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Comment by harpastum | Hacker News Reader

It looks like there could be a reasonable explanation for this. There are apps that have different behavior whether or not there is text in the clipboard (e.g. enabling a "paste" button), and they're only checking that the text exists, not what it is. There's a new API that will let devs do that without triggering the user notification.

If TikTok is actually constantly loading the clipboard, that's obviously terrible. I'd bet this behavior is gone by the next release, and that shows how useful this new notification is.

Same issue with notes from that app's developer saying what's going on and how they will fix it: https://twitter.com/ecormany/status/1275903947899797505

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> There are apps that have different behavior whether or not there is text in the clipboard (e.g. enabling a "paste" button)

People keep saying this but I've never seen one of these app-specific paste widgets. And even if I did, I wouldn't miss it in the slightest for the sake of not allowing every app to be reading my clipboard at all times.

It's inexcusable to me that there isn't a permissions prompt for this. Two of my most common types copy-pasted strings are URLs and passwords.

> I've never seen one of these app-specific paste widgets

IIRC having an address (or address-looking string) in your clipboard will cause it to show up as the first result on the search screen in Google Maps.

So google also sends the contents of my clipboard to their servers when I use their app? Wonderful.

I can't imagine being one of the PMs/higher-ups that decided to allow clipboard content to be shared willy-nilly like this. Like, what must be going through their minds when they make decisions like this? "User experience at all costs?" Seems contrary to their stance on privacy.

Personally I couldn't care less about google seeing whatever junk I sometimes have in my clipboard if it means I can more quickly go to the address I'm looking for

and I'm sure there are many who couldn't care less about the malware running on their windows machine as long as they can browse facebook. What's your point?

Is the “Link you copied” feature in new tab of iOS google chrome one of these?

As well as the “Address you copied” iOS Google Maps search field feature?

I don't use any Google apps so I don't know, but even if I did, it's such a minuscule amount of effort that's being saved by having a custom prompt when the generic path is so easy.

It's tricky; little things like this may not seem like much, but in aggregate they can be quite frustrating to users. Personally, this is something I do often enough that it noticeably reduces friction for me so I live with it because it's very convenient.

However, it seems like there should still be a way to provide nearly as much convenience to users while still protecting their privacy.

Here's an example, highlighting a band name on a festival website. Stock Chrome (and Spotify) on a stock Android on Pixel 3A https://imgur.com/a/1GqrRVs

I use this all the time with Pocket (copy a URL somewhere, then switch to Pocket, where it asks if I want to bookmark the just copied URL).

> People keep saying this but I've never seen one of these app-specific paste widgets.

Here’s one:

https://twitter.com/twolivesleft/status/1275776460918157315

> People keep saying this but I've never seen one of these app-specific paste widgets

The Google Translate app does.

> People keep saying this but I've never seen one of these app-specific paste widgets.

Both pocket and instapaper will prompt if open with a link in your clipboard.

Several reddit clients as well, I’ve seen in on narwhal and the Apollo dev explicitly noted they do that in the corresponding Reddit thread.

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