Back in 2020, iOS 14 introduced a new banner to alert users when an app is pasting from the clipboard. This way, you know when an app is reading the clipboard without your consent. Now with iOS 16, Apple is taking this feature further as the system now asks for the user’s permission to copy and paste between apps.

When you try to paste text or something else from your clipboard with iOS 16, the app asks for your permission first. If you deny it, that app will not have access to your clipboard. With this new feature, Apple wants to prevent apps from reading sensitive data from the user’s clipboard without the user’s knowledge.

Previously, even if you got an alert that a specific app was reading your clipboard, there was nothing you could do but stop using that app if it bothered you.

Of course, since we’re talking about a beta feature, things still seem to be a bit confusing when it comes to clipboard updates. For instance, some apps simply don’t ask for permission, and there’s still no menu in the privacy settings to easily choose which apps can and cannot read the user’s clipboard.

When Apple launched clipboard alerts in iOS 14, multiple apps like TikTok were criticized as users discovered that they silently read what had been copied from other apps. As a result, these apps have been updated to stop accessing the user’s clipboard.

Developers can now download the first beta of iOS 16 via the Apple Developer website. A public beta version will be available next month with the official release expected this fall.