Your iPhone and your PC are about to get a bit closer. Apple is working on allowing your iPhone’s clipboard to connect to your Windows 11 clipboard.
The feature was requested by Microsoft and after review, Apple has agreed to move forward with it. MacRumors first spotted the change and 9to5Mac expanded on that coverage.
Rather than just a friendly note, Microsoft reached out to Apple in the form of an EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) interoperability request.
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At the moment, apps can only access an iPhone’s clipboard if the app is actively running in the foreground. Apple will need to grant access to Microsoft to make clipboard syncing possible.
Apple already has a Universal Clipboard feature that works across iOS and macOS. That feature is one of many benefits of users being in Apple’s ecosystem.
Microsoft argued that “cross-device copy and paste is a foundational productivity interaction that users expect to ‘just work’ across their primary devices.”
Microsoft also described the use cases for the interoperability:
- Copy text or other supported content on their iPhone and paste it directly on their Windows PC, and vice versa.
- Perform common productivity workflows without needing to foreground an app or take explicit repeated actions to initiate a transfer.
- Experience clipboard synchronization as a lightweight, continuous capability rather than a manual, app-driven operation.
On June 26, Apple confirmed that it will make the feature available:
“We will introduce a new solution that will follow similar patterns to the Accessory Notifications and Accessory Live Activities frameworks that were introduced on iOS26.5. It will enable you to create an extension to share and import pasteboard items with paired accessories. The system will notify your extension when items are copied into the clipboard; then your extension can use the Accessory Transport Extension framework to share the contents with your accessory as necessary using available transports.”
If the feature does ship, it will rely on Apple’s AccessorySetupKit, which is an API framework that requires authorization from both the connected Windows PC and iOS device.
Unfortunately, there are several caveats to the interoperability. First, it will likely not be ready until at least late 2027. Apple referred to creating the feature as a “significant engineering effort,” and noted development will be complete by fall 2027. After that, the feature will enter beta and eventually ship to the public.
Even when the clipboard connection becomes available, it may be limited to users in the European Union (EU). When forced to create features or expand them across platforms, Apple sometimes only rolls out the changes within the EU. In other instances, Apple has released the improvements to everyone, regardless of location.
Microsoft has taken a similar approach when dealing with the EU. I would argue the best version of Windows 11 is limited to EU users because they have greater control over which apps are installed on their PC.
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