Applebot (Apple)

Classic search · Current version 0.1

What it is

Applebot is Apple’s web crawler. Its data powers search in Spotlight, Siri and Safari, and Apple says it may also be used to train Apple’s foundation models — you opt out of that with Applebot-Extended. Allowing Applebot is what lets your content appear in those Apple search results.

Official documentation: support.apple.com · checked 13 Nov 2026

Applebot user agent

Mozilla/5.0 (Device; OS_version) AppleWebKit/WebKit_version (KHTML, like Gecko)Version/Safari_version [Mobile/Mobile_version] Safari/WebKit_version (Applebot/Applebot_version; +http://www.apple.com/go/applebot)

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.4 Safari/605.1.15 (Applebot/0.1; +http://www.apple.com/go/applebot)

Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 17_4_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.4.1 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1 (Applebot/0.1; +http://www.apple.com/go/applebot)

Official documentation: support.apple.com/en-us/119829 · checked 13 Nov 2026

Block or allow Applebot in robots.txt

Put these lines at the top of the robots.txt file in your site’s root (example.com/robots.txt). Each subdomain needs its own file.

Block Applebot from the whole site

User-agent: Applebot
Disallow: /

Block Apple’s training, stay in its search

User-agent: Applebot-Extended
Disallow: /

Closes Applebot-Extended. Applebot stay under your general rules, so your pages can still appear in answers and results.

Allow Applebot

User-agent: Applebot
Allow: /
# repeat here the Disallow lines of your User-agent: * group

If Applebot is not named in robots.txt, it already follows your User-agent: * rules, so you don’t need anything. A group of its own replaces the * group for this bot entirely: if you add one, repeat your general Disallow lines in it.

Apple says that if your robots.txt does not mention Applebot but mentions Googlebot, Applebot follows the Googlebot rules.

Applebot IP ranges

search.developer.apple.com/applebot.json

Official list: 24 ranges · published by the owner 15 Sept 2026 · we checked it 13 Nov 2026

Check an IP from your logs

The owner also documents a DNS check: the reverse lookup of the IP must give a host name ending in applebot.apple.com, and the forward lookup of that name must return the same IP. Official documentation

Show all 24

17.166.20.0/24
17.166.21.0/24
17.166.22.0/24
17.166.23.0/24
17.166.24.0/24
17.166.25.0/24
17.166.150.0/24
17.166.151.0/24
17.166.152.0/24
17.166.153.0/24
17.166.154.0/24
17.166.155.0/24
17.166.192.48/28
17.166.232.0/24
17.166.233.0/24
17.166.234.0/24
17.166.235.0/24
17.166.236.0/24
17.166.237.0/24
17.166.240.48/28
17.166.248.48/28
17.241.193.160/27
17.241.200.160/27
17.241.208.160/27

Does it respect robots.txt and Crawl-delay?

robots.txt: yes, Applebot follows it according to its owner.

“Applebot respects standard robots.txt directives in general search crawls that are targeted at Applebot.” — Apple documentation

Crawl-delay: not supported for Applebot.

“Applebot does not follow crawl-delay.” — Apple documentation

Should you block Applebot?

Almost never. Blocking Applebot takes your site out of that search engine. To limit only AI uses of your content, use the AI tokens and crawlers listed in this directory.

Check your site

See whether your robots.txt and firewall let Applebot in — together with every other AI bot in this directory. Free, no sign-up.

Other Apple bots

Applebot-ExtendedApple’s robots.txt token for AI training

Questions

What is the Applebot user agent string?+

Apple documents it as: Mozilla/5.0 (Device; OS_version) AppleWebKit/WebKit_version (KHTML, like Gecko)Version/Safari_version [Mobile/Mobile_version] Safari/WebKit_version (Applebot/Applebot_version; +http://www.apple.com/go/applebot)

How do I block Applebot in robots.txt?+

Add a group for it to robots.txt in your site’s root: “User-agent: Applebot” followed by “Disallow: /”.

What IP addresses does Applebot use?+

Apple publishes 24 ranges at https://search.developer.apple.com/applebot.json. Requests that call themselves Applebot from other addresses are most likely fake.

Does Applebot respect robots.txt?+

robots.txt: yes, Applebot follows it according to its owner.

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