What is Apple App Site Association?
Direct Answer: The Apple App Site Association bot, operated by Apple, supports Universal Links in native iOS apps by requesting specific paths for given hostnames.
The Apple App Site Association bot is used to support Universal Links that can open in native iOS apps. It requests a specific path for a given hostname, which returns metadata that associates certain URL patterns with native iOS apps. This bot is crucial for enabling seamless integration between web URLs and iOS apps.
User-Agent Identification
The following user-agent strings identify Apple App Site Association in your live traffic data:
AASA-Bot/1.0.0
robots.txt Rules for Apple App Site Association
Respects robots.txt: No
This bot does not commit to following robots.txt
Apple App Site Association does not officially follow robots.txt directives. The only reliable way to control access is through server-side blocking (IP filtering, user-agent rules in your web server config) combined with log monitoring to verify effectiveness.
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Crawl Behavior
Frequency:Not Documented
Request Pattern:Requests A Specific Path For A Given Hostname
Crawl Activity Index
Relative crawl activity for Apple App Site Association over the past 28 days. Higher values indicate increased crawling intensity compared to the period baseline.
View recent activity data (last 7 days)
| Date | Activity Index |
|---|---|
| Mar 26, 2026 | 88.0 |
| Mar 27, 2026 | 82.7 |
| Mar 28, 2026 | 83.1 |
| Mar 29, 2026 | 81.8 |
| Mar 30, 2026 | 87.3 |
| Mar 31, 2026 | 90.2 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | 88.9 |
Source: Cloudflare Radar
Why track Apple App Site Association traffic?
Identify and classify unknown crawler activity. Apple App Site Association may appear in your live traffic data with varying frequency. Tracking its behavior helps you decide whether to allow, throttle, or block it based on actual data.
Protect your crawl budget. Every bot request consumes server resources. Understanding what Apple App Site Association crawls helps you prioritize the crawlers that matter.
Log Verification
To verify Apple App Site Association traffic in your live traffic data:
- Search access logs for the user-agent strings listed above
- Check if the IP addresses match documented ranges (if provided by Apple)
- Verify the crawl pattern matches documented behavior
- Use reverse DNS lookup for additional verification if available
Note: Observed behavior in production environments may differ from official documentation. Live traffic monitoring provides the only reliable verification of actual bot behavior.
Undocumented Information
The following information is not officially documented for Apple App Site Association:
- crawl frequency
- IP verification method
- JavaScript rendering details
Official Documentation
View Official Apple App Site Association Documentation →
Information sourced from official documentation. Content generated with AI assistance.