Universal Clipboard suddenly stopped working (literally as I was using it)

Question

Universal Clipboard suddenly stopped working (literally as I was using it)

I have made extensive use of Universal Clipboard for a long time. It has always worked. Today, it stopped working - in both directions from/to MacBook Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max - for no apparent reason and with NO changes to iCloud account or settings/OS on both devices whatsoever. It worked - then it didn't !!

Yes to:

I am signed in to the same iCloud account on both devices (I only have 1 account)
Both devices are connected to the same WiFi (I only have 1 WiFi)
iCloud, Internet and Web work perfectly on both devices
Both devices have Bluetooth enabled (and working)
Both devices have Handoff enabled
Devices are within a few centimetres of each other
Both devices are up to date (macOS Sequoia 15.4, iOS 18.4)
Both devices have been shut down and restarted, iPhone forced restarted (several times)
Airplane mode has been cycled on/off on iPhone (several times)
WiFi, Bluetooth and Handoff have been cycled on both devices (several times)
Copy & Paste work on individual device (eg. copy on iPhone paste to iPhone/copy on Mac paste to Mac)
Tested to/from several apps on both devices (eg Mail, Messages, WhatsApp, Outlook, Word, etc.)

Evidently, a copy on either device is not being sent to or stored on iCloud. Or a paste stored on iCloud is no longer being downloaded.

Besides being annoying - this is a major blow to productivity.

Appreciate if anyone can offer a resolution. Thanks.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 15.4

Posted on Apr 16, 2025 12:28 AM

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Answer 1

Lui75

Level 1

10 points

Apr 29, 2025 5:42 AM in response to williamfrombinfield

Hi, I am encountering the same problem on my iMac Sequoia. After a call with Apple Support, it turned out the issue is user related, the function works flawlessly when I am logged on into my backup admin user. Something is corrupted in my home directory. Apple support told me to do a back up using Time Machine and restore back the account. The problem is I have moved my home dir to an external SSD and now I have to figure out how I can do that.

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Answer 2

Apr 29, 2025 9:06 AM in response to williamfrombinfield

williamfrombinfield wrote: …I hadn't tried Safe Mode. I have now. Unfortunately, no joy - problem still persists in both directions.

As Lui75 suggests, the next thing to try is to try a different User. That will let you know it's caches or login items, for instance, that might be the cause.

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Answer 3

Apr 17, 2025 11:08 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Many thanks for your sensible and informative reply Richard.

I hadn't tried Safe Mode. I have now. Unfortunately, no joy - problem still persists in both directions.

Storage: MacBook 16% (80GB free), iPhone 67% (173GB free), iCloud 30% (60GB free).

I may be incorrect - however, those figures seem sufficient to me to copy a single word such as "hello", which doesn't work.

I should have said - Safari pages continue to work across devices. That is - a page opened in Safari on iPhone - appears on Start page of Safari on MacBook under iCloud Tabs and vice versa. This confirms that data is being transferred across devices via iCloud and therefore, that both devices and iCloud are correctly setup. Also, all other iCloud data is syncing to iCloud and across devices (files, photos, messages, passwords, etc).

UPDATE

I dug out my iPad Pro and iPhone 15. Universal Clipboard works perfectly in both directions between iPhone16, iPhone15, and iPad Pro. But none of these work with MacBook Pro. All 4 devices setup correctly, latest OS, connected to same WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. So, it seems, that Universal Clipboard continues to work on iOS but no longer on macOS - whereas, it did before. Others are reporting same issue with macOS.

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Answer 4

Apr 30, 2025 12:17 PM in response to williamfrombinfield

I encountered exactly the same issue as you: the clipboard syncs properly between my iPhone and iPad, but not between iPhone and Mac. I'm almost certain this is a bug in macOS 15.4.1. I conducted a specific test: I completely formatted my Mac and performed a clean installation of an older version – macOS 14. The clipboard sync issue disappeared immediately – my Mac was able to sync the clipboard with my iPhone. However, after upgrading to macOS 15.4.1, the problem returned. Therefore, it's almost certain that this is a widespread bug in macOS 15.4.1, and I'm waiting for Apple to fix it.

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Answer 5

Apr 30, 2025 3:39 PM in response to leafsweeper

leafsweeper wrote: … Therefore, it's almost certain that this is a widespread bug in macOS 15.4.1, and I'm waiting for Apple to fix it.

I don't find that convincing. Make a new user and let us know.

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Answer 6

Apr 17, 2025 9:41 AM in response to williamfrombinfield

You've tried lots of stuff--

Have you tried using Safe Mode on the Mac?

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

How is he storage on your devices? Do you have at least 10% of the storage available?

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Answer 7

May 5, 2025 10:10 PM in response to williamfrombinfield

UPDATE:

Without making any changes to any of my devices (including changing settings, iOS updates, making a new user, etc.) this issue resolved itself. Then, after a few days - again without any changes whatsoever to any device - the issue returned. Within the last couple of days, the issue has once again resolved itself.

As such, I agree with leafsweeper. I am certain that this is an (intermittent) issue at Apple, presumably with iCloud.

Apple, please fix ASAP.

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Answer 8

May 11, 2025 12:09 PM in response to williamfrombinfield

Hey! I've got the same Universal Clipboard problem since 15.4.1 update. On Mac Mini M4 user with 'home' folder on external drive. Handoff works fine, but clipboard is messed up for sure.

Also, I have confirmation that @MacSoundSolutions on YT has the same problem on similar setup with "external drive user" since 15.4.1.

So, it's an Apple issue, for sure.

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Answer 9

Lui75

Level 1

10 points

Apr 30, 2025 12:32 PM in response to leafsweeper

It could be, but only with old users. Everything works perfectly if you create and use a new user.

I tried to delete my Library dir. it didn’t work. I will move all my files to a newly created user.

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Answer 10

May 14, 2025 2:28 AM in response to williamfrombinfield

Just came to tell updating to 15.5 have fixed the Universal Clipboard issue!

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Answer 11

Apr 29, 2025 9:03 AM in response to Lui75

Lui75:

That's aways the next step after "Safe Mode" -- try a different user.

Since I have a portable MacBook, I have never had my User folder on an external drive. I do carry around a small (1 oz) SSD with much of the junk that used to be in my User folder. Some apps were less effectively when data is stored on an external drive. Spotlight won't search a Photos Library there, for instance, and it appears that location data for Photos behaves weirdly on an external drive.

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Answer 12

Lui75

Level 1

10 points

Apr 29, 2025 10:57 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks Richard. It actually worked everything perfectly. MY second guess, apart from Sequoia update to 15.4.1, is that I messed something up with CleanMyMac. So, I am trying to clean my home dir now. I hope it will solve it. I want to try and erase my user Library and see what happens.

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Answer 13

May 6, 2025 6:50 AM in response to williamfrombinfield

williamfrombinfield wrote:

Apple, please fix ASAP.

We are not Apple; folks who read these posts are just users like you. Some of us hang around here from time to time in case our experience may help someone. We don't get paid and we don't have a schedule, and the Apple engineers don’t read the stuff, here.

it could be an OS glitch, but it could also be anything else in your user account. And, since you and I have the same OS, and it doesn't happen to me, then it's likely something else.

If you would like to make suggestions to Apple, go here:

Feedback - Photos - Apple

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