Apple admits iOS 16 has copy-paste bug — and a fix is coming

Update: iOS 16.1.1 tipped to launch soon to fix this major Wi-Fi bug.

Anyone running iOS 16, whether you've got a new iPhone 14 or an older model, has likely run into the new software's frustrating insistence on asking for permission every time you copy and paste something.

The good news is that Apple's aware of it, and it's not an intended function. Although there's no sign of a fix just yet.

This isn't how it's meant to work. This was confirmed in an email from Ron Huang, vice president of Sensing & Connectivity at Apple and one of the inventors of the "Authenticated Interface Element Interactions" patent that this feature is based on. The message was shared with MacRumors by a reader who attempted to get a response from Apple's Tim Cook or Craig Federighi, but got a reply from Huang instead.

In the email, Huang writes that "This is absolutely not expected behavior and we will get to the bottom of it." Curiously, he says that Apple hadn't come across this feature internally, although Huang adds that there are others outside Apple who've been experiencing it.

None of these appear to be hardware-based issues, so hopefully Apple will issue software patches soon to address the bugs. However, as an iOS 16-specific bug, the copy-paste permission problem may require its own patch that'll fix things for iPhone 13 and older iPhones.

In the meantime, you'll have to deal with these as best you can, including all those irritating copy/paste pop-ups. But, as Huang said when concluding his email, we should apparently "Stay tuned," which hopefully means there should be an answer soon.

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Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.