Apple is currently developing a cross-platform clipboard feature that would allow users to copy and paste content across iOS and Windows devices. This feature would most likely only be available in the European Union.
As noted by MacRumors, Microsoft submitted a proposal through the ‘Interoperability Requests in the EU‘ channel for developers. The proposal was submitted on March 25, 2026, with three use cases of the feature as described by Microsoft:
- “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.“
Apple’s response on April 27, 2026: It may be that, despite our best efforts, it will ultimately not be feasible or appropriate to provide an interoperability solution, including if providing effective interoperability would compromise the integrity of the operating system. We have also not yet conducted an assessment of the impact this request would have on Apple’s intellectual property rights. We will inform you should it not be feasible or appropriate to implement your request. We expect to have an update for you on this phase by 26 June.
Apple’s response on June 26, 2026, describing a solution and how the feature would work if implemented: “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.
To adopt this solution, you will need to adopt AccessorySetupKit in order for the user to consent to the necessary permissions allowing the pasteboard to be shared with your accessory. This solution will require the user to perform a one-time consent to sharing the pasteboard with each paired accessory that will receive this functionality. This is a significant engineering effort. We plan to complete development of this solution by fall 2027 and ship it shortly thereafter in a developer-facing beta release prior to full release. We will update you once we have shipped it in a beta release. Please let us know within 5 working days by responding to this email if you have any feedback on the proposed plan.”
If Apple moves forward with this plan, we can expect the feature to debut in beta with iOS 28 or iOS 28.1 in 2027. With the current system, background synchronization remains impractical, as it requires user confirmation and the app to be constantly running in the foreground.
Microsoft does not expect the feature to work like Apple’s own system but requests at least a basic version of cross-device communication.
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