User profile for user: williamfrombinfield
williamfrombinfield Author
User level: Level 1
28 points

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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User profile for user: Lui75
Lui75
User level: 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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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
13,440 points

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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User profile for user: Richard.Taylor
Richard.Taylor
User level: Level 6
13,440 points

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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User profile for user: williamfrombinfield
williamfrombinfield Author
User level: Level 1
28 points

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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User profile for user: Lui75
Lui75
User level: 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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Universal Clipboard suddenly stopped working (literally as I was using it)

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