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Independent researcher Derik Kauffman found a list of more than 100,000 words and phrases in Apple’s operating system that are restricted from predictive text. Apple says its keyboard is designed to avoid inappropriate or offensive suggestions; users can still type the terms themselves. The reasons for individual entries and how the list is maintained are unclear.
Independent researcher Derik Kauffman has found a list of more than 100,000 words and phrases in Apple’s operating system that the iPhone will not offer through predictive text. The entries include drug and sexual terms as well as politically sensitive phrases, shedding light on how Apple’s keyboard limits suggestions while leaving users able to type the words themselves.
The list, described in reporting by The Guardian, affects both predictive suggestions and swipe typing, where a user traces a word across the keyboard rather than tapping each letter. If a phrase is excluded, the keyboard may not offer it as a completed suggestion, and swipe input can produce a different word. Reported examples include “United Ireland” becoming “United Iceland” and “Tibetan independence” becoming “Tibetan independences.”
Kauffman discovered the list after noticing that his iPhone struggled to enter some phrases but not others. He found a table encoded in Apple’s operating system. The reported entries range from terms involving drugs and sexual acts to political or contentious phrases, including “Trayvon Martin,” “Kashmir dispute,” “Muslim extremist” and “male chauvinist pig.” The list also contains the phrase “iMessage isn’t working.”
The report says restrictions vary across languages: examples include the Hebrew phrase “the occupied territories” and the Arabic phrase “the Hamas movement.” Apple said its keyboard is designed to avoid offering inappropriate or offensive predictive suggestions. The company also said users can type particular words or phrases and override the suggestions to convey what they intend.
How the List Shapes Typing
Predictive text influences what users can enter quickly, especially when they rely on swipe typing or accept suggested completions. A hidden list can make some phrases harder to enter accurately and may steer a user toward a different word. That matters when the text concerns politics, identity or disputed topics, where an unintended substitution can change meaning.
The discovery also gives users a concrete example of how a familiar keyboard feature is shaped by design decisions beyond spelling and grammar. Apple presents the limits as a way to avoid inappropriate or offensive suggestions, while Kauffman characterized politically charged entries to Reuters as a “light-touch form of censorship.” That description is his assessment; the existence of a restricted list does not by itself establish Apple’s motive for each entry or show that users are prevented from communicating the terms.
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From Autocorrect to Prediction
Spell-checking began with systems that compared typed words against a stored vocabulary. Later methods used statistical patterns, including n-grams, to estimate what words might follow others. Apple’s keyboard has also been known for substitutions that users found embarrassing, such as changing expletives into milder alternatives.
Apple introduced a transformer-based autocorrect system last year, according to the report. Some Reddit users linked that change to unusual spelling suggestions, although the report does not establish that the new system caused those experiences. The newly found table points to a separate, hard-coded layer in the keyboard’s behavior. It also adds detail to prior questions about Apple’s text tools, including a brief dictation glitch in which “Trump” appeared when users spoke “racist,” which Apple quickly fixed.
“The company said it designed its keyboard to avoid offering inappropriate or offensive predictive suggestions.”
— Apple
Why Entries Are Restricted
The list’s existence and examples are reported, but Apple has not publicly explained the rationale for individual entries in the source material. It is not clear how Apple selects, reviews or updates the terms, whether every listed phrase is blocked in the same way across keyboard features, or how broadly the restrictions vary by language, region and software version.
The report also does not establish that the list reflects a policy to suppress particular viewpoints. Some entries concern sexual or drug-related language, while others involve political or contested subjects; the presence of a phrase alone does not show why it was included. Apple’s stated aim is to avoid offensive or inappropriate suggestions, and users can manually enter terms.
Apple’s List and User Options
Apple users can type a restricted phrase manually and dismiss or override a prediction if the keyboard substitutes another word. The reported discovery may prompt further scrutiny of the list and its effects, but the source material identifies no announced Apple review, policy change or timetable for a response to Kauffman’s findings.
Further details would be needed to establish how the list is maintained and whether Apple plans to explain or revise particular entries. Until then, the confirmed practical point is limited: some phrases are not offered as predictive completions, but the report says users can still enter them themselves.
Key Questions
What did Derik Kauffman find?
He found a table encoded in Apple’s operating system containing more than 100,000 words and phrases restricted from predictive text, according to the report.
Does the list stop users from typing those phrases?
No. Apple said users can type specific words or phrases and override predictive suggestions. The restrictions affect what the keyboard offers, not whether a user can enter the text manually.
What kinds of phrases are included?
Reported examples include terms related to drugs and sexual acts, as well as political or contentious phrases such as “Kashmir dispute,” “Trayvon Martin” and “male chauvinist pig.”
Has Apple explained why each phrase is on the list?
No individual explanations are provided in the source material. Apple said the keyboard is designed to avoid inappropriate or offensive predictive suggestions, but its reasons for specific entries remain unclear.
Source: theguardian.com
