One of the standout features of Apple devices is their remarkable interoperability. The various continuity features create seamless and magical experiences. Recently, however, I encountered some reliability issues with one such feature: Universal Clipboard. Here’s a look at what went wrong and how I fixed it easily.
Resolving Universal Clipboard Issues with a Simple Habit Change
Universal Clipboard is a feature that, as someone who has been using Apple products for a long time, I can hardly imagine living without.
This is how Apple describes it:
With Universal Clipboard, you can copy content from one Apple device and paste it onto another. For example, you could copy text from your iPad and paste it into an app on your iPhone, or copy an image from a Safari page on your iPhone and paste it into an email on your Mac.
This continuity feature was introduced in iOS 10 back in 2016. At first, its reliability left something to be desired, but it has steadily improved over the years.
Recently, however, I started encountering several new challenges with getting Universal Clipboard to function properly.
Upon some troubleshooting, I identified a pattern.
Unbeknownst to me, I was inadvertently doing something that was preventing the feature from working.
I’m not sure if this is a new behavior for me or if Apple has made changes to how Universal Clipboard operates recently.
The problem was this: I would copy text on my iPhone, then lock the device and try to paste on my iPad using CMD+V.
This action, however, would never succeed.
I discovered that locking my iPhone was the issue.
Every time I copied something on my iPhone without locking it, I was able to paste on my iPad without any problems.
Conversely, each time I locked my iPhone after copying, my iPad could not access the Universal Clipboard content.
This seems like an odd limitation since I would assume it’s quite common to copy from one device and then lock it before moving to another.
Even more intriguingly, the opposite is not an issue. Copying from my iPad and then locking it allows me to paste on my iPhone using Universal Clipboard with no problems.
This inconsistency puzzles me, leading me to suspect a recent bug may be at play. Apple’s support documentation does not indicate that both devices need to be unlocked for the feature to function.
Nonetheless, I’m relieved to have found a workaround. Keeping both devices unlocked allows Universal Clipboard to function flawlessly every time.
Have you experienced similar issues with Universal Clipboard? Share your thoughts in the comments.
