Apple Restricts Predictive Text on More Than 100,000 Words and Phrases

Apple blocks its predictive text feature from completing more than 100,000 words and phrases. This restriction stops users from swipe-typing certain terms, which requires them to spell out the words manually instead.

Independent researcher Derik Kauffman discovered this hidden list encoded inside Apple’s operating system after he noticed trouble typing specific phrases on his iPhone. The restricted terms include references to drugs, sexual acts, corporate complaints such as "iMessage isn't working," and politically charged language.

Politically sensitive items on the list include "Dictator Trump," "NSA spies," "Trayvon Martin," "Kashmir dispute," "Muslim extremist," and "male chauvinist pig". Language-specific restrictions also block phrases like "the occupied territories" in Hebrew and "the Hamas movement" in Arabic.

Kauffman described the list to Reuters as a "light-touch form of censorship". When users try to swipe-type these restricted phrases, the predictive tool often causes spelling errors, such as turning "United Ireland" into "United Iceland" or "Tibetan independence" into "Tibetan independences".

Apple stated that its keyboard is designed to avoid offering inappropriate or offensive predictive suggestions. The company noted that users can still type out specific words or phrases and override predictive text suggestions to write whatever they want.

Summary

Apple's hard-coded list reveals how smartphone keyboards control autocomplete functions to block offensive or sensitive terms. While the company says the system prevents inappropriate suggestions, the restrictions also block politically charged phrases and force users to manually spell out thousands of common terms.