Over the past couple of years hundreds of new domain name extensions have been made available to businesses and individuals around the globe. Choice is a good thing, so we’ve been happy to offer most of those domain names to our clients around the world.
However there are a few domain name extensions that have captured people’s imaginations more than others and .app is definitely one of them.
As of yesterday afternoon .app domain names are available via our site at the competitive price of €13.99 ex-VAT per year. So far over 90 thousand .app domain names have been registered by businesses and individuals from around the globe, so we expect that the TLD will prove to be quite popular.
Who is running the .app domain?
The .app domain is backed by Google Registry and is a little different from “normal” domain names.
How?
Security.
Google have put the entire .app domain extension into the HSTS preload list. Modern browsers, such as Chrome, Safari and Firefox check the HSTS list and will not load domains in that list unless there’s a valid SSL certificate.
What on earth does that mean?
Basically it means that if you want to actively use a .app domain name for a website, app or service you’ll need to SSL enable it.
Without a secure certificate installed you can still register a .app domain name, but you won’t be able to use it until the SSL is configured. Put another way, if you want the domain name to resolve you’ll need to have an SSL cert for it. Without an SSL cert setup for the site people won’t be able to visit it.
Do you need to use a special SSL cert?
No. Any SSL cert from any widely used certificate authority (CA) will do.
Can I use a self-signed cert?
No you can’t. The SSL cert needs to be signed by a recognised CA.
If you have any questions let us know!
About the Author: Michele Neylon
