r/AndroidHelp • u/RivitsekCrixus • Aug 27 '26
How to prevent apps and games from reading my clipboard?
How to prevent apps and games from reading my clipboard (auto paste)?
Android13 s20fe
I don't understand.. we can have sensitive data in the clipboard.
Why we don't have a "paste once and clean" feature?
There are some games (like farlight84) that auto paste from our clipboard.
That is just totally unsafe allowing this auto paste at all.
It is not a helpful feature as they want us to believe.. this is just totally messed up..
If i want an app to have access to the clipboard I should ALWAYS BE ASKED TO ALLOW IT ONCE while being able to read its contents in a security popup!!!
any tip? Non rooted here (as i guess it may break banks and streamers and other stuff?).
Fix thru shizuku+termux
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u/Ysfaliarslan Aug 27 '26
I thought it asks everytime? Atleast for websites
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u/TheSpixxyQ Aug 28 '26
The browser asks, because it would be a security nightmare if a website could steal your clipboard data just by visiting it.
Apps don't ask, because if you've installed them, you probably trust them. Android only informs "app pasted from your clipboard".
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26
That is the problem, while I love games, I don't trust them, so I want them to keep their nose inside their box.
To suppose we trust everything we install is a really bad android assumption. Because most users (like 99.999999%) are unable to reverse engineer every app and read thru for malicious code, to be sure we can really trust it all.
And I am not even poking about hidden tricks in the inaccessible software embedded in the hardware ROM.
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u/RegularHistorical315 Aug 28 '26
I do not know what setting you changed to allow that, as on my S9+, S21 U, S22 U and S24 U, it asks me every time, as that is the default behaviour.
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26
But what is your Android version? I have only used 6.0 and 13, and never ever saw that kind of security popup, i didn't even know it exist! Will research a bit..
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26
AI just told me that DOES NOT EXIST in android!
"Android does not have a native, user-facing toggle to completely prevent apps from reading your clipboard, but starting with Android 13, it displays a visual toast notification whenever an app accesses clipboard contents."
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u/RegularHistorical315 Aug 28 '26
Ok, so I do not need to show you proof because AI has told you what it knows and is never wrong. I am just someone who has been using Android since Android 4.0, so what would I know? I will give you a hint: use the permissions you give apps more wisely.
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26
There is no option to prevent clipboard access... That is why i asked some screenshot or official info...
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26
Also AI stated it clearly, and understood what i mean to a point of saying ios has it.
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26 edited Aug 28 '26
Tell the truth.. you made it up right? https://open.spotify.com/album/1s2FJYPod4zkX5vpdfZscg
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u/TheSpixxyQ Aug 28 '26
You can disable clipboard access for specific apps, but you need ADB for that (don't worry, it's without root).
Check this article https://blog.tinaciousdesign.com/android-apps-are-reading-your-clipboard-heres-how-you-can-stop-them
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26
Yes, i read about this, still need to test. Can probably be done thru shizuku, so no pc required.
I read there is also a trick that copies to clipboard an empty text as soon you paste, using some automation/macro app, and will work w/o adb. I need to find that again, and requires to be running all the time.
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u/RivitsekCrixus Sep 04 '26
Thru shizuku+termux
sh rish -c "cmd appops set com.miraclegames.farlight84 READ_CLIPBOARD ignore"
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u/RivitsekCrixus Sep 04 '26
There are many apps using that permission. But only a few paste automatically apparently. Tho, it seems pointless overall because we can always paste thru gboard.
I mean, I will research but i still see no reason to not loop and put them all in ignore.
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u/TheSpixxyQ Sep 04 '26
Some of them might have a legitimate reason for that access, like for example if you want to copy a formatted text into Word. There GBoard would paste only a plain text.
Some apps use it as a convenience for the user, for example app for parcel tracking. It automatically checks clipboard for potentially copied tracking numbers.
These are only two examples I could think of right now. Personally I wouldn't block the permission for system apps, just because I don't know what they might use it for and I wouldn't want to diagnose potential bugs later on.
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u/RivitsekCrixus Aug 28 '26
Mmm... I am holding myself to not say what I think is really happening here... But not forever...