Apple's search crawler. It indexes pages for Apple's search results. Intent: search index. Stores your pages so they can show up in search results.

What is the Applebot user agent?

Requests from Applebot carry "applebot" in the User-Agent header (matching is case-insensitive). The full string includes a version number that changes over time; Apple's documentation lists the current one. In robots.txt, the token is Applebot.

How do I verify Applebot?

Forward-confirmed reverse DNS: the IP's hostname must end in .applebot.apple.com, and that hostname must resolve back to the same IP. Paste an IP into HadoSEO's free bot verifier to check it against the published data.

How do I block Applebot in robots.txt?

Add "User-agent: Applebot" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt. Blocking Applebot does not block Applebot-Extended: each has its own token and its own rule. robots.txt is a request, not a lock: a scraper using Applebot's name ignores it, which is why verification matters.

Can I see when Applebot visits my site?

Yes. HadoSEO logs every Applebot request by page, checks it against Apple's published data, and flags requests that use the name from IPs Apple doesn't own. For a one-off look, the free log file analyzer reads a week of your server logs in the browser.

[ search crawler · Apple ]

Applebot: Apple's search crawler.

Apple's search crawler. It indexes pages for Apple's search results. Its intent is search index: stores your pages so they can show up in search results.

search indexverifiable by reverse DNS

IP ranges last updated Oct 25, 2026

Check a Applebot IP All AI crawlers

[ technical facts ]

operator: Apple
intent: search index
user agent contains: applebot
robots.txt token: Applebot
verification: reverse DNSverified
reverse DNS: .applebot.apple.com
official IP list: search.developer.apple.com/applebot.json
last updated: Oct 25, 2026
operator docs: support.apple.com/en-us/119829

[ verify ]

How to verify a real Applebot request.

Forward-confirmed reverse DNS: the IP's hostname must end in .applebot.apple.com, and that hostname must resolve back to the same IP.

01Check the User-Agent header contains "applebot" (case-insensitive). That is only a claim: anyone can send it.
02Run a reverse DNS lookup on the IP. The hostname must end in .applebot.apple.com.
03Run a forward lookup on that hostname. It must return the original IP (forward-confirmed reverse DNS).
04Apple also publishes an IP list you can check instead: https://search.developer.apple.com/applebot.json.

Skip the lookups: the free bot verifier checks one IP against the same registry, and the log file analyzer checks every Applebot request in a week of access logs. Requests that fail are flagged as spoofed, not hidden.

[ robots.txt ]

Block or allow Applebot in robots.txt.

Add one of these groups to the robots.txt at your domain root. The token matches case-insensitively. Apple runs other crawlers with their own tokens, so a rule for Applebot leaves Applebot-Extended (training) untouched.

block Applebot

User-agent: Applebot
Disallow: /

allow Applebot

User-agent: Applebot
Allow: /

robots.txt only binds crawlers that choose to follow it. A scraper sending Applebot's user agent from its own servers won't, which is why HadoSEO checks the IP behind every request.

[ questions ]

Applebot, answered.

[ free scan ]