iOS 16 introduced a new privacy feature that requires apps to get user permission before directly accessing their iPhone’s clipboard so they can paste text from other apps, but some encountered a problem that caused the prompt to seem to be a fault. Apple released iOS 16.0.2 in late September with fixes for the problem and other bugs.
Apple has continued to improve the copy-and-paste feature in the weeks since. In the Settings app on iOS 16.1 and later fourth beta, a new “Paste from other apps” menu appear for apps that have previously requested permission to paste content from another app. The Option can be found in the Settings app → [app name] → Paste from different apps.
The menu presents users with three options:
- Ask: The app must continue to request permission to paste content from other apps.
- Deny: The app cannot paste content from other apps.
- Allow: The app can paste content from other apps without asking for permission again.
Menu gives users more granular control and flexibility over copy-and-paste permission prompts, which can help make the privacy feature less of a hassle. Please note that the menu does not appear for apps that have never requested clipboard permission.
Last month, an Apple engineer said that the copy-and-paste permission prompt only appears when an app tries to access the clipboard directly. The prompt does not appear when the user selects the “Paste” option in the menu that pops up after highlighting text or interacts with apps that have paste buttons based on the UIPasteControl framework.
iOS 16.1 is still in beta testing and is expected to be released on the last of this month.
(Thanks, Youssef Salem!)
