How to copy and paste between an iPhone and a Mac

Setting it up

Universal Clipboard runs on Handoff, which is on by default, so on many setups it already works. If it does not, these are the settings Apple requires on both devices.

1. 1Sign the Mac and the iPhone into the same Apple Account.
2. 2Turn on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on both.
3. 3On the Mac, choose Apple menu, System Settings, General, AirDrop & Continuity, and turn on Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices. On older versions of macOS the section is called AirDrop & Handoff.
4. 4On the iPhone, go to Settings, General, AirPlay & Continuity, and turn on Handoff.
5. 5Copy text, a picture or a file on one device, then paste on the other within a short time.

Apple says the devices must be within about 30 feet (10 meters) of each other. Universal Clipboard is not a sync service: it hands over the current item to a nearby device and nothing else.

When Universal Clipboard stops working

When a paste on the second device gives you something old, or nothing, the cause is almost always one of the requirements above. Work through them in this order.

1. 1Check both devices are signed into the same Apple Account, not one personal and one work account.
2. 2Turn Handoff off and on again on both devices, using the paths above.
3. 3Turn Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off and on again on both, and bring the devices closer together.
4. 4Paste soon after copying. The item only stays on the other device briefly, or until you copy something else on either one.
5. 5Restart both devices and install any available software updates, which is Apple's own advice when the settings are right and it still fails.

An app can mark what it copies as local only, which keeps it off Universal Clipboard. If copies from one particular app never arrive while everything else does, that app is probably doing it on purpose, which a password manager has good reason to.

Where Universal Clipboard stops

It carries one item at a time, and that item is offered to your other device only briefly. There is no list of earlier copies on either side, so a link you copied on the phone an hour ago is gone once you copy anything else. It only includes Apple devices signed into your Apple Account, so a Windows PC or an Android phone can never take part. And on iPhone there is still no clipboard history at all; the current item is all iOS keeps.

Keeping a history on both, with Clypy

If you want the thing you copied this morning, not just the last copy, you need an app on both devices that keeps one. Clypy's Mac app saves every copy that lands on the Mac, including the ones Universal Clipboard brings over from the phone, so it works alongside Universal Clipboard rather than replacing it. On the iPhone, Clypy saves when you open it, from its share sheet, from the Clypy keyboard while it is on screen, and from Shortcuts. Clypy Pro syncs the two histories with end-to-end encryption, and reaches Windows, Linux and Android too.

1. 1Install Clypy on the Mac from clypy.app/download, and on the iPhone from the App Store.
2. 2On the Mac, open Settings, Devices, and choose Pair a device. No account is needed.
3. 3On the iPhone, open Clypy's pairing screen and scan the code. This exchanges the encryption keys between the two devices.
4. 4Add the Clypy keyboard in iPhone Settings, General, Keyboard, Keyboards, and turn on Allow Full Access so it can reach your synced clips.
5. 5Copy on the Mac and tap the clip in the Clypy keyboard to paste it on the phone. Going the other way, press Command + Option + V on the Mac to search everything you have copied on either device.

Both apps skip copies that a password manager marks as concealed. Unlimited local history is free on each device; sync, the iPhone keyboard and Shortcuts are part of Clypy Pro.