iOS 16.1 fixes infuriating iPhone copy & paste permissions

Ios 16 Iphone 13 Pro Hero
(Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

A new change in the latest iOS 16.1 beta makes it easier to control which apps have access to the clipboard following a mess that saw permission dialogs appear constantly.

The iOS 16 release caused some apps to repeatedly ask for permission to access data copied by others, but the iOS 16.0.2 update addressed that. With iOS 16.1, Apple is going further by adding a new menu that gives people per-app control over how they handle the clipboard.

Permission granted

With iOS 16.1 beta 4 installed users can now head to the Settings app and select any app that has previously asked for permission to access the clipboard. A new Paste from Other Apps menu is now available, with three options ready to be selected.

  • Ask — The app will continue to ask for permission to paste content from other apps every time it wants to.
  • Deny — The app will not be allowed to paste content from other apps.
  • Allow — The app will be allowed to paste content from other apps and will not prompt for permission again.

The new change is an improvement and gives people more granular control while allowing them to go back and revoke access if they want to — or simply force the app to ask every time it wants to use the clipboard.

Apple's iOS 16.1 update is now available to developers as well as those brave enough to run the public beta on their iPhone. There's no official word yet on when this update will be made available to everyone, but it's expected to be relatively soon, likely later this month.

The iOS 16.1 update will bring with it a number of additions including support for Live Activities, a redesigned battery percentage indicator for more devices, and a clean energy charging option that will charge your iPhone when cleaner energy is being used.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.