In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to save multiple clipboards on your iPhone and access them whenever required.
A bit of background: When you copy something on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, it’s saved to the clipboard, ready to be pasted anywhere. However, your current clipboard is overwritten and lost forever if you copy something else.
To address this issue on my Mac, I use an app called CopyClip, which keeps a list of my 25 most recent clips. I can copy my past clipboards straight from the menu bar when needed. I wanted to achieve the same goal on the iPhone of having my recent clipboard items saved and accessible whenever I wanted.
Unfortunately, because of iOS restrictions, the process isn’t as effortless as Mac, but here are your options.
1. Use a notes app
You can open an app like Apple Notes, Simplenote, Google Keep, etc., and paste your current clipboard. Next, when you copy something else, you can again open the same note and paste it there to preserve your past and current clipboards.
It isn’t an easy approach, but something you should know (or you already knew). You can follow this if you don’t want to download a new clipboard app because of privacy, lack of space on your iPhone, or other reasons.
2. Use clipboard shortcuts
Open the built-in Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad and tap Gallery. Search for “clipboard“ here, and you will see several suggestions. Read their description to find something that fits your needs.
3. Use SwiftKey to access and save your past clipboards
Microsoft’s SwiftKey is one of the most popular third-party keyboards for iPhone and iPad. I have been using it for many years because of excellent suggestions, optional number row, themes, and a built-in clipboard manager.
Follow these steps to use SwiftKey to save, access, and manage current or past clipboards on your iPhone or iPad.
1) Download SwiftKey, open it, and complete the process to set it up. You will have to go to iPhone Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard and choose SwiftKey. After that, tap SwiftKey and Allow Full Access.
2) Once you have set up everything, open notes or an app where the keyboard comes up. Now, touch and hold the globe or emoji icon and change your iPhone keyboard to SwiftKey.
3) Copy text or link on your iPhone, which will be saved to the iOS clipboard.
4) Open Notes, Messages, Mail, or another screen with a text field where the SwiftKey keyboard pops out. Now, tap the four square icon above the keyboard.
5) Select the Clipboard option and tap Allow Paste if a popup appears.
6) You will see the recently saved clipboard text here. Tap Save next to it, and now this clipboard is saved forever in your SwiftKey keyboard.
7) You can now go inside other apps, even after restarting your phone. Next, follow steps 4 and 5 to access your saved clipboards, and simply tap the clipboard icon to paste or insert it.
To remove the clipboard, swipe left and tap Delete. Or tap Edit in the Clipboard section to manage the order of your saved clipboards.
You can also see, add, and manage all your clipboards inside the SwiftKey app > Settings > Clipboard.
Who is this for?
- People who are comfortable in completely changing their typing habits and switching to a different keyboard.
- People who have some fixed sentences or lines that they need to use frequently. For instance, if you’re a seller, and every time you receive an email, you want to send a fixed reply, you can save that full reply in your SwiftKey clipboard and enter it inside the email in just a couple of taps!
4. Use iPhone clipboard manager apps to save and access multiple clipboard entries
I tested over 14 clipboard manager apps on my iPhone.
Out of them, some asked me to change my keyboard and use them instead. Switching to a keyboard other than SwiftKey is non-negotiable for me. You, too, might not feel comfortable leaving the familiar iOS keyboard (or one of your loved third-party keyboards) and switching to a relatively unknown app for all your typing needs. So, I ignored these apps. And SwiftKey already does what they do (mentioned above).
Some applications wanted me to tap a few buttons inside the app to save my clipboard. So, this meant copying something to the clipboard > opening that clipboard app > tapping a plus icon > pasting the clipboard contents > Save. As you can see, that’s a lot of steps. So, I ignored these apps, too.
Finally, I discovered some apps that cut down all the extra steps. Simply opening the app preserves your current clipboard. You don’t have to do anything else. Note that you have to open the app because of iOS privacy restrictions, which allow an app to read and use your clipboard only when you open it.
Follow these steps to use a clipboard app on your iPhone to save and access multiple past clipboards:
1) Download Oneboard ($0.99) on your iPhone or iPad.
2) Copy text and it will be saved to your iOS clipboard.
3) Open Oneboard, tap Clipboard from the bottom right and then tap Allow Paste (which is again a requirement by iOS for all apps). The app will automatically save the contents of your text clipboard.
4) Repeat the above steps to save multiple old clipboards.
5) To access these clipboards, open Oneboard and go to the Clipboard section. You will see your past saved clipboards here. Tap one, and it will be copied instantly to your clipboard. You can now paste it anywhere else.
To delete or share a saved clipboard, touch and hold it inside Oneboard and choose the desired option.
Note: Tap List and again tap Clipboard; if you find that the app doesn’t immediately show the clipboard it just saved.
Other iPhone clipboard apps
Here are other iOS clipboard manager apps that let you save your current clipboard, keep a history of your clipboards, and access past clipboards:
1) Clips Board: You have to open the app and tap Save to save your current clipboard. However, you can copy a saved clipboard with just one tap. And the uniqueness of this app is that it has widgets support for Today View. So, you can access your saved clipboards and copy them instantly from there without the need to open the app.
2) Clipboarder: The app saves your clipboard when you open the app. But copying it involves multiple steps. It’s useful if you want to save your clipboards quickly and later edit them.
Summary: With third-party clipboard manager apps, you can save multiple clipboards by simply opening the app. You can access these saved clipboards from the app and use them anywhere else in the future. This way, you don’t lose your important clipboards when you copy something else.
Caution: I won’t recommend saving your credit card details or other sensitive information in third-party apps you don’t trust. Instead, you can save your card info under iPhone Settings > Apps > Safari > AutoFill > Saved Credit Cards > Add Credit Card. This card’s details will autofill when you want to use it on a website in Safari.
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