AI crawler profile
What is Applebot? How to allow or block Apple's crawler
Operator
Apple
Purpose
AI search & live answers
robots.txt
Respects robots.txt
Official docs
Applebot is Apple's standard web crawler, feeding Siri answers and Spotlight web suggestions. It's the crawler that physically fetches pages for Apple — the separate Applebot-Extended token then governs whether that fetched content may also train Apple Intelligence models. Blocking Applebot itself removes you from Siri and Spotlight results.
Does Applebot respect robots.txt?
Apple documents Applebot thoroughly and honors robots.txt directives.
Block Applebot with robots.txt
User-agent: Applebot Disallow: /
Explicitly allow Applebot
User-agent: Applebot Allow: /
Should you block Applebot?
For most sites, no. Applebot powers visibility: blocking it removes your pages from the cited answers Apple's assistant shows its users — the AI-era equivalent of de-indexing yourself from a search engine. Block it only if you deliberately don't want that audience. Our guide on blocking AI bots covers the trade-offs in detail.
Check and monitor Applebot on your site
- AI Crawler Access Checker — see whether your current robots.txt allows or blocks Applebot.
- robots.txt Generator for AI Bots — build a robots.txt with per-bot rules for all 28 known AI crawlers.
- AI Bot Log Analyzer — paste server logs and count real Applebot hits, entirely in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is Applebot?
Applebot is Apple's agent for AI search and live answers. Apple's crawler powering Siri and Spotlight suggestions.
Does Applebot respect robots.txt?
Apple documents Applebot thoroughly and honors robots.txt directives.
How do I block Applebot?
Add "User-agent: Applebot" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt file. The change takes effect the next time the bot fetches your robots.txt.
Does blocking Applebot hurt my Google rankings?
No. Applebot is separate from Googlebot, which handles Google Search indexing. Blocking Applebot has no effect on your traditional search rankings, but it does remove your pages from the AI answers Apple's assistant serves to its users.
How can I tell if Applebot is crawling my site?
Search your server access logs for the string "Applebot". Our free AI Bot Log Analyzer does this in your browser: paste a log file and it counts hits per AI crawler, including Applebot, with per-path breakdowns.
More Apple agents
Part of our directory of every known AI crawler, refreshed monthly. Last verified: 2026-07-18.