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.
Lots of controversial statements are blocked, such as:
ctrl-alt-delete jezelf: "Ctrl-alt-delete yourself", a way of saying “kill yourself”
I have never in my life heard this expression but that's freaking hilarious.
The weird part is that I googled 'ctrl-alt-delete jezelf' and I didn't get any results about suicide or bullying or anything).
It's weird because I'm Dutch, so I got Dutch results but they're all irrelevant to the above. No idea why, of all things, THIS is the thing Apple doesn't like. The Dutch language is famous for using diseases as slurs, so I'd much more expect things like 'krijg kanker' or 'tering zooi' to not be allowed together.
The lists in other languages I speak don’t make much sense for the most part. They’re not grammatically correct, or the words make sense individually but not when put together as in the censored sentences, or they’re not idiomatic and nobody would express the underlying idea in the way that’s blocked.
From what I could see, only the English list makes the most sense (as in semantically, not ideologically)
Another powerfull reason to never use anything similar to autocorrect that automatically changes what you typed.
I also fail to see why they do not stay neutral here. It seems to simply be a broad selection of controversial or vulgar terms so it doesn't seem like promoting or blocking a specific agenda.
And also it is a good example of power these large platforms have and will wield with zero transparency.
Hmm don't like the idea of this. It's a small barrier to certain controversial words/topics but ultimately useless as people can just correct the forced autocorrect. I just see this as a means censorship....it's not something a tech company should have a control of, what words people can type to each other.
[OP] Minori | 8 hours ago
Lots of controversial statements are blocked, such as:
spoilers
Santa isn't real
I'm reminded of this old YouTube skit: https://youtu.be/hd2uvPjMRy4
updawg | 3 hours ago
Bro what a fucked up thing to put in a comment. I was expecting a partial list. I wasn't expecting you to break the news like this 😭
carsonc | an hour ago
It's blocked because it isn't true and Apple doesn't want to get hit with an accusation of "Spreading fake news". It's all good, @updawg.
Noox | 2 hours ago
Oh my god there's a Dutch one for:
I have never in my life heard this expression but that's freaking hilarious.
The weird part is that I googled 'ctrl-alt-delete jezelf' and I didn't get any results about suicide or bullying or anything).
It's weird because I'm Dutch, so I got Dutch results but they're all irrelevant to the above. No idea why, of all things, THIS is the thing Apple doesn't like. The Dutch language is famous for using diseases as slurs, so I'd much more expect things like 'krijg kanker' or 'tering zooi' to not be allowed together.
Thanks for sharing, it's definitely interesting!
snake_case | an hour ago
I see this in English all the time, hilarious that its in Dutch.
I wonder if they just took common English phrases, badly translated them, and added those translations to the list too
preposterous | 2 hours ago
The lists in other languages I speak don’t make much sense for the most part. They’re not grammatically correct, or the words make sense individually but not when put together as in the censored sentences, or they’re not idiomatic and nobody would express the underlying idea in the way that’s blocked.
From what I could see, only the English list makes the most sense (as in semantically, not ideologically)
Tiraon | 52 minutes ago
Another powerfull reason to never use anything similar to autocorrect that automatically changes what you typed.
I also fail to see why they do not stay neutral here. It seems to simply be a broad selection of controversial or vulgar terms so it doesn't seem like promoting or blocking a specific agenda.
And also it is a good example of power these large platforms have and will wield with zero transparency.
Alphalpha_Particle | 38 minutes ago
Hmm don't like the idea of this. It's a small barrier to certain controversial words/topics but ultimately useless as people can just correct the forced autocorrect. I just see this as a means censorship....it's not something a tech company should have a control of, what words people can type to each other.