A hidden list of tens of thousands of words and phrases in multiple languages sits inside Apple's iOS keyboard, blocking the device from autocompleting or swipe-typing them, a researcher said Friday.
asserted
researcher → hide → them
The researcher, Derik Kauffman, who works independently, discovered the list recently and said Apple has never made it public.
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it → work → list
iPhone users can still type what they like when drafting emails and texts.
But in most cases, the words on the list will not be suggested to users via autocomplete or swipe-typing, opening a window into how Apple manages the tradeoff between preventing its devices from offering offensive or politically charged suggestions and anticipating what users are trying to say.
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users → type → what
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide use iPhones, so Apple's choices about which words its keyboard suggests could quietly shape how they communicate.
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they → use → words
According to Kauffman, the flagged words and phrases are overwhelmingly vulgar or offensive or related to drugs, sex or violence.
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words → accord → drugs
Other phrases excluded from iOS's predictive text features include "right wing conspiracy" as well as "Tibetan independence" and "United Ireland," according to Kauffman.
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phrases → exclude → Kauffman
Non-English languages have different flagged words or phrases.
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languages → have → words
In Hindi, for example, the keyboard does not allow users to swipe-type "Modi braggart" or "Rahul is Pappu," digs at India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his leading opponent, Rahul Gandhi, respectively, according to Kauffman.
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Rahul → allow → Kauffman
He said French speakers could not swipe-type the French phrase "immigration too high" and that Hebrew speakers could not swipe-type "occupied territories."
"Every major language has some version of this," Kauffman said.
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Kauffman → say → this
Kauffman said it was understandable that Apple wanted to keep users from accidentally sending obscene messages or inflammatory slogans.
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Apple → say → messages
But he said Apple applied the feature inconsistently.
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Apple → say → feature
For example, he said "read smut" could be swipe-typed while "read gay smut" could not.
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read → say → smut
"It's a very light-touch form of censorship," Kauffman said.
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Kauffman → say → censorship
"But at the scale that Apple is operating, it only takes a light touch to have a big impact."
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it → operate → impact
In an email, Apple did not comment directly on Kauffman's findings, including the size or composition of its list, or its reasons for flagging certain political terms.
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Apple → comment → terms
It said that iPhone users always had the option to type specific words or phrases and could always override any predictive text suggestions.
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users → say → suggestions
Apple said its keyboard was set up to avoid offering suggestions that might be inappropriate or offensive.
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that → say → suggestions
Kauffman is not alone in noticing nudges from iOS's predictive text feature.
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Kauffman → notice → feature
Over the years, social media users have wondered why they could not swipe-type certain phrases.
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they → wonder → phrases
Earlier this week, a Norwegian systems administrator independently discovered a list of words on Apple's gray list, including "al-Qaeda," "Auschwitz," and "Hooters," but this is the first report of a wider list of sensitive phrases.
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this → discover → phrases
Kauffman said he found the list in September after noticing that his swipe-typing — the practice of gliding a finger back and forth over a keyboard rather than pecking out each word individually — would stutter over certain phrases, like "bad boy" or "white man," but not "bad girl" or "black man."
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typing → say → boy
His curiosity piqued, Kauffman said he used a combination of OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude Code to hunt for a reason why, eventually stumbling on a compendium stored "deep in the bowels" of Apple's operating system.
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he → pique → system
He said there were different ways to count the number of gray-listed words and phrases and their various permutations, but a conservative estimate would put them at about 100,000, not including Chinese characters.
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estimate → say → characters
Matt Suiche, an engineer at agentic AI cybersecurity company Tolmo, said he independently recovered the same gray list and cross-referenced Kauffman's findings against Apple's internal data.
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he → say → data
He said he got a near-perfect match.
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he → say → match
Suiche said the Apple list had been hidden in plain sight for years, providing an interesting look at how "human communication has been potentially influenced and filtered for years inside messaging apps."
Reuters tested a small subset of the phrases identified by Kauffman on an iPhone and found they were all difficult to enter through swipe-typing or were not suggested via autocomplete. Attempts to swipe-type "United Ireland" or "Tibetan independence" often yielded "United Iceland" or "Tibetan independences," for example.
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Attempts → say → example
Trying to swipe-type "white man" would yield "white mean," while "red man" or "blue man" could be swipe-typed without difficulty.
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man → try → difficulty
"Sleepy Joe" would yield "Sleepy hope."
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Joe → yield → hope
"Dictator Trump" could be swipe-typed, but "trump" was lowercase and the phrase was not suggested in autocomplete — the keyboard instead suggested "dictator trumps.
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keyboard → swipe → trumps
"
Swipe-typing "read gay smut" would yield "Read gay Smit."
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Swipe → type → Smit
"Read smut" could be swipe-typed with no issue.
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Read → read → issue
Apple, like other tech companies, has previously run into trouble when predictive technology suggests embarrassing or controversial texts to users.
Alphabet-owned GOOGL.O Google's autocomplete feature has regularly attracted criticism — and sometimes even litigation — over its suggested search terms.
Last year, Apple drew media attention when users reported that dictating the word "racist" to their iPhones would briefly cause the word "Trump" to flash across their screens.
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word → run → screens
Apple said at the time that the problem was an error and had been fixed.
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problem → say → time
David Greene, senior counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group, said that while part of him found the word list "creepy" and wondered about Apple's judgment calls, he could see an argument for it as a useful way to curb unwanted or inflammatory suggestions.
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he → say → suggestions
"But if they are going to do it, this is something users should be really well aware of and have some ability to customize," Greene said.
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Greene → go → ability
Kauffman's findings show a keyboard that will not suggest tens of thousands of words and phrases across multiple languages, while Apple says users can always type and override what they wish.
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they → show → what
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