Reddit is fixing its iOS app after an iOS 14 beta tester discovered that the app was copying the contents from users’ clipboards.
The clipboard copying appears to have been an accident. In a statement to The Verge, a Reddit spokesperson blamed the problem on a dodgy line of code:
“We tracked this down to a codepath in the post composer that checks for URLs in the pasteboard and then suggests a post title based on the text contents of the URL. We do not store or send the pasteboard contents. We removed this code and are releasing the fix on July 14th.”
UPDATE: Seems like Reddit is capturing the clipboard on each keystroke as well 😕
Seeing the notification come up just as much. pic.twitter.com/nzbElmRG2a
— Don 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 urspace.io (@DonCubed) July 2, 2020
User Donald Morton posted a video of the problem on Twitter late last week. This is not the first time users spotted apps copying the contents of their clipboards. TikTok and LinkedIn both acknowledged the issue and said they will discontinue the feature that used this mechanism.
The Reddit app was launched in 2016 after the company acquired Alien Blue, a popular third-party Reddit client. You can download it from the App Store for free.