Researcher finds more than 100,000 phrases blocked from iOS keyboard suggestions

A researcher says he found more than 100,000 words and phrases blocked from autocomplete and swipe typing in iOS, according to Reuters. The list covers “every major language,” Reuters reports.

Derik Kauffman says people can still enter the listed phrases by typing them one letter at a time. They do not appear as predictive text suggestions, and swipe typing may change them. One example cited by The Verge is “left wing conspiracy,” which the keyboard may turn into “left wrong conspiracy.”

Kauffman posted the list online, including separate lists for different languages. Many entries are offensive, slurs, or relate to sex and drugs. It also includes political phrases such as “illegal immigrant,” “dictator Trump,” “sleepy Joe,” “covid was a hoax” and “left wing conspiracy,” as well as “Santa isn’t real” and “iMessage isn’t working.”

The Verge reports that Kauffman used OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Code to help locate the list in iOS. On his website, Kauffman says it was stored as a hash table that he converted back into text. Reuters reports that another researcher independently obtained the same list.

Apple told Reuters its keyboard is designed to avoid potentially inappropriate or offensive suggestions. Users can still type what they want or override predictive text. Apple did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.