Researcher Derik Kauffman discovered a list containing over 100,000 words and phrases restricted from autocomplete and swipe-typing features in iOS. The findings cover major languages and were extracted from the system using OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Code tools.
The restricted content includes offensive language, slurs, and references to drugs or sex. Additionally, the list contains political phrases such as 'dictator Trump,' 'sleepy Joe,' 'illegal immigrant,' and 'covid was a hoax,' alongside non-controversial entries like 'Santa isn’t real.'
Users can still type these words manually, but the system prevents them from appearing in predictive text suggestions. In some cases, swipe-typing may automatically alter the input, such as changing 'left wing conspiracy' to 'left wrong conspiracy.'
Kauffman identified inconsistencies in the filtering, noting that some phrases are blocked while their counterparts are not, such as 'bad girl' being restricted while 'bad boy' remains allowed. The data was stored as a hash table within iOS.
Apple stated that the keyboard design aims to avoid inappropriate or offensive suggestions. The company noted that users retain the ability to type any content they choose and can override predictive text suggestions at their discretion.
