, but we’d like to understand the rule so we can comply, and so it’s applied evenly across apps in the same category.

Could a member of the Shopify team weigh in? Happy to share our app and review details privately. Thanks a lot.

2

Hey @Luke, apologies for tagging you here - I noticed you’ve been helping out in other cases in this section and was hoping you might be able to offer some guidance.

3

I’m not Shopify staff and please don’t tag people that haven’t already engaged in a thread.

4

Sorry about that, Luke - I thought the no-tagging rule only applied to Shopify staff. Won’t happen again.

5

Just bumping this. I understand the review team may not be monitoring the forum, so perhaps this isn’t the right place to get a comment on a specific review decision.

If anyone has been in a similar situation - is there a way to communicate with the BFS review team directly? The review submission form doesn’t seem to have a field for notes or comments, and Shopify Support relayed my question but the reviewer didn’t address the point about consistent enforcement.

Any pointers on how to reach the right people would be much appreciated.

6

Following up once more. We’re still in the same situation: the review team is asking us to remove the word “Flow” from our app name, while other apps in the same category keep it and hold the Built for Shopify badge.

If anyone from Shopify could point us in the right direction that would be a huge help.

7

@Yuri_K After your thread here we got an email from Shopify that we need to remove the name “Flow” from our Apps too until the 20th of July.

(Flow Trigger Extensions, Flow Webhooks and Flow Transactional Email)

8

@Yann_Faulhaber, Thanks for sharing this. This isn’t the outcome I was hoping for :man_shrugging:.