LinkedIn Says iOS App Reading Clipboard With Every Keystroke is a Bug, Fix Coming

iOS 14 introduces a feature that alerts users when apps access their clipboards, and tons of apps have been caught clipboard snooping.

linkedinclipboardbug
LinkedIn is one of the iOS apps that has been reading user clipboards, and iPhone owners have complained that the app copies the contents of the clipboard with every keystroke.


In a statement to ZDNet, LinkedIn said that the clipboard copying behavior is a bug and is not intended behavior. A VP at LinkedIn also said that the contents of the clipboard are not stored or transmitted. A fix for the issue is in the works, and should be available soon.


Other apps like TikTok, Twitter, Starbucks, Overstock, AccuWeather, and more have been caught reading user clipboards for no discernible reason. TikTok claimed that the clipboard access was used as fraud detection to suss out "repetitive, spammy behavior," and TikTok released an iOS update to remove it.


Ahead of the release of iOS 14, a pair of developers released a report letting users know that ‌iPhone‌ and iPad apps were accessing clipboard content behind the scenes. Apple's new iOS 14 feature appears to have been added in response, and there's no longer a way for apps to quietly read the clipboard without users being alerted to the behavior.

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Top Rated Comments

dannyyankou Avatar
57 months ago
Many apps sure seem to have this “bug”
Score: 86 Votes (Like | Disagree)
malkovich87 Avatar
57 months ago
Sure. A bug. Didn’t know they’d think their users are that stupid
Score: 71 Votes (Like | Disagree)
12643 Avatar
57 months ago
There is no reason IOS should allow apps to read the clipboard without the user performing a cut, copy, or paste command. Period. Why was this behavior ever even made possible at all?
Score: 57 Votes (Like | Disagree)
boss.king Avatar
57 months ago
The LinkedIn app has so many other terrible, spammy, shady practices that I don't for a single second believe that this is in any way a bug.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
julesme Avatar
57 months ago
If the service is ad-supported, and the service is free, then the product might be "you."
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
UltimateSyn Avatar
57 months ago
An "equality check." Uh huh ;)
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)