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Apple has not launched a standalone search engine. The rumour we covered in May 2022, that a Google rival would appear at WWDC on 6 June 2022, did not come true, and Google is still the default search engine in Safari.
What Apple built instead arrived four years later. On 14 September 2026 Apple released Siri AI in beta, a rebuilt assistant that, in Apple’s words, draws on “information from across the web to deliver helpful, accurate answers.” So Apple did get into answering web questions. It just did it through an assistant, not a search box.
This post keeps the original 2022 report, then explains what actually happened and what it means if your business depends on being found.
What the 2022 rumour said
A concept image of Apple search inside Siri, shared while the rumour was circulating.
In the run-up to WWDC 2022, tech commentator Robert Scoble told his followers to expect a search engine. “On Monday, June 6 we’ll hear about the search engine,” he said. He also tweeted: “Oh, and a new search engine is coming too. Will Siri finally get ‘smart?’ Hmm!”
SEO analysts picked the claim up quickly, because a search engine from Apple would have touched every iPhone, iPad and Mac. The keynote came and went with no search product.
Why people believed it
The rumour was not random. Apple had been laying groundwork for years.
- Applebot. Apple’s web crawler first appeared in server logs around 2014, and Apple acknowledged it publicly in 2015. Today Apple’s own documentation says the data Applebot collects powers search features in Spotlight, Siri and Safari.
- John Giannandrea. Google’s former head of search and AI joined Apple in 2018, which looked like a hiring signal.
- Siri suggestions. Spotlight and Siri were already showing web results and suggested websites without sending people to Google first.
Put those together and a full Apple search engine looked like the obvious next step. It still has not happened.
The money: why Apple had little reason to compete
The original version of this post said Google paid Apple about a billion dollars in 2021. That figure was far too low.
When Judge Amit Mehta ruled on 5 August 2024 that Google had illegally maintained a search monopoly, the court record showed Google paid Apple an estimated $20 billion in 2022 to be Safari’s default, and spent more than $26 billion in 2021 on default search deals overall.
That money explains a lot. Building a search engine would cost Apple billions and put a $20 billion yearly payment at risk.
The deal also survived the case. In the remedies ruling of 2 September 2025, the judge allowed Google to keep paying Apple for default placement, but banned exclusivity and limited each deal to one year. Apple is also free to promote rival AI assistants alongside Google.
What changed: AI answers, not a search box
The pressure on Google search did not come from an Apple search engine. It came from chatbots.
In May 2025, Apple’s services chief Eddy Cue testified that searches in Safari fell in April 2025 for the first time in about 22 years, and blamed people turning to ChatGPT and Perplexity. He said Apple was looking at adding AI search options from OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic to Safari. Google replied that its overall query volume was still growing.
Then Apple chose a partner for its own assistant. On 12 January 2026 Apple said that “Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models”, meaning Google’s Gemini models would help power the next Siri.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 6 June 2022 | WWDC keynote. No Apple search engine. |
| 5 Aug 2024 | US court rules Google illegally kept its search monopoly. |
| 7 May 2025 | Eddy Cue says Safari searches fell for the first time in 22 years. |
| 2 Sept 2025 | Remedies ruling lets Google keep paying Apple, without exclusivity. |
| 12 Jan 2026 | Apple confirms Google technology will underpin its foundation models. |
| 8 June 2026 | Apple previews Siri AI at WWDC 2026. |
| 14 Sept 2026 | Siri AI rolls out in beta, in English. |
| 26 Oct 2026 | Siri AI adds French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. |
At WWDC on 8 June 2026, Apple said Siri AI can “go out to the web to get up-to-date information using broad world knowledge and generate a helpful answer.” On 26 October 2026 it added five more languages.
That is about as close to an Apple search engine as we have come. For the wider story of the assistant, see our explainer on what Apple Intelligence became.
What this means for SEO, and for businesses in Nigeria
Start with scale. In Nigeria, iOS had 13.31% of mobile operating system share in October 2026, against 86.58% for Android. Our State of Search in Nigeria 2026 report found Google still carries about 98% of search referrals here. So for most Nigerian businesses, Google remains the main event.
Apple still matters if your customers skew towards iPhone users, including buyers abroad. Check the operating system split in your own analytics before deciding how much attention it deserves.
Three practical steps:
- Do not block Applebot. It feeds Siri, Spotlight and Safari suggestions. If you want to keep your content out of Apple’s AI training, block
Applebot-Extendedinstead. Apple says sites that do this can still appear in search results. - Write pages an assistant can quote. Siri AI builds answers from web pages. Clear facts, prices, addresses and opening hours make your page easier to use as a source. This is the core of generative engine optimisation.
- Track assistant traffic separately. Answers from Siri, ChatGPT and Gemini send fewer clicks than a results page. Our look at ChatGPT’s share of the search market shows why the numbers are still small but worth watching.
Frequently asked questions
Does Apple have its own search engine?
No. Apple runs a web crawler, Applebot, and uses it for Siri, Spotlight and Safari suggestions, but Google is the default search engine in Safari. Since September 2026, Siri AI can also answer questions using information from the web.
How much does Google pay Apple to be the default search engine?
Court records in the US antitrust case put the figure at an estimated $20 billion for 2022. A September 2025 ruling allowed the payments to continue on non-exclusive, one-year terms.
What is Applebot?
Applebot is Apple’s web crawler. It collects pages for Apple’s search features and may help train Apple’s AI models. A separate token, Applebot-Extended, lets site owners opt out of AI training while staying visible in search.
Will Siri AI replace Google on the iPhone?
Not for now. Google remains Safari’s default, and Apple itself relies on Google technology for its foundation models. What changes is where some questions get answered: inside Siri rather than on a results page.
If you want to know how visible your site is to Google and to AI assistants today, start with a free SEO audit.
Sources
- Apple Newsroom: Siri AI is here (14 September 2026)
- Apple Newsroom: WWDC 2026 announcement (8 June 2026)
- Apple Newsroom: Siri AI in more languages (26 October 2026)
- Apple Support: About Applebot
- The Star / Reuters: Google illegally maintains monopoly (6 August 2024)
- 9to5Mac: Apple’s deals with Google largely unaffected (2 September 2025)
- Fortune: Eddy Cue testimony (8 May 2025)
- MacRumors: Apple confirms Google Gemini will power next-generation Siri (12 January 2026)
- StatCounter: Mobile OS market share in Nigeria
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