Copy-and-Paste Comes to iPhones, Jailbroken Only

Promises, promises. Yet this sounds like a step forward, but it presents yet another reason to jailbreak your iPhone: a copy-and-paste application that only works on jailbroken iPhones. The only other bright, shining light in the copy-and-paste area of late for the iPhone was PasteBud, which sounded good, but seemed so convoluted and buggy that many gave up on it.

The new app is called Clippy (yes, that's the same name that the late, lamented Microsoft Office help widget had), available from the iSpazio Repository in Cydia. Alternatively, you can search for Clippy.

Here's how it works:
  • To make the copy / paste buttons visible, hit the ".?123" on your on-screen keyboard. You'll then see the above.
  • Highlight the text you want copied, and hit the ‘copy’ button.
  • Move to the app where you’d like to paste, then hit the paste button.


Pretty simple, but the application is in beta status and, in fact, was just updated on Tuesday. It doesn't work in all third-party apps and you have to be editing text, not just highlight any old text.

Still, it's a step in the right direction until Apple (ahem) gets its act together and provides a proper copy-and-paste function for the iPhone. Honestly, it's not like we're asking for a jailbreak, Apple. What's taking so long?
Tags:  Apple, iPhone, ATT