What happens when I change my app's name?

Question

Does changing an Android app's name and icon on the Play Store make the app lose its current reviews and number of installs ? (the package name will still be the same)

Answer 1

No.

Every Android app has a unique application ID that looks like a Java package name, such as com.example.myapp. This ID uniquely identifies your app on the device and in Google Play Store.

Your application ID is defined with the applicationId property in your module's build.gradle file, as shown here:

android {
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.myapp"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 24
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }
    ... }

So you can change your app’s icon and name to your heart’s content. As long as its application ID does not change, it’s the same app, and its reviews and download count do not change.