Your Mac Can Copy Text From Your iPhone Without Sending It to Yourself

If you regularly email or message yourself snippets just to move them between Apple devices, Universal Clipboard can usually do the job with no extra step.

Copy text, a link or another supported item on your iPhone, then switch to your Mac and paste as normal. When Handoff is enabled and both devices are signed in to the same Apple Account, the clipboard can travel with you.

The feature also works the other way around, so something copied on a Mac can be pasted on iPhone or iPad. It is particularly useful for passwords from a password manager, addresses, tracking numbers, links and short pieces of text.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth need to be enabled, and the devices need to be close enough for Continuity features to work. If Universal Clipboard suddenly stops behaving, checking Handoff under AirPlay & Continuity is a good place to start.

There is no separate clipboard window or transfer button. You simply copy on one device and paste on another, which is why the feature can be easy to forget about even if it is already enabled.

For anyone who spends the day moving between iPhone, iPad and Mac, it is one of the fastest ways to avoid unnecessary messages to yourself.