Apple · training bot · Last updated 2026-05-22
How to allow or block Applebot-Extended (Apple Intelligence training crawler) in your robots.txt. Why Applebot allow does NOT automatically allow Applebot-Extended.
Apple operates two crawler user-agents. Applebot crawls for Spotlight search and Siri's basic web results — most sites have always allowed this. Applebot-Extended is the newer, separate user-agent introduced in 2024 specifically for Apple Intelligence training (the on-device LLM + Apple Cloud AI). Allowing Applebot does NOT automatically allow Applebot-Extended — they are independent user-agents with independent robots.txt rules.
Apple Intelligence ships in every modern iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Siri, the smart Mail summary, Writing Tools, and the entire on-device AI layer rely on Apple Intelligence. Blocking Applebot-Extended silently removes your brand from Apple Intelligence training — Siri may know your brand from Spotlight signals but Apple's AI surfaces don't. Most robots.txt files written before 2024 don't include Applebot-Extended at all and silently miss this surface.
BrandCited recommendation
Allow Applebot-Extended. This is one of the cheapest AI-visibility moves available: a single User-agent block opens up the entire Apple Intelligence + Siri ecosystem. The exception is publishers explicitly opting out of AI training globally — in which case Applebot-Extended should be blocked while keeping Applebot allowed for Spotlight + basic Siri results.
The exact directive to add to your robots.txt for Applebot-Extended. Paste at the end of your file — bot-specific blocks override the wildcard above.
robots.txt
Copy and paste
# Allow both Apple crawlers
User-agent: Applebot
Allow: /
Disallow: /admin
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard
User-agent: Applebot-Extended
Allow: /
Disallow: /admin
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard
# To allow Spotlight but opt out of Apple Intelligence training:
# User-agent: Applebot
# Allow: /
#
# User-agent: Applebot-Extended
# Disallow: /No. Applebot crawls for Spotlight + basic Siri results (since ~2015). Applebot-Extended (introduced 2024) is the separate crawler for Apple Intelligence training. Allowing Applebot does NOT inherit to Applebot-Extended — both require explicit allowlist entries.
Partially. Siri's basic web-results layer uses Applebot — that keeps working. But Apple Intelligence (which now powers the smarter Siri responses, the Mail summary, Writing Tools) uses Applebot-Extended training data. Blocking the second one means Siri's AI-enhanced features know less about your brand.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/119829 is the official reference. Apple confirmed the new user-agent in 2024 and explicitly stated that publishers who want to opt out of Apple Intelligence training (while keeping Spotlight) should use the Disallow: / pattern for Applebot-Extended specifically.
Apple doesn't operate a webmaster console equivalent to Google Search Console. Discovery is through standard crawler behavior — Applebot follows links from existing indexed pages and from sitemap.xml references in robots.txt. Make sure your sitemap is referenced from robots.txt for Apple discovery.
Marginal-to-meaningful depending on your audience. For consumer brands and B2B brands with Mac/iPad users, allowing Applebot-Extended is a real signal. For B2B brands selling exclusively to Windows-only enterprises, the impact is smaller. Allowing it costs nothing; blocking it caps the ceiling.
Cite this guide
BrandCited. (2026). Applebot-Extended robots.txt — How to Allow, Block, or Audit. https://www.brandcited.ai/tools/robots-txt-auditor/applebot-extended
Each major AI engine operates one or more user-agents. Configure them in parallel for complete coverage.
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