Bot intelligence record

Applebot-Extended

Usually allow

Use the Applebot-Extended identifier to separate Apple AI crawler, assistant, or AI search traffic from normal visitor requests in server logs.

Ai Ai Assistant Official Documented Confidence: High Verified: Yes robots.txt: Yes
Operator
Apple
Family
Apple
Type
Ai
Source type
Official
Last checked
2026-05-20

User-Agent Pattern

Apple
Applebot-Extended
Verification note

User-agent strings are identification signals, not proof of identity. Confirm important allow, block, or rate-limit decisions with logs, DNS or IP evidence, request behavior, or operator documentation when available.

Robots.txt Snippet

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User-agent: Applebot-Extended Disallow: /

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Handling Guidance

Depends

This bot is usually safe to allow when the request source is verified and the traffic matches your site policy.

AI crawling, assistant retrieval, AI search, or model-supporting discovery depending on the user-agent.

Record Details

Structured data
Operator
Apple
Family
Apple
Type
Ai
Purpose
Ai Assistant
Identity type
Official Documented
Confidence
High
Last verified
2026-04-01
Last checked
2026-05-20
Source type
Official
Verification
Control token only; no separate crawl traffic is expected.
Spoofing risk
User-agent strings for Applebot-Extended can be spoofed. Treat user-agent detection as a classification signal, then verify with published IP ranges, reverse DNS, signatures, operator documentation, or published operator documentation, IP ranges, reverse DNS, signatures, or other verified identity signals before allow-listing.

Notes

Applebot-Extended is listed in the Botcrawl directory as an AI control token from Apple. The primary identifier for log review is Applebot-Extended.

Identification

  • User-agent pattern: Applebot-Extended
  • Family: Apple
  • Type: AI
  • Kind: Control Token

Common use

AI crawling, assistant retrieval, AI search, or model-supporting discovery depending on the user-agent.

Verification and handling

Control token only; no separate crawl traffic is expected.

Directory guidance marks the risk level as Safe and the blocking decision as Depends. Do not rely on the user-agent string alone because user-agent strings can be copied or spoofed.

Robots.txt handling: Yes.

Evidence and Source

  • Control token only; no separate crawl traffic is expected.
  • Match `Applebot-Extended` as a case-insensitive substring in HTTP user-agent logs. Review bot_aliases for alternate names or product labels. Do not treat a user-agent match alone as proof of identity for allow-listing.
  • AI crawling, assistant retrieval, AI search, or model-supporting discovery depending on the user-agent.
  • User-agent strings for Applebot-Extended can be spoofed. Treat user-agent detection as a classification signal, then verify with published IP ranges, reverse DNS, signatures, operator documentation, or published operator documentation, IP ranges, reverse DNS, signatures, or other verified identity signals before allow-listing.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/119829

Same family: Apple

Applebot Safe

Applebot

Applebot data is used to power various features, such as the search technology that is integrated into many user experiences in Appleʼs ecosystem including Spotlight, Siri, and Safari.

Operator and family: Apple Type: Search Purpose: Indexing
Verified robots.txt: Yes Block: Depends Official Documented
AASA-Bot Neutral

Apple App Site Association

The Apple App Site Association is used to support "Universal Links" that can open in native iOS apps. The bot requests a specific path for a given hostname, which returns metadata that.

Operator and family: Apple Type: Preview
Verified robots.txt: No Block: Depends Verified Bot
iTMS Neutral

Apple Podcasts

Fetches URLs associated with registered Apple Podcasts content.

Operator and family: Apple Type: Feed Purpose: Feed Fetch
Verified robots.txt: No Block: Depends Official Documented

Similar purpose: Ai Assistant

TwinAgent Neutral

TwinAgent

TwinAgent is an AI fetcher from Twin used for AI-related crawling, retrieval, search, or assistant activity.

Operator and family: Twin Type: Ai Purpose: Ai Assistant
Verified robots.txt: No Block: Depends Verified Bot
SpyglassesBot Neutral

Spyglasses Bot

Spyglasses Bot evaluates website content to identify issues that would affect visibility by AI assistants.

Operator and family: Spyglasses Type: Ai Purpose: Ai Assistant
Verified robots.txt: No Block: Depends Verified Bot
Perplexity-User Neutral

Perplexity-User

Perplexity-User is an AI agent from Perplexity used for AI-related crawling, retrieval, search, or assistant activity.

Operator and family: Perplexity Type: Ai Purpose: Ai Assistant
Verified robots.txt: Unknown Block: Depends Verified Bot
Nava/ Neutral

Nava Labs ASP (Dev)

Bot to assist social workers in navigating safety net benefit websites.

Operator: Nava Labs Family: Nava Type: Ai Purpose: Ai Assistant
Verified robots.txt: No Block: Depends Verified Bot

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