Apple is working on iPhone-to-Windows copy-paste

Apple is working on a feature that will allow users in the European Union to copy content on their iPhone and paste it onto their Windows PC (or vice versa), as spotted earlier by MacRumors. The move comes in response to an interoperability request from Microsoft that asks Apple to open up its Universal Clipboard feature, which supports copying and pasting across the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro.

Under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, developers and government agencies can work with digital gatekeepers, like Apple, to make their systems interoperable with third-party tools and services. The EU’s ruling on connected devices has also forced Apple to make its features play nice with third-party wearables, as the company has introduced support for notifications, proximity pairing, and automatic audio switching across more kinds of smartwatches and earbuds in the EU.

Microsoft filed its interoperability request to Apple in March, saying restrictions to clipboard access on iOS currently prevent third-party developers from using cross-device copy and paste with their own devices. “These constraints prevent an app from seamlessly synchronizing clipboard content from an iPhone to a PC or other connected device in the background,” Microsoft says.

In a June 26th update, Apple says that it’s going to introduce a cross-device clipboard solution that it expects to finish in fall 2027 before shipping it in a developer beta. “This is a significant engineering effort,” Apple says, adding that the proposed solution will allow Microsoft to create an extension “to share and import pasteboard items with paired accessories.” Apple notes that its feature will require permission from users to share their clipboard with paired devices.