Apple Intelligence semantic indexing and content donations
Parent: Apple Intelligence · Published reference · snapshot 2026-10-23 · viability 4.20 / 5 (research)
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Source-anchored research for Apple Intelligence semantic indexing and content donations. Run status: COMPLETED.
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How it works
- An app entity enters this semantic search path when it conforms to IndexedEntity and the app donates it to a CSSearchableIndex with indexAppEntities. Spotlight searches the donated content, and meaning-based matching depends on the App Intents domain; this is Spotlight indexing, not a guarantee that Siri can read every property on every entity. (high confidence) [source]
- The app owns index freshness: donate new records, call indexAppEntities again when indexed properties or display data change, and delete entries when users remove content. Apple documents that indexing an entity with an identifier already in the index updates that entry. Spotlight can also request a rebuild; IndexedEntityQuery supplies that reindex path, while an app already using Core Spotlight reindex APIs does not need to add IndexedEntityQuery as well. (high confidence) [source]
- Apple presents three distinct retrieval paths: ahead-of-time IndexedEntity indexing; IntentValueQuery for large, server-side, or frequently changing catalogs, where the app receives structured search input; and .system.searchInApp to route Siri's query into the app's own search UI, even when entities are not indexed. These paths extend content discovery and do not themselves execute a state-changing app action, which requires a separately defined AppIntent. A third-party implementation guide describes the same paths and their different roles. (high confidence) [source]
Comparisons and alternatives
- The searchable representation follows the entity metadata the app supplies. DisplayRepresentation contributes default display and index attributes, while @Property(indexingKey:) and customIndexingKey select properties to place under Spotlight keys. indexAppEntities is not recursive, so apps must donate child entities separately when they want them indexed. This lets an app shape which entity fields it exposes to system search rather than indexing every model field automatically. (high confidence) [source]
Facts and statements
- Interaction donations represent an action a person already performed through the app UI. The app donates a schema-conforming AppIntent; Apple describes the donation as a hint stored in a temporary transcript for later system inference. Donation itself does not execute app code: the system can use the recorded intent to construct a similar intent later. Apple advises apps to donate genuine UI interactions accurately and warns that excessive donations may be ignored. (high confidence) [source]
- Apple's examples scope semantic use by domain: the App Intents session describes meaning-based playlist matching, and the Calendar schema demo shows Siri searching event titles and note content. Apple staff clarify that IndexedEntity alone is not an unrestricted property-question interface; arbitrary questions require an explicitly defined answer intent. A developer in the same forum thread reported that their Spotlight-visible campus entities were not used by Siri AI as expected, so treat runtime behavior outside the demonstrated domains as uncertain. (medium confidence) [source]
- Apple's entity-indexing path requires an app to model discoverable records as AppEntity values conforming to IndexedEntity, then explicitly donate those instances with CSSearchableIndex.indexAppEntities(_:priority:) to a named CSSearchableIndex. Conformance alone does not populate the index. Once indexed, the records can appear in Spotlight and become discoverable to Apple Intelligence and Siri. (high confidence) [source]
- Apple describes semantic matching as dependent on the App Intents domain. Its June 2026 Frameworks forum reply further says that indexed data is searchable and an IndexedEntity parameter gives Siri candidates for entity resolution, but arbitrary answers about a custom entity's properties need an explicit intent. Taken together, indexing should not be treated as a general guarantee that Siri can answer free-form questions about every indexed field; the examples are bounded by supported domain and query behavior. (medium confidence) [source]
- Expo's October 19, 2026 guide for its alpha expo-app-intents package distinguishes registerIndexed() for catalog-managed Spotlight indexing from register() for onscreen context without Spotlight indexing. It also documents hideInSpotlight for excluding an individual record from Spotlight while leaving it resolvable by intents. This is an implementation-specific example of content visibility and intent resolution being separately controlled. (low confidence) (verified as of 2026-10-19) [source]
Children
- No children recorded.