Apple Engineer Reveals Why the First iPhone Lacked Copy/Paste Feature

The first iPhone which debuted in 2007, did not feature copy and paste capability, and a former Apple engineer may have finally explained the reason.

Ken Kocienda joined Apple in 2001 and was a key engineer on the initial iPhone development team. On Sunday, Kocienda presented a hilarious story about why the first-generation Apple phone lacked a copy and paste feature.

The simple explanation, according to Kocienda, is that the team didn’t have time to “get it well” before the first iPhone arrived. The former Apple engineer stated that he was working on the keyboard, autocorrect, and text capabilities of the gadget.

The original iPhone didn’t have cut/copy/paste. Infamous! The quickest explanation is that I didn’t have time to do it right. I had too much keyboard, autocorrection, and text system work to do. The design team didn’t have time either. So we passed on the feature for 1.0. https://t.co/SLncIxohkk

— Ken Kocienda (@kocienda) June 19, 2022

After the iPhone was released, the team began working on the copy and paste function. Kocienda went on to say that the “magnifying text loupe,” which would zoom in on the text on a user’s finger was his concept.

Another intriguing fact Kocienda provided was about the initial iPhone’s text system. The programmer specifically said that WebKit powered almost all of the content.

“In terms of the text system, all editable styled text on the first iPhone was supported by WebKit,” he explained. “Small websites were scattered throughout the system. Each multiline UITextView served as its own web page.”

Kocienda claimed that he was well-prepared for the assignment because he brought text editing to WebKit between 2003 and 2005.

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