Hidden banned word list in iOS keyboard

It was revealed that the autocomplete and swipe typing features of the iPhone keyboard secretly blocked more than 100 thousand words and expressions. According to Reuters, researcher Derik Kauffman found the list. The list also includes political expressions such as "illegal immigrant", "dictator Trump", "sleepy Joe" and "covid was a hoax".

The list includes separate sections for "all major languages," according to Kauffman. These words can be written letter by letter, but the keyboard does not show them as suggestions. While scrolling, iOS can change some expressions automatically; For example, the expression "left wing conspiracy" is corrected to "left wrong conspiracy".

What's on the list?

Most of the words and expressions on the list are insults, derogatory words, or related to sexuality and drugs. However, in addition to political statements, the list also includes more innocent expressions such as "Santa isn't real" and "iMessage isn't working." Kauffman also found some inconsistencies: For example, "bad girl" is blocked, while "bad boy" is not.

How was the list found?

Kauffman said he leveraged OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude Code tools to find the list deep within iOS. According to the researcher, the list was stored as a hash table and this table was converted back to text. Kauffman published the entire list online, with sections in different languages. Another researcher confirmed to Reuters that he had independently accessed the same list.

What did Apple say?

Apple told Reuters in a statement that the keyboard was designed to avoid suggestions that might be inappropriate or offensive. The company emphasized that iPhone users can type anything they want and override keyboard suggestions.

Frequently asked questions

Does iPhone keyboard prevent typing some words?

No. Blocked words can be written letter by letter; However, the keyboard does not offer these as suggestions and can change them while typing by scrolling.

How many expressions are in the list?

According to researcher Derik Kauffman, the list includes more than 100 thousand words and expressions in all major languages.