A hidden filter has been discovered in the iPhone keyboard: some words and phrases do not appear in suggestions, and when typing by swiping, other expressions may appear instead. According to researcher Derik Kauffman, restrictions cover about 100 thousand words, phrases and their variants in different languages.
As reported on November 6 by Reuters, when testing a small sample, an attempt to type "United Ireland" often gave "United Iceland". The keyboard replaced Ireland with Iceland. This happened when swiping, when the user slides a finger across the letters without lifting it from the screen.
It is still possible to enter the desired phrase manually letter by letter. The restrictions apply to automatic suggestions and word selection in this input method.
Sometimes the keyboard changes even the previous word. Kauffman described such a mechanism in his project Swipeblocked: when trying to finish a certain expression, the system can rewrite the already entered part, resulting in a different phrase.
Most expressions noted by the researcher are associated with insults, sex, drugs or violence. However, the lists also include political formulations: "dictator Trump", "sleepy Joe", as well as "Tibet independence" and "United Ireland" in English.
Apple responded to Reuters that the keyboard is designed to avoid potentially unacceptable or offensive suggestions. The company emphasized that users can enter desired words themselves and reject suggestions. Apple did not explain the size of the list or the reasons for including specific political expressions.
Kauffman studied keyboard data from iOS 27.0 and Apple language files available in October 2026. The published English catalog contains 4513 decrypted phrases. Similar lists were found for 27 more languages and scripts; some entries could not be decrypted.
About 100 thousand is an approximate estimate of the multilingual array taking into account phrase variants. Sets of restrictions differ by language, and the result may depend on the specific word sequence: a slightly modified formulation sometimes works.
The project author separately warns that the presence of a phrase in the data does not by itself reveal the reason for its inclusion.
If a different formulation appears during swiping, the desired words can be entered with individual taps. Before sending, it is worth checking the entire phrase, including words typed earlier.
Based on materials from: Reuters, Swipeblocked.
