Applebot: Apple's crawler, from Siri to Apple Intelligence
Applebot is Apple's web crawler: it powers Siri and Spotlight suggestions and serves Apple's search products more broadly. In the Apple Intelligence era, Apple introduced a second token, Applebot-Extended, which controls — without any additional crawler — the use of your content to train its AI models. The scheme mirrors Googlebot/Google-Extended: one crawler, plus a usage switch.
Technical profile
- Operator
- Apple
- Role
- Siri, Spotlight and Apple Intelligence
- robots.txt token
Applebot- User-agent (example)
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/16.4 Safari/605.1.15 (Applebot/0.1; +http://www.apple.com/go/applebot)- Respects robots.txt
- Yes (documented by Apple)
- Official IP ranges
- 12 ranges published by the operator across all its bots (snapshot of 2026-07-23, refreshed on every deployment) — official file
- Official documentation
- About Applebot (Apple)
Applebot and Applebot-Extended: two distinct decisions
Applebot (the crawler) determines your presence in Siri and Spotlight — a real discovery channel across the Apple ecosystem. Applebot-Extended (the token) determines whether already-crawled content may train Apple Intelligence models. Blocking the latter doesn't remove you from the former: Apple documents this separation explicitly.
For a visibility-focused site, the rational setup is often: allow Applebot (Siri/Spotlight presence), and decide separately on the Applebot-Extended token based on your stance on AI training.
Applebot in your logs
Its “Applebot” signature appears with a Safari-like UA. Volume is usually discreet — a few regular hits are enough to maintain your presence in the Apple ecosystem. Applebot-Extended, by contrast, never appears in logs: it's a robots.txt token, not an agent.
Verifying it's really Applebot
Apple publishes Applebot's official IP ranges in a dedicated JSON file (applebot.json) and documents the verification. An “Applebot” whose IP falls outside those ranges is an impostor. Our analyzer applies this check automatically, in your browser.
View Applebot's official IP ranges (JSON)Blocking or allowing Applebot (robots.txt)
Blocking Applebot removes you from Siri and Spotlight suggestions — rarely desirable. To refuse only Apple Intelligence training, use the dedicated Applebot-Extended token: that's precisely its role, without touching your presence in Apple search.
To block it:
User-agent: Applebot Disallow: /
To explicitly allow it:
User-agent: Applebot Allow: /
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Applebot and Applebot-Extended?
Applebot is the crawler: it collects pages for Siri, Spotlight and Apple search. Applebot-Extended is not a robot but a robots.txt token controlling the use of that content to train Apple Intelligence models. You can allow the crawler and refuse training — two independent directives.
Should I block Applebot?
Rarely: blocking it removes you from Siri and Spotlight suggestions, a native discovery channel on iPhone and Mac, with nothing gained. If your concern is AI training, the Applebot-Extended token exists precisely for that case.
How do I verify an Applebot hit?
Against the official IP ranges Apple publishes in applebot.json. An out-of-range IP signals an impostor. Our log analyzer runs the comparison automatically on every hit, without your files leaving your browser.
Why does Applebot-Extended never appear in my logs?
Because it isn't an agent: no request carries this user-agent. It's a policy token read in robots.txt by Applebot itself. Content is collected once by Applebot; the token then decides its use for training.
Sources
Every fact on this page is backed by a primary source — the operator's official documentation and, where it exists, its published IP list.
See what this bot does on your site
Drop your access.log files into the Crawl Lab log analyzer: it isolates Applebot, verifies its authenticity and lists the pages it requests — entirely in your browser, no upload.
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