Apple is developing a feature that will let iPhone users in the European Union copy content and paste it directly onto a Windows PC, and vice versa, extending its existing Universal Clipboard tool beyond Apple's own devices. The change is being made to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, which requires major "gatekeeper" platforms like Apple to open up their systems for interoperability with third-party services following formal requests.

The feature stems from an interoperability request Microsoft filed with Apple in March, arguing that iOS clipboard restrictions stopped developers from enabling seamless cross-device copy-paste in the background. Apple confirmed in a June update that it is treating this as "a significant engineering effort," aiming to finish the work by autumn 2027 ahead of a developer beta, and said the feature will let Microsoft build an extension for sharing clipboard content with paired devices, subject to explicit user permission.