Who runs it
Apple. It names itself with the token Applebot, appended to a Safari user agent. Applebot-Extended is a robots.txt token only and crawls nothing.
What it does
It powers features such as the search technology in many Apple experiences. Apple says the data may also help train its foundation models for generative AI features, and that disallowing Applebot-Extended opts out of that without removing pages from search.
Renders JavaScript
Sometimes. Apple says Applebot may render the content of your website within a browser, and that if JavaScript, CSS and other resources are blocked in robots.txt it may not render the content properly.
How to verify it
Run a reverse DNS lookup on the visiting address. The name should be in the applebot.apple.com domain, and a forward lookup of that name should return the same address. Or match the address against Apple's published list.
robots.txt
Apple says it respects standard robots.txt directives in general search crawls aimed at Applebot. If robots.txt doesn't mention Applebot but mentions Googlebot, it follows Googlebot's rules. It does not follow Crawl-delay.
Questions
Does blocking Applebot-Extended remove me from Apple's search?
No. Apple says disallowing it opts out of training use and does not remove pages from search.
support.apple.com/en-us/119829