Universal Clipboard for Android and Mac: how to copy on one and paste on the other

Apple's Universal Clipboard does not work with Android. It requires every device to be signed in to the same Apple Account, so an Android phone cannot join it. To copy on an Android phone and paste on a Mac you need a third-party app on both devices. KDE Connect shares the clipboard for free, with some friction on recent Android versions. The Relay syncs the clipboard both ways, including images and links, as part of a paid app. If you only move the odd link, Chrome's built-in "Send to your devices" or a note to yourself will do.

Publisher note: The Relay publishes this guide and is one of the products discussed. Details about other products come from each maker's own pages, checked on 1 October 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm before you buy.

What is Universal Clipboard, and why does Android not get it?

Apple's page, Use Universal Clipboard to copy and paste between your Apple devices, describes copying "text, images, photos, and videos" on one Apple device and pasting on another. The requirements Apple lists are:

• The devices are near each other.
• "Each device is signed in with the same Apple Account."
• "Each device has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on."
• "Each device has Handoff turned on."

The copied content, Apple says, "remains there briefly, or until you replace it by copying something else on either device".

The second requirement is the wall. The feature is tied to an Apple Account on an Apple device, and Apple's page lists only Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro. We found no Google page that describes a shared clipboard between Android and macOS.

Why is clipboard sync harder on Android than it sounds?

A sync app would ideally watch the phone's clipboard all day and send each new item to the Mac. Android has deliberately closed that door.

These rules exist to protect you. A clipboard often holds passwords and card numbers, which is why Android's guidance tells apps to flag them as sensitive.

The consequence for sync tools is in the first row. An app sitting in the background is neither your keyboard nor the app on screen, so it cannot see what you just copied. KDE Connect's wiki says so directly: "Android 10 prevents apps from accessing the clipboard to prevent malicious apps from accessing your data. This makes the clipboard plugin in KDE Connect uncomfortable to use."

That is why a tool such as KDE Connect adds a deliberate "send" step on the phone. You copy, then tap a button or a quick settings tile, and the app sends what is on the clipboard at that moment. Other apps hang the same step on Android's Share menu: you select text, tap Share, and pick the app. Either way, you are telling the phone to hand over the item, since the app is not allowed to watch for it. Google's restriction is about reading the clipboard, and the other direction is less affected. KDE's wiki describes text copied on the computer as "immediately available to paste on your phone".

Keep this in mind when you compare products. Any app that claims clipboard sync from an Android phone is working within these rules, and how it does so decides how the feature feels. Run the short test further down before you commit to one.

What are the free ways to share a clipboard between a Mac and Android?

KDE Connect

KDE Connect is free and open source, and its download page lists a stable release for macOS. Its wiki describes the Clipboard plugin like this: "you can simply copy text from your computer and it will be immediately available to paste on your phone, and vice-versa."

For the phone-to-computer direction on current Android, the wiki describes a Send Clipboard button in the app's persistent notification, and says that on Android 14 or later there is a quick settings tile called "Send clipboard" that you can move to a convenient slot. So the routine is copy, pull down the shade, tap the tile. The wiki describes sharing text. Both devices need to be on the same network.

Chrome, for links

If what you copy is mostly web addresses, you may not need a clipboard tool. Google's Share tabs in Chrome page describes Send to your devices: with Chrome signed in to the same Google Account on the phone and the Mac, you send the page across and "the tab will also open automatically in Chrome on your chosen device". Details are in sending a link from Android to a Mac.

A note or a message to yourself

The oldest workaround still works. Paste the text into a notes app that syncs and has a web version, or into a chat with yourself in a messaging app you keep open on the Mac. It costs nothing and needs no pairing. It also takes several steps each time, and it leaves a trail of fragments in your notes, which is a poor place for a password.

While mirroring the screen

If you already use scrcpy to show the phone's screen on the Mac, its README lists "copy-paste in both directions" among its features. That only helps while scrcpy is running with the phone connected. See mirroring Android to a Mac.

What does The Relay do?

The Relay syncs the clipboard both ways. Copy on the phone and paste on the Mac, or copy on the Mac and paste on the phone. It handles text, images, and links. That makes it the nearest thing to Universal Clipboard for an Android phone and a MacBook, with the same idea of being nearby: the devices talk over your own Wi-Fi network, with Bluetooth as a fallback.

Your clipboard travels directly between your phone and your Mac over your local network. It is not uploaded to The Relay's servers. The privacy policy has the detail. The app is installed on both devices, paired by scanning a QR code shown on the Mac, and needs Android 8.0 or later and macOS 13 Ventura or later. It costs $19.99, paid once, from the download page. The same app covers files, incoming texts and login codes, notifications, calls, link handoff, and the phone as a webcam.

When it is not the right tool:

• You paste between devices a few times a month. A note to yourself is free.
• You want free and do not mind tapping a tile. Use KDE Connect.
• Your devices are not in the same place. The Relay does not work across the internet. A cloud notes app does.

Which should I use?

How do I test clipboard sync in five minutes?

1. On the Mac, copy a sentence. On the phone, long-press in any text field and paste. Note whether it is there.
2. On the phone, copy a sentence in the browser. On the Mac, press Command-V in a text editor. Note whether you had to tap anything on the phone first.
3. Repeat step 2 with the phone's screen having been off for ten minutes.
4. Copy an image on the phone and paste it into a document on the Mac.
5. Copy something from a password manager and check that you are comfortable with where it went.

Step 3 is the one that separates tools. A feature that works only while the app is open on screen is a different thing from one that works all day.

Questions people ask

Can I use Apple's Universal Clipboard with an Android phone?

No. Apple requires each device to be signed in with the same Apple Account and to have Handoff turned on, and it lists only Apple devices. No setting on Android or macOS changes that.

Why does my phone say an app pasted from my clipboard?

On Android 12 or later, the system shows that message the first time an app reads clipboard content that came from a different app. With a sync app it is expected: reading the clipboard is how the copied item gets to the Mac. If the message names an app that has no reason to read your clipboard, that is worth a closer look.

Is it safe to sync passwords through a shared clipboard?

A synced clipboard carries whatever you copy, including passwords and card numbers, to a second device. Prefer a tool that keeps the data between your own devices, lock both devices, and use your password manager's own app on each device for passwords. No tool can promise an outcome here.

Does clipboard sync work between a Samsung Galaxy and a MacBook?

The Android clipboard rules above apply to every maker, so the same tools work on a Galaxy, a Pixel, or any other phone that meets each app's minimum Android version. The Relay needs Android 8.0 or later.

Does copy and paste work when the phone and Mac are on different networks?

Not with KDE Connect or The Relay, which connect devices on the same network. For that case use something that goes through a cloud account, such as a synced notes app.