[filleduchaos]

The contents of your clipboard _can_ be directly related to the functionality of an app.

For example, a link saving app like Pocket might check if your clipboard currently contains a URL when you open it. That allows the app turn a slightly tedious operation (tap/hold input field to bring up context menu, tap paste, tap button to save) into a single tap ("save copied URL?").

Whether or not the convenience is worth it might be debatable, but I fail to see how one would call that nefarious.

[jkaptur]

It's worth noting that Pocket does check if your clipboard currently contains a URL and does show such a banner. I think it's a handy feature.

[avianlyric]

There a APIs in iOS (which existed before iOS 14) that allow you ask the OS if the clipboard content matches a pattern (e.g. is it a URL) that doesn’t trigger the warning in iOS 14.

It does appear that lots of apps don’t use these APIs, the developers probably never knew the existed till now, but there is a privacy preserving method of the building the functionality you talk of.

[masklinn]

> There a APIs in iOS (which existed before iOS 14) that allow you ask the OS if the clipboard content matches a pattern (e.g. is it a URL)

I don’t think that’s the case. You can check if there’s a URL in the clipboard but that’s a UTI thing.

Most of the URLs would likely be in the “strings” section of the clipboard.

[jurip]

Aren't they just checking with an UTI? So for example a package tracking app can't ask if it contains strings matching patterns describing common package tracking code formats?

[filleduchaos]

True (and I'm aware of those APIs). Just pointing out that "I want to know what's on the system clipboard without the user explicitly pasting" does not automatically equal trying to hoover up your data and phone home with it.