Best clipboard manager for iPhone

Why no iPhone app can save every copy on its own

iOS keeps one item on the clipboard, and since iOS 14 it notifies you when an app reads content copied in another app without a clear action from you, such as tapping Paste. Apps do not get to watch the clipboard in the background, so an iPhone clipboard manager saves in a handful of ways: when you open it, when you share something to it, when you copy or paste through its keyboard, when you run one of its shortcuts, or from a widget. That holds for every app on this list, Clypy included.

The closest thing to automatic is a workaround: Yoink and PastePal can keep themselves running behind a Picture-in-Picture overlay and check the clipboard while it is open. Yoink's developer says monitoring stops the moment you close the overlay, and suggests setting Paste from Other Apps to Allow for the app so iOS does not ask about each copy.

What iOS 27 has built in

iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, released in September 2026, still have no clipboard history; Apple added one to the Mac, in Spotlight, but not to iPhone or iPad. What Apple provides instead is Universal Clipboard: copy on one Apple device and paste on another nearby, with both signed in to the same Apple Account and Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Handoff turned on. Apple says the item stays available briefly or until you copy something else, so it is a hand-off between your devices, not a history, and it does not reach Windows or Android.

The free route: a Get Clipboard shortcut

If you only want to keep the occasional link or address, Apple's Shortcuts app can do it with no other app. Apple documents Get Clipboard as the action that brings clipboard content into a shortcut, and Append to Note as an action that adds to an existing note.

1. 1In Notes, create a note called Clipboard.
2. 2Open Shortcuts, tap the plus button and add the Get Clipboard action.
3. 3Add the Append to Note action and choose the Clipboard note.
4. 4After each copy you want to keep, run the shortcut from a Home Screen widget, Control Center, the Action button or Back Tap.

None of the automation triggers Apple lists fires when you copy something, so the shortcut never runs on its own. A copy you forget to save is gone once you copy something else.

On iPad, an app that stays visible can capture as you copy

The same rules apply on iPad, but multitasking helps. Paste says it captures automatically as long as it is on screen, whether side by side, in Stage Manager or in Slide Over, and Yoink is built around dragging items onto it from Slide Over or a side-by-side window. If you mostly copy on an iPad, keep your clipboard app on screen next to the app you are working in.

Clipboard keyboards and Full Access

Most of these apps paste through a custom keyboard: hold the globe key, switch to it and tap a saved item. Apple keeps custom keyboards sandboxed by default, with no network access and no way to write to their app's shared data, so a keyboard that saves clips or syncs needs Allow Full Access. Apple notes that turning it on makes your keystrokes available to the keyboard's developer, so grant it only to an app you trust.

Clypy on iPhone: one history beyond Apple devices

Clypy is our app, and it follows the same iOS rules as the rest. Free keeps an unlimited local history with collections, templates, search by meaning and text recognition in images, with no account. Pro, a one-time $29.99 for unlimited devices, adds the keyboard, iPhone Shortcuts and end-to-end encrypted sync with Mac, Windows, Linux and Android, directly over Wi-Fi or through a relay that cannot read the clips. If every device you own is made by Apple, Paste or PastePal may suit you just as well.

How this list was put together

Clypy makes this guide and is one of the apps on the list. Each app's platforms, price and capture method were checked in November 2026 on its own site, help pages or App Store listing, and every app here was updated in 2026. iOS behavior comes from Apple's support and developer documentation. The apps were not benchmarked against each other or ranked by ratings. Copied, whose App Store page no longer loads, and Anybuffer, which no longer appears on the App Store, were left out.