The iPhone keyboard carries a hidden list of thousands of phrases it will never suggest or let you swipe. Alongside slurs, sex and drugs, the list covers political slogans, historical events and public figures.
Apple doesn't publish the list or say how it's chosen. This site decodes it from the keyboard's own data files, as of iOS 27.0.
After “Left wing”, swiping conspiracy makes the keyboard rewrite the word before it. Wing becomes wrong, so the blocked phrase never appears.
What the keyboard does
Predictive text never offers a phrase on the list, even when it's the obvious next word.
Swipe typing won't produce most of them either. The keyboard picks another word, sometimes an implausible one, and can change a word you already entered.
Typing letter by letter always works. Nothing on the list stops you writing it.
The rules match exact word sequences. A blocked phrase can go through with a slightly different wording.
Examples
A selection from the English list. Each phrase stands for its other word forms too, so “sleepy Joe” also covers “sleepier Joe”.
NSA surveillanceAlso: NSA spies on
left wing conspiracyAlso: right wing conspiracy, left and right wing propaganda
Covid was a hoaxAlso: a scam, a lie, a myth, a jokeSwipe works
Santa isn't real
Belfast confetti
marathon bombing
Mumbai attack
school shooting
subway attack
sleepy Joe
Tibetan independence
Trayvon MartinThe only person's full name on the list
Kashmir dispute
United Ireland
Taiwan is countryOnly this wording. “Taiwan is a country” isn't blocked.
Tamil homelandAlso: guerrilla, heartland, militant, minorities, rebel, separatist
Muslim extremistAlso Shiite and Sunni, with extremism, fighter, fundamentalism, fundamentalist, insurgence, insurgent, militant, militia, militiaman, rebel, separatism, separatist and slum
dictator TrumpAlso: dictator Benito, Ferdinand, Francisco, Josef, Joseph, Kim, Manuel, Mobutu, Mohamed, Rafael, SuhartoSwipe works
illegal immigrantAlso: alien, immigration, immunization, migrant, people, vote, voterSwipe works
Sometimes a phrase is blocked while its obvious counterpart isn't.
“White woman” and “black woman” also are both blocked.
Other languages
Apple keeps similar lists for 27 other languages and scripts, many as long as the English one. A few entries are below; translations are approximate. Apple's data often drops capitals and accents (“deutschland uber alles”); they're restored here for reading.
六四June Fourth, the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown
台独Taiwan independence
习大大“Big Daddy Xi”, a nickname for Xi Jinping
刘晓波Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate
钓鱼岛是日本“The Diaoyu Islands are Japan's”, Japan's side of the dispute over the islands it calls the Senkakus
国民党The KMT, Taiwan's Nationalist party. In Simplified Chinese the name of China's Communist Party isn't blocked; in Traditional Chinese both are.
मंदिर वहीं बनेगा“The temple will be built right there”, the Ayodhya Ram temple slogan
अच्छे दिन आने“Good days are coming”, a 2014 BJP campaign slogan
पप्पू है राहुल“Rahul is Pappu”, a jibe at Rahul Gandhi
लव जिहाद“Love jihad”
حركة حماسThe Hamas movement
العدوان الإسرائيلي“Israeli aggression”
أحتلال أمريكي“American occupation”. Israeli, Iranian and Saudi occupation are blocked too.
השטחים הכבושים“The occupied territories”. The whole Hebrew list has six entries.
inmigrante ilegal“Illegal immigrant”
Gibraltar español“Spanish Gibraltar”, Spain's side of the dispute with Britain
Heil HitlerAlong with dozens of Nazi slogans and banned neo-Nazi groups
Deutschland über alles“Germany above all”, from the first verse of the old national anthem, no longer sung since the Nazi era
NSA spioniere“NSA spies”. NSA torture and CIA spying are blocked too.
bombardement d'israélien“Israeli bombing”. American bombing, and bombing in Syria and in France, are blocked too.
immigration trop élevée“Immigration too high”
Crimea è russa“Crimea is Russian”
ctrl-alt-delete jezelf“Ctrl-alt-delete yourself”, a way of saying “kill yourself”
bevara Sverige svenskt“Keep Sweden Swedish”, a nationalist slogan
dum svenskeDanish for “stupid Swede”
Ermeni soykırım“Armenian genocide”
baş örtülü“Headscarf-wearing”, about women. The opposite, baş örtmeyen, is blocked too.