Should Apple share some of the blame regarding the clipboard snooping?

Just_Me_D

Ambassador Team Leader, Senior Moderator
Moderator
Jan 8, 2012
59,681
627
113
Visit site
After developers prep their app in Apple’s App Store Connect, they submit the app to be reviewed by Apple. If it finds something wrong with the app, it will reject it. With that being said, if Apple was so concerned about clipboard snooping then why isn’t it part of the app approval process? Note: I assume it is not.

If it is, why allow the app to pass the review process? What do you think? Should Apple share the blame?
 

Coachbulldog

Well-known member
Aug 19, 2011
413
0
16
Visit site
By all accounts, Apple is very thorough in vetting apps before they are allowed onto the App Store. I’m not going to speculate on the reasons these apps were allowed past the App Store gatekeepers, but I believe Apple was aware of the clipboard snooping the apps were doing. To answer your question, yes Apple has to share some of the blame.
 

EdwinG

Ambassador
Mar 10, 2012
3,988
625
113
Visit site
Disclaimer: I’m not an iOS developer and I could be wrong about what devs have access to.

I would partially blame Apple. Until iOS 14, it seems there was only one way to access the clipboard. Determining what behaviour causes an app access the clipboard is not trivial for a machine.

Now, once iOS 14 is released, I hope Apple rejects any app that trying to access the entire clipboard without a valid reason.
 

trw1602

Trusted Member
Mar 8, 2014
564
0
0
Visit site
There are valid reasons apps have access to your clipboard.

You know that feature when you click a link to an app like Medium or Twitter and it opens in the Twitter or Medium app? That is a function of those apps being able to read a query string in the URL that allows that app to open. It's basically text. Most apps aren't doing anything nefarious with your clipboard data.

That said there should be a way to explicitly allow apps to only use the clipboard for specific reasons. Apple seems to be building a sandbox into the clipboard API that will prevent clipboard snooping, making sure the apps accessing your clipboard are only accessing what they need to function and not seeing anything else.
 

Trending Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
259,860
Messages
1,764,746
Members
441,207
Latest member
Erik4711