diff --git a/shell/ev-application.c b/shell/ev-application.c
index 7d546933ac7b2edde75874746ae4fd3ae2fb1130..f173d7a4ae759f87288ddb037eb463043ad80cae 100644
--- a/shell/ev-application.c
+++ b/shell/ev-application.c
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ struct _EvApplicationClass {
 G_DEFINE_TYPE (EvApplication, ev_application, GTK_TYPE_APPLICATION)
 
 #ifdef ENABLE_DBUS
+#define APPLICATION_DBUS_NAME        "org.gnome.evince.Application"
 #define APPLICATION_DBUS_OBJECT_PATH "/org/gnome/evince/Evince"
 #define APPLICATION_DBUS_INTERFACE   "org.gnome.evince.Application"
 
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ ev_application_new (void)
   const GApplicationFlags flags = G_APPLICATION_NON_UNIQUE;
 
   return g_object_new (EV_TYPE_APPLICATION,
-                       "application-id", NULL,
+                       "application-id", APPLICATION_DBUS_NAME,
                        "flags", flags,
                        NULL);
 }