From Apple iOS 14 has a new privacy feature that sends you a notification every time an app inspects what’s in the clipboard of your iPhone. It sounds like a smart addition, but it also discovered potentially disturbing behavior from various apps.
Take a look at this example posted by Twitter user Jeremy Burge, which shows all the iOS 14 clipboard alerts that you received when using TikTok:
Several developers analyzed the problem to see what was happening. According to their findings and the After the discussions on Twitter, it seems that these apps just read the clipboard instead of grabbing it, copying it or save the data they find there“In theory, anyway.
There are legitimate reasons why an app would do this, so I wouldn’t be alarmed if, or when, you see this notification in your favorite apps.
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Some developers even discovered that their applications are trigger the notification unexpectedly–even if they are not made To access the clipboard first: sor There may be new APIs in iOS 14 that need to be implemented by an app to avoid excessive notifications for unexpected behavior.
Still, one wonders how many of these apps are undercover accessing the iOS clipboard, and if they have been doing the same on Android and previous versions of iOS without our knowledge. However, I bet most people will have a single question when they see a notification like this: Should you be concerned that TikTok and other apps might stealing data from clipboard?
I would say “no” to TikTok, based on what the company has said. But I wouldn’t extend that general confidence to each applicationespecially if you’re prone to messing around with a little untested reviewed apps from unknown developers.
In a perfect world, Apple would adjust its notifications to more clearly indicate when an application is exploration his clipboard to see if there’s anything on it versus when he’s actively using the information on the clipboard for another purpose. Even then, applications have always been able to access the clipboard without restriction.
For now, it’s wise to think twice before opening what you’ve copied to your device’s clipboard. or when you are using an application. Perhaps it is better not to copy and paste important details: your email address, your password, your 2FA codes, etc.“If you can help it.”
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