Researcher Finds Political Phrases on Apple’s iOS Keyboard List
A researcher has uncovered a list of roughly 100,000 words and phrases that Apple’s iOS keyboard generally excludes from autocomplete and swipe-typing. The list spans major languages and includes vulgar or offensive terms, along with politically charged phrases such as “dictator Trump,” “sleepy Joe” and “United Ireland.”
The list does not prevent users from typing the phrases letter by letter, and they can override predictive text. But swipe-typing may produce a different phrase, or autocomplete may offer an alternative. Tests on an iPhone found that “Sleepy Joe” could become “Sleepy hope,” while “United Ireland” sometimes became “United Iceland.”
Kauffman said he found the material in September after noticing that swipe-typing faltered on certain phrases. He employed OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Code to search iOS and recovered a compendium stored in the operating system. Another researcher, engineer Matt Suiche, said he independently retrieved the same list and found a close match with Kauffman’s findings.
The exclusions vary by language. Examples cited by Kauffman include Hindi political jabs aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition figure Rahul Gandhi, and French and Hebrew phrases about immigration and territorial issues. He also pointed to uneven treatment of similar phrases, including “bad girl” being blocked while “bad boy” was not.
Apple said its keyboard is designed to avoid suggestions that could be inappropriate or offensive, while users remain free to type their chosen words and override suggestions. Kauffman said such filtering may shape communication at scale and called for greater attention to how it is applied.
Apple’s Quiet Keyboard Filtering Deserves Transparency
Apple’s keyboard quietly steers users away from thousands of phrases, including political language, according to a researcher who uncovered an estimated 100,000 entries across major languages. The list includes terms such as “dictator Trump,” “sleepy Joe” and “United Ireland,” alongside offensive and vulgar material.
The impact is subtle, not an outright block: people can type the words manually or override suggestions. Yet swipe-typing may change a phrase or autocomplete may simply omit it. “United Ireland,” for instance, sometimes became “United Iceland” in testing, while “Sleepy Joe” could turn into “Sleepy hope.”
Kauffman found the list after investigating phrases that made swipe-typing falter, using coding tools to recover data within iOS. Engineer Matt Suiche independently retrieved the same list and said it closely matched Kauffman’s findings. The examples vary across languages and include political references in Hindi, French and Hebrew.
Apple says its keyboard is designed to avoid potentially offensive or inappropriate suggestions, and maintains that users can still enter their chosen words. That explanation addresses accidental suggestions, but does not answer why particular political phrases are filtered or why similar terms receive different treatment. Kauffman highlighted inconsistencies such as “bad girl” being excluded while “bad boy” was not.
The issue is not whether users can force a phrase through; they can. It is whether a platform used by hundreds of millions of people should make consequential choices about language without explaining how those choices are made.
Apple’s Keyboard Filters Political Phrases Without Explaining Why
Apple’s iPhone keyboard is filtering political language as well as vulgar terms, according to a researcher who recovered a multilingual list of about 100,000 phrases. Examples include “dictator Trump,” “sleepy Joe,” and phrases concerning United Ireland and Tibetan independence.
This is not a ban on what iPhone owners may say. Users can type the words manually and override predictive text. But the keyboard can make certain phrases harder to enter by swipe-typing or leave them out of autocomplete. In testing, “Sleepy Joe” could become “Sleepy hope,” while “United Ireland” sometimes turned into “United Iceland.”
Kauffman said he discovered the list after noticing swipe-typing struggled with particular phrases, then used coding tools to find the data inside iOS. Engineer Matt Suiche independently recovered the same list and said it closely matched Kauffman’s results. The flagged phrases differ across languages, including political references in Hindi, French and Hebrew.
Apple says its keyboard avoids suggestions that may be offensive or inappropriate. That rationale may explain filtering obscenities, but the list also contains politically charged language, and Apple did not explain its choices or the list’s composition. Kauffman also identified inconsistent treatment, including “bad girl” being excluded while “bad boy” was not.
The company’s assurance that users can type what they want does not settle the concern: predictive tools influence what people can enter easily and what their keyboards propose instead. A system that makes those choices at enormous scale should be clear about its standards.
Reported by The Verge, New York Post.
