Apple Intelligence and Applebot-Extended
Apple's AI features, branded Apple Intelligence, can draw on web content that Applebot crawls for Apple's services. Applebot-Extended is the robots.txt token that lets site owners opt out of that AI-training use while Applebot keeps crawling for Search and Siri.
How the two tokens relate
Applebot is Apple's long-standing crawler, used to power features such as Search and Siri. Apple Intelligence is Apple's brand for its generative AI features, which can draw on web content. Applebot-Extended is the robots.txt token Apple added so site owners can opt out of having their content used to train Apple's generative models.
The relationship is layered: Applebot does the crawling; Applebot-Extended governs whether the crawled content may be used for AI training. Setting Applebot-Extended to disallow does not stop Applebot from crawling for Search and Siri.
Setting your posture
If your goal is to remain in Apple's search and Siri results while opting out of generative-AI training, disallow Applebot-Extended specifically and leave Applebot allowed:
User-agent: Applebot-Extended Disallow: /
This is the documented way to express that posture. As with all such controls, it is a request Apple honours for AI-training use, not an access-control boundary, and it does not retroactively undo prior use. Applebot-Extended never appears as a user agent in logs because it is a control token, not a fetcher.
- Applebot: the crawler for Search and Siri
- Applebot-Extended: the AI-training opt-out control token
- Opting out of training does not stop Applebot crawling
How it appears in analytics and logs
Applebot in your logs is Apple's crawler for Search and Siri. Applebot-Extended is not a fetcher you will see — it is a control token signalling whether Apple may use crawled content for generative AI training.
Diagnostic use case
Set an opt-out posture for Apple's AI training via Applebot-Extended while keeping Applebot crawling for Apple search and Siri.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID surfaces Applebot's actual crawl activity on the bot-intelligence surface. Because Applebot-Extended is a control token, it does not appear as bot events; WebmasterID helps you confirm Applebot still crawls after you set the opt-out.
Common mistakes
- Expecting Applebot-Extended to appear as a user agent in logs — it is a control token.
- Assuming an Applebot-Extended opt-out removes you from Apple search or Siri.
- Confusing the Applebot and Applebot-Extended tokens — they are set separately.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Applebot-Extended is a robots.txt directive, not a request, so it involves no visitor data. It governs AI-training use of already-crawled content — a policy matter, not an identity one.
Related pages
- Applebot-Extended — Apple AI training control
Applebot-Extended is a robots.txt token Apple provides so site owners can opt out of having their content used to train Apple's generative AI models. It is a control, not a separate crawler: Applebot remains the user agent that powers Apple search features and Siri, and it keeps crawling regardless of the Applebot-Extended setting.
- How to opt out of AI training
Opting your content out of AI training is done through robots.txt: per-crawler tokens such as GPTBot and CCBot, plus dedicated control tokens like Google-Extended and Applebot-Extended. There is no single switch — you assemble the policy token by token, and it is a request to compliant systems.
- Web crawlers reference
Reference for crawlers, control tokens, and how they appear in traffic.
Sources and verification notes
- Apple — Applebot and Applebot-Extended documentationDocuments Applebot and the Applebot-Extended AI-training control.
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.