The file is called 'dynamic-text.dat', and its contents are often as surprising as they are alarming. Through several sites, I asked users to navigate to a familiar path within their devices, and read what lie there. The responses varied from surprise to shock; with one universal inquiry: Why?

As you can see, this file in of itself causes some concern. With the internet in your pocket, it's conceivable that you've checked your bank account information, email, or other sensitive information from your device; all of which you accessed by typing things into your device's keyboard. Users who read this file opined; "Imagine what would happen if this were to fall into the wrong hands!?"

While the doom-mongers amongst us would claim that such a thing would be a total catastrophe, it's important to remember that the entries within this file are in no particular order, and lie amidst every mis-spelt word, phrase, or name you've entered. That said, with the advent of symbols, numbers, and special character requirements in today's passwords, it's not all that difficult to identify what's more 'useful' within the jumble of text that this file contains.

Thankfully, there is a solution that's relatively painless. The file can be purged from your device by using the following simple process:

Tap on Settings, then General, then Reset.

Next, tap on the Reset Keyboard Dictionary button.

Your iPhone/iPod Touch will double check; "Are you Sure?" Tap on Yes.

This file is now deleted from your device.

It's a good idea to purge this file from time to time, at least until Apple decides to give us an actual keyboard dictionary editor....(hint hint...) Until then, we'll just have to add one more item to our list of 'good ideas' to keep things a bit more secure.

---

Share Us