.mobi Domain: A Mobile-Born Ending From the 2005 Generation
.mobi entered the root zone on 17 October 2005, long before the new-extension wave, as a sponsored TLD created for sites built to work on mobile devices. The ICANN agreement in force today is dated 30 March 2017, its type is Base, Non-Sponsored, and the contracting party according to the IANA record is Identity Digital Limited.
App landing pages, telecom and device brands, mobile payment and field service tools, short link addresses and organisations keeping a long-held registration all use this zone. Because the extension predates the 2012 round it does not appear in the new-extension statistics sources, so no zone size is quoted here. Try candidates on the .mobi domain search screen, and see the .name page for another survivor of the same generation.
The extension launched in 2005 as a sponsored TLD, and registrants were expected to follow a style guide governing how the site had to be built for mobile devices. That history is the source of the most persistent misconception about this ending. The agreement in force since 30 March 2017 is a Base, Non-Sponsored agreement and contains no such obligation. Nothing in the registry contract now dictates the design or compliance of a site you publish under .mobi; mobile readiness is a technical choice that stays with you.
.MOBI Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator Identity Digital Limited
- Root zone entry 17 October 2005
- Agreement type Base, Non-Sponsored (agreement dated 30 March 2017)
- Eligibility None; the agreement imposes no mobile compliance duty
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .mobi domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.mobi Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$5.99 /year -
Transfer
$51.99 /year -
Renewal
$55.99 /year -
Restore
$124.90 -
Late Renewal
$5.60
Included With Every .mobi Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.mobi Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .mobi domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .mobi address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .mobi domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $5.60 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .mobi returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.mobi Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.mobi Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .mobi domain
- Character Length 1 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.mobi Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .mobi Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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Not today. The extension launched in 2005 as a sponsored TLD whose registrants were expected to follow a mobile style guide; the agreement in force since 30 March 2017 is Base, Non-Sponsored and contains no such duty. Mobile readiness is now a technical choice rather than a contractual one. Check a name's status on the .mobi search page.
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The statistics sources used for new extensions do not cover this ending, because it belongs to the pre-2012 generation. That is why no zone size is quoted here — leaving the figure out is better than publishing a number with no source behind it. Individual names can still be checked directly, and for a list at once the bulk domain search screen works well.
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Anyone. Since leaving the sponsored regime the extension carries no eligibility test; the agreement holds only the abuse and transparency clauses common to every new extension. You do not need to be a telecom operator, a device maker or an app developer. The registry also requests no document during registration.
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Yes, the extension follows gTLD transfer rules. Take the authorisation code from your current provider, lift the transfer lock and start the request at the new one. On names held for many years the contact details are often stale, and since the authorisation code goes to that address, update the contact record first. Run the process from the domain transfer page.
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If you can find a short, memorable root, yes — the ending itself is brief, so the total length stays workable. If you actually run a link shortener, plan for abuse from the start: do not leave an open redirect and review destinations. Serve the address over HTTPS; you can compare certificate options on the SSL certificate page.
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Registration records are queried through RDDS. Personal data is redacted under applicable law, but whether the name is registered, which registrar holds it and when the term expires all remain visible. On long-held names those three facts are the most useful things to have before you open a conversation about acquiring it. Run the query from the whois search page.
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