Copy on a Mac and paste on Android: getting text from the Mac to the phone

There is nothing built in that lets you copy on a Mac and paste on an Android phone, but this direction is the easy one. For a web address, Chrome's Send to your devices opens the page on the phone. For a block of text, type or paste it into Google Keep in a browser and it is in the Keep app on the phone. For a true shared clipboard, where Command-C on the Mac is followed by Paste on the phone, use KDE Connect for free or The Relay, which syncs the clipboard both ways.

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.

Why is Mac to phone easier than phone to Mac?

Because Android's clipboard restriction is about reading. Google's Android 10 privacy changes say that unless an app is the keyboard or the app on screen, it "cannot access clipboard data". That is why phone-to-Mac tools need an extra tap. The rule is about reading what you copied on the phone, and text arriving from the computer is less affected.

KDE Connect's wiki shows the difference in one paragraph. For this direction: "you can simply copy text from your computer and it will be immediately available to paste on your phone". For the other, it says Android 10 "makes the clipboard plugin in KDE Connect uncomfortable to use" and describes a Send Clipboard button. The full explanation is in Universal Clipboard for Android and Mac. This guide stays with Mac to phone.

Which method fits what I am copying?

How do I send a link from Chrome on the Mac to the phone?

Google's Share tabs in Chrome page gives the steps. First, sign in to Chrome with the same Google Account on both devices. Then:

1. On the Mac, open the page in Chrome.
2. Click More, then Cast, save, and share, then Send to your devices. Google says you can also right-click the tab or the page and choose Send to your devices.
3. Select the phone.

Google says that if notifications are on, the phone gets a notification that a tab was shared, and that the tab "will also open automatically in Chrome on your chosen device".

The same menu has Create QR code. Point the phone's camera at the Mac's screen and the page opens. That works with any phone and needs no shared account, which makes it the answer for a work Mac you cannot sign in to.

This is for pages, not for arbitrary text. If you use Safari on the Mac, see Safari with an Android phone.

How do I get plain text across without installing anything?

Use a notes app that has a website. Google's Keep help gives the steps for a computer:

1. On the Mac, go to keep.google.com.
2. Click Take a note.
3. Paste the text and click Done.

Google's page on creating a note says you can write notes in Keep "and find them from any device". On the phone, open the Keep app, long-press the text, and copy it. More in Google Keep on a Mac.

It costs nothing and works when the phone is in another city. The drawbacks: it is several steps each time, the text stays in your notes until you delete it, and it goes through your Google Account, which makes a notes app the wrong place for a password.

Messaging yourself is the same idea. If you keep Google Messages for web or a chat app open on the Mac, a message you send to yourself from the Mac is on the phone a moment later.

How do I get a real shared clipboard for free?

KDE Connect is free and open source, and its download page lists a stable release for macOS. With its Clipboard plugin on, the wiki says text copied on the computer is "immediately available to paste on your phone".

1. Install KDE Connect on the Mac from its download page, and the KDE Connect app on the phone.
2. Put both on the same network, open both apps, and pair them.
3. In the app's list of plugins, make sure Clipboard is enabled.
4. Copy on the Mac. Long-press in a text field on the phone and tap Paste.

Two limits from the wiki: the clipboard plugin "does not work with images", and devices must be on the same network. KDE's pages say little about the Mac version in particular, so give it an afternoon before you rely on it. See KDE Connect on a Mac.

What does The Relay do?

The Relay's clipboard sync works both ways. Copy on the Mac and paste on the phone, or copy on the phone and paste on the Mac. It carries text, images, and links. For a link you would sooner open than paste, its link handoff sends a page from the Mac to open on the phone.

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 devices talk over your own Wi-Fi network, with Bluetooth as a fallback. It costs $19.99, paid once, from the download page, and needs Android 8.0 or later and macOS 13 Ventura or later.

When it is not the right tool:

• You only send links. Chrome does that for free.
• You only need Mac to phone, and only text. KDE Connect covers it.
• The phone is somewhere else. The Relay does not work across the internet. Google Keep does.

What about secrets, such as a Wi-Fi password?

A shared clipboard carries whatever you copy, so a password copied on the Mac is on the phone's clipboard too. Prefer a tool that keeps the data between your own devices over a notes app in the cloud, lock both devices, and copy something harmless afterwards. For passwords you use often, a password manager on both devices is the better home. See Google Password Manager on a Mac and sharing a Wi-Fi password between Android and a Mac.

How do I test it in five minutes?

1. On the Mac, copy a sentence. On the phone, paste into any text field. Note whether it is there and whether you had to open an app first.
2. Lock the phone for ten minutes, copy something new on the Mac, then unlock and paste.
3. Copy a long block, such as a full page of text, and check that nothing was cut off.
4. Turn off Wi-Fi on the phone and try again, so you know what happens when the devices cannot see each other.

Questions people ask

Can I use Apple's Universal Clipboard from a Mac to an Android phone?

No. Apple's Universal Clipboard page requires that "each device is signed in with the same Apple Account", which an Android phone cannot be. See what Universal Clipboard is.

Does Chrome sync my clipboard between the Mac and the phone?

Google's Share tabs page describes sending a tab to your other devices and creating a QR code for a page. It does not describe a shared clipboard for text.

Do the Mac and the phone need to be on the same Wi-Fi?

For KDE Connect, yes. For The Relay, yes, or within Bluetooth range. Chrome's Send to your devices and Google Keep go through your Google Account, so they work across different networks.