Apple Applebot
risk.is_airisk.is_crawler
- Method
- Ranges Published IP ranges
- Format
- JSON range file
- Refresh
- Every hour. If a refresh fails, entries expire after 24 hours instead of being trusted forever.
Bot signals — AI crawler & agent
Applebot IP addresses
Apple Applebot
Shared Apple search crawler infrastructure documented as supporting AI training and grounding; not proof of individual request purpose. Applebot-Extended is a policy token, not a separate crawler.
01 — Verification
How IPAPI.GR verifies Applebot.
Only from what Apple Applebot publishes about itself. No third-party blocklists, no behavioural guesses. Live address counts change with every publication, so check the official file for the current list.
02 — In the response
What a match looks like.
A lookup of a Applebot address sets risk.is_ai and risk.is_crawler. The flags come with geolocation and network data in the same response, for Pro API keys.
This publication is AI crawling or retrieval traffic, so it counts as both an AI source and a crawler.
The response says which kind of bot an address belongs to, not which operator. Pair it with the user agent: a request that claims to be Applebot but doesn't match is unverified.
{
// … location and network fields …
"risk": {
"is_ai": true,
"is_crawler": true,
"is_scanner": false
}
}
03 — Configuration
Allow, block or verify it yourself.
# 1. Build a geo include from the official file (cron, e.g. hourly).
# Keep the old file if the download fails or comes back empty.
curl -fsS https://search.developer.apple.com/applebot.json \
| jq -r '.prefixes[] | (.ipv4Prefix // .ipv6Prefix // empty) | "\(.) 1;"' \
> /etc/nginx/applebot-ranges.conf.new && [ -s /etc/nginx/applebot-ranges.conf.new ] && mv /etc/nginx/applebot-ranges.conf.new /etc/nginx/applebot-ranges.conf \
&& nginx -t -q && nginx -s reload
# 2. In the http block: 1 when the client IP is in the published ranges.
geo $applebot_ip {
default 0;
include /etc/nginx/applebot-ranges.conf;
}
# 3. A request that claims to be Applebot from any other address is an impostor.
map "$http_user_agent:$applebot_ip" $fake_applebot {
default 0;
"~*(Applebot).*:0$" 1;
}
# In the server block:
if ($fake_applebot) { return 403; }
prefixes array.04 — Questions
About Applebot.
Where does Applebot publish its IP addresses?
Apple Applebot publishes its addresses at https://search.developer.apple.com/applebot.json. IPAPI.GR reads that publication directly, not a third-party copy.
How often is the Applebot list refreshed?
IPAPI.GR re-fetches it every hour. If a refresh fails, the previous entries expire after at most 24 hours instead of being trusted forever.
Which risk flag does Applebot set?
A matching address sets risk.is_ai and risk.is_crawler in the lookup response. The risk flags are returned for Pro API keys.
Related operators
Verify Applebot on every request.
Pro: 40,000,000 requests a day with is_ai, is_crawler and is_scanner in every lookup.