Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

iOS 14 reveals TikTok still accessing copied text on iPhone’s clipboard

Aaron Mamiit
By

The beta release of Apple’s iOS 14 revealed that TikTok is still accessing the iPhone’s clipboard, months after a pledge to stop the practice.

In February, two software developers found an issue in the copy-paste system of Apple’s iOS that may leave sensitive information vulnerable. Tommy Mysk, one of the developers, told Digital Trends that as of WWDC 2020, the bug has been fixed with a new security feature in the form of a banner alert that informs users when an app is reading the iPhone’s clipboard.

Recommended Videos

The banner alert has exposed the snooping practices of several apps, The Telegraph reported, naming AccuWeather, AliExpress, Call of Duty Mobile, Google News, Overstock, Patreon, and TikTok.

Related

Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge showed in a short video uploaded to Twitter just how often TikTok accesses the iPhone’s clipboard.

Okay so TikTok is grabbing the contents of my clipboard every 1-3 keystrokes. iOS 14 is snitching on it with the new paste notification pic.twitter.com/OSXP43t5SZ

— Jeremy Burge (@jeremyburge) June 24, 2020

TikTok, which has been previously caught accessing the iPhone’s clipboard whenever the app was open, told The Telegraph in March that it will stop. However, more than three months later, the iOS 14 beta revealed that the app did not keep its promise, adding to the host of security issues that have been discovered in TikTok.

“Following the beta release of iOS 14 on June 22, users saw notifications while using a number of popular apps. For TikTok, this was triggered by a feature designed to identify repetitive, spammy behavior,” a spokesperson for the app told The Verge, adding that an update to remove the feature has been submitted to the App Store. The feature was never rolled out for Android devices.

Digital Trends has reached out to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance for further comments on the matter, in particular why it has taken months and the discovery by the iOS 14 beta for the app to be updated to stop accessing the iPhone’s clipboard.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
The iPhone is getting out of control
The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro showing the screens.

Apple iPhone 14 Pro (left) and iPhone 15 Pro Max Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

When Apple launched the original iPhone in 2007, it was as easy as could be — it was just the iPhone. There was only one model, and when you said you wanted an iPhone, the sales rep would know which one you meant ... because that was all there was.

Read more
This iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 camera test is closer than I expected
Purple iPhone 14 (left) and a green iPhone 15 in hand.

Every year, we get a new iPhone; that’s just the way it goes. And one of the biggest upgrades each year is with the camera system.

Though the spotlight is typically on the Pro models of the iPhone, Apple gave us a pretty significant upgrade this year with the standard iPhone 15. Of course, it’s not as feature-packed as the iPhone 15 Pro, but Apple brought the Dynamic Island and USB-C to the regular iPhone 15, and even bumped up the camera to a whopping 48MP.

Read more
4 AI features I want in my next iPhone
Blue Titanium (left) and Natural Titanium iPhone 15 Pros on a concrete bench.

Believe it or not, Apple didn’t always have Siri. Siri originally belonged to SRI International, which created Siri, Inc. in 2007. Then in April 2010, Apple acquired Siri, which became a key component of the iPhone 4S that launched in 2011.

Ever since then, Siri has continued to evolve at Apple, for better or for worse. While the point of Siri is to make your life easier with hands-free use of your iPhone or Apple Watch, it’s far from perfect. Siri often misunderstands you and results in hilarious requests, or is just incapable of doing what you need it to do, sometimes because of a poor connection.

Read more