Apple is developing a copy-paste feature between iPhones and Windows devices.

Apple is developing a new feature that will enable users in the European Union to copy content from their iPhone and paste it onto their Windows PC, and vice versa. This initiative follows an interoperability request from Microsoft, urging Apple to enhance its Universal Clipboard functionality, which currently allows seamless copying and pasting across Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro devices.

In line with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, developers and government entities can collaborate with major digital players like Apple to ensure their systems work well with third-party tools and services. This regulation has also prompted Apple to improve compatibility with third-party wearables, leading to new support for notifications, proximity pairing, and automatic audio switching across a wider range of smartwatches and earbuds in the EU.

Microsoft submitted its interoperability request to Apple back in March, highlighting that current clipboard access restrictions on iOS hinder third-party developers from implementing cross-device copy and paste functionality. According to Microsoft, these limitations prevent apps from synchronizing clipboard content between an iPhone and a PC or other connected devices seamlessly in the background.

In a recent update on June 26th, Apple announced plans to roll out a cross-device clipboard solution, aiming for completion by fall 2027, with a developer beta to follow. Apple described this as a significant engineering challenge and mentioned that the new feature would allow Microsoft to develop an extension for sharing and importing clipboard items with paired accessories. Importantly, Apple emphasized that users will need to grant permission to share their clipboard with connected devices.