The Apple Store in Hamburg, Germany. Credit: Laurenz Heymann on Unsplash Apple keeps a hidden list of around 100,000 words and phrases that its iPhone keyboard will not suggest to users, according to an independent researcher. The list includes political expressions such as \u201cDictator Trump\u201d and \u201cSleepy Joe\u201d, Reuters reported today. The restrictions do not prevent users from typing these words themselves.<\/p>\n
Instead, they stop the keyboard from suggesting them through autocomplete and make them difficult to enter using swipe-typing, a feature that lets users form words by sliding a finger across the keyboard. Derik Kauffman, founder of Blacklight, a start-up that checks scientific papers for errors, discovered the list in September after noticing some unusual differences in how the keyboard handled certain phrases. For example, his iPhone struggled to recognise \u201cbad boy\u201d and \u201cwhite man\u201d when he used swipe-typing, but had no trouble with \u201cbad girl\u201d or \u201cblack man\u201d. Kauffman used AI coding tools to investigate the problem and eventually found a file buried inside Apple\u2019s operating system.<\/p>\n
His conservative estimate puts the number of entries at around 100,000, excluding Chinese characters. Most of the words and phrases are offensive or relate to subjects such as drugs, sex and violence. But the list also contains political expressions from several countries, including \u201cright wing conspiracy\u201d, \u201cTibetan independence\u201d and \u201cUnited Ireland\u201d. It also includes \u201coccupied territories\u201d in Hebrew and \u201cimmigration too high\u201d in French.<\/p>\n
Some of the restrictions appear inconsistent. For instance, the keyboard allows users to swipe-type \u201cread smut\u201d but not \u201cread gay smut\u201d. Reuters tested a sample of the entries on an iPhone and found that the phrases were either missing from suggestions or difficult to enter through swipe-typing. Matt Suiche, an engineer at security company Tolmo, independently recovered the same list and found that it closely matched Kauffman\u2019s findings. *We have not independently tested the list.<\/p>\n
Apple did not explain why political expressions were included, according to Reuters. The company said users can still type any word they want and that its keyboard is designed to avoid suggesting offensive or inappropriate language. The findings have raised questions about how much control Apple should have over the words its keyboard recommends, particularly when the restrictions extend beyond profanity. David Greene of the Electronic Frontier Foundation told Reuters that users should be informed about the list and given the option to change it. \u201cThis is something that should not be secret,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n
Apple has faced criticism over its keyboard\u2019s handling of swear words before. One well-known example is its tendency to replace \u201cf*ck\u201d with \u201cducking\u201d, including in Apple\u2019s own Notes app, where handwritten swear words have also been censored. Get the TNW newsletter \u2715 Close Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Apple Store in Hamburg, Germany. Credit: Laurenz Heymann on Unsplash Apple keeps a hidden list of around 100,000 words and phrases that its iPhone keyboard will not suggest to users, according to an independent\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}