> While you seem to believe the person you’re arguing with wants that API to do scummy things
It doesn't seem like they do believe that, and even if they did, that's not the point.
The point is that allowing this access without explicit user consent enables various "scummy things" that neither Apple nor the user can then stop or easily detect.
It's really not that different from the person at the bank saying, "But you know it's me! Why can't you give me all my money without seeing my ID??!"
No dispute there. My only point was that that commenter doesn't even actually WANT the user's clipboard. What they want is to let the user consent to resuming the activity/state they were doing on the Web in a freshly-downloaded native app. Apple half-assed this with those little metatag-based banner things, which function great (passing the current web URL to the native app with a tap) when you already have the app, but if you don't have the app, or if you want to use a UI other than that persistent banner, the best you can do is send them to the app store and hope they find their own way. This is a poor experience, and the fact that developers resorted to the clipboard method is at Apple's feet because they didn't make any effort to solve the problem, which they could easily do in a secure, consent-asking way.
It doesn't seem like they do believe that, and even if they did, that's not the point.
The point is that allowing this access without explicit user consent enables various "scummy things" that neither Apple nor the user can then stop or easily detect.
It's really not that different from the person at the bank saying, "But you know it's me! Why can't you give me all my money without seeing my ID??!"