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Q. A friend of mine showed me how he could copy a photo on his iPhone and paste it onto his Mac. He said it worked with photos, videos, text, and web addresses. And he said that he could copy and paste between his Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
I started thinking of all the ways this trick could be really useful for me. I’m constantly switching between using my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I’m not very techie, so when I need to copy and paste stuff between my devices I send an email to myself with what I want to copy and paste.
My friend didn’t know why his trick didn’t work for me, but I’m hoping The Wonder of Tech can help this non-techie figure it out.
A. Great question! You’re right, copying and pasting between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac is very useful. Your way of emailing things to yourself to have them available on all of your devices is one way that works.
But there is a much easier way to copy and paste between your devices.
Handoff is a feature that lets you copy and paste between Apple devices easily. With Handoff, you simply copy on one device, then paste on another. Handoff works with text, images, web addresses, photos, and videos.
While Handoff is a very handy tool to use, you have to know what it is and how to use it. Luckily, both are simple.
What Is Handoff
Handoff is a useful tool that lets you copy and paste content between Apple devices. You can copy words, photos, GIFs, URLs, and videos on one Apple device and paste them onto another. This can be very useful when you start a project, message, email, etc. on your phone and want to move to your computer. Or vice versa.
You can copy and paste between devices using what Apple calls your Universal Clipboard. When you use Handoff, it’s as easy as if you were copying and pasting on a single device. The process is seamless, but you have to turn on this feature in Settings.
How to Use Handoff
If Handoff seems useful to you, take a few minutes to set it up so you can have it work between your devices. After you turn on Handoff, you’ll be able to immediately start copying and pasting between devices. For example, you can copy the list of ingredients from a recipe on your computer, then paste it onto a shopping list on your iPhone.
With Handoff, you can copy and paste items such as text, images, photos, and videos between Apple devices.
How to Turn on Handoff
To use Handoff, you must first turn on this feature. It must be turned on for both Apple devices for it to work, so be sure to turn it on for all of your Apple devices now. That way, you don’t have to worry about turning it on later when you need to use Handoff.
To use Handoff on your iPhone and iPad, go to Settings => AirPlay & Handoff => Handoff => On
To use Handoff with your Mac computer, click the Apple menu 
=> Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices => On
If you open Settings or System Preferences and see that Handoff isn’t turned on, then you won’t be able to copy and paste between devices. You must have Handoff turned on for both devices if you want to copy and paste between them.
Using Handoff to Copy and Paste Between Devices
After you’ve turned on Handoff for both devices, you should test it out to make sure it’s working and that you know how to use it.
Want to try using Handoff? Sure you do!
Open a website in Safari on your iPhone and copy the web address by tapping and holding it. Then tap Copy.
The web address will be copied to your Universal Clipboard.
Then go to your iPad or Mac Computer, open a web browser and paste the web address you just copied from your iPhone. (Press and hold, then tap Paste on your iPad, or type Command + V on your Mac computer. The web address you just copied from your iPhone to your Universal Clipboard should appear where you pasted it.
Voila! You’ve just used Handoff. You can now begin to use it between your Apple devices to save time and effort.
How to Turn Off Handoff
If you find that you don’t like using Handoff, you can turn it off. That way you won’t be able to copy and paste between your devices. Maybe you have a shared device and copying and pasting between devices gets confusing.
No worries, turning off Handoff is as easy as turning it on. In fact, you follow the same steps as you did to turn it on. Except that you turn Handoff off.
To turn off Handoff for your iPhone and/or iPad, go to Settings => AirPlay & Handoff => Handoff => Off
To turn off Handoff for your Mac computer, click the Apple menu => Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices => Off
What Else You Need to Know About Using Handoff
To use Handoff, you must be signed into the same Apple ID on both devices. After all, you don’t want to be accidentally pasting something from someone else’s device onto your device.
In addition to having Handoff turned on for both devices, they must both have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on.
Items you’ve copied using Handoff stay on the Universal Clipboard for just a short time. So if you copy something on your iPhone, don’t expect to paste it onto your Mac computer the next day.
Compatible Apple Devices
Handoff works with these Apple devices:
iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch running iOS 8.1 or later
- iPhone 5 or later
- iPad Pro (all models)
- iPad (4th generation) or later
- iPad Air or later
- iPad mini or later
- iPod touch (5th generation) or later
Mac Computers running OS X Yosemite or later
- MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
- MacBook Pro introduced in 2012 or later
- MacBook Air introduced in 2012 later
- Mac mini introduced in 2012 or later
- iMac introduced in 2012 or later
- iMac Pro (all models)
- Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later
Your Thoughts
Have you ever wanted to copy and paste between your Apple devices? Have you turned on Handoff for your Apple devices? Have you ever tried using Handoff?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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*iPhone and Mac computer image (edited) courtesy of Lily Rum via Unsplash and Creative Commons
This is so helpful Carolyn. People tend to find stuff on one device but may need that content on another device for various purposes. I find this whenever I use my phone and want to copy the information to my laptop.
Hi Ryan, Exactly. If we have more than one device, we want to move content between our devices. Handoff makes that process easy, so long as you have it turned on.
I’m so glad a Wonder of Tech reader asked such a helpful question that inspired this article!
Carolyn, thanks for sharing this. Content is often found on one device, but may need to be accessed on another device for a variety of reasons. This occurs when I use my phone and want to copy the information to my laptop.
Hi Muzammil, Yes, when we switch between devices, we might want to bring content with us. Handoff lets us do that easily between Apple device. I hope this helps you move between your devices seamlessly, Muzammil.