Apple plans to open cross-device clipboard access so users can copy text or other supported content on an iPhone and paste it on a Windows PC, and the other way around. The company confirmed the work in its response to a Microsoft interoperability request filed under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.
The planned setup extends the kind of handoff long available between iPhone and Mac through Universal Clipboard. Developers will be able to build an extension that shares clipboard data with paired accessories, including Windows computers.
When something is copied on the iPhone, the system notifies that third-party extension so the content can move across.
Users approve clipboard sharing once for each paired device, the same permission style Apple already uses when opening iPhone notifications to third-party accessories in the EU. The design relies on AccessorySetupKit so a connected Windows PC can obtain that one-time release of clipboard access.
Apple describes the effort as complex and time-consuming, with arrival targeted for fall 2027 in the iOS 28 cycle rather than a nearer software release.
As with other DMA-driven changes, the feature is set to arrive first in the European Union, and Apple has not committed to shipping it anywhere else, even though it has enabled some other interoperability items more broadly.
Microsoft had sought continuous clipboard access from iPhone, and Apple said it first needed to judge whether that was possible without weakening iOS security. The current design centers on paired accessories and explicit user approval instead of always-on background reads.
Apps on iPhone can still reach clipboard content only while they are in the foreground, which keeps the new path tightly gated until a paired extension is allowed.
