Crawlers

Applebot: user agent, robots.txt, and verification

Applebot crawls for Apple search experiences including Spotlight, Siri, and Safari. Apple separately documents controls over model training and certain answer uses. Labeling all Applebot traffic as only training loses this distinction.

User agent and purpose

Documented purpose: Search with separate usage preferences.

Applebot/0.1 (token in Apple’s documented examples; browser and bot versions can change)

Apple’s official Applebot reference describes desktop and mobile request formats. Applebot-Extended does not crawl pages; it controls use of content collected by Applebot.

Robots.txt control

User-agent: Applebot
Disallow: /

This restricts Applebot crawling. To restrict training while permitting search crawling, review Applebot-Extended instead. Applebot follows applicable Googlebot instructions when Applebot is not mentioned, and Apple says it does not support Crawl-delay.

Review this example in the context of your existing groups and paths. Publish it at the origin’s /robots.txt and check the actual response. A policy change can take time to be read; it does not erase earlier copies of content.

Verify origin before trusting the name

Use Apple’s published CIDRs or reverse DNS under .applebot.apple.com, then forward-resolve to confirm the original address. Do not allow every address in a broad Apple network based on ownership alone.

A User-Agent is self-reported and can be spoofed. A matching header is a claimed identity, not an authenticated bot. Use the operator’s current IP or DNS procedure for origin confidence; those checks are not cryptographic request signatures and do not authorize access to private data.

What AnalyticFast detects today

AnalyticFast does not currently classify Applebot in its named crawler aggregate. This directory entry is research, not a claim of detection support. AnalyticFast does not authenticate bot identities or perform the IP/rDNS checks described here.

A useful next check

Decide whether you are changing crawl access, training permission, or answer usage. Those are separate policies. Test that necessary page resources remain reachable if you intend Applebot to render the page.

Official sources and review date

• Official Applebot purposes, controls, User-Agent, and verification

Last checked 2026-10-31. Verify the latest policy and network data before changing production access rules.

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