Send text from your phone to your PC without email
You copied an address, a tracking number or a long message on your phone and now need it on your computer. The usual routes are all detours: email it to yourself and wait for it to arrive, send it in a messenger that has to be installed and logged in on the PC, or just retype it and hope you get every character right.
If the phone and the PC are on the same Wi-Fi, one tap does it. Copy on the phone, tap Paste on the page, and the text is on the PC screen a second later, ready to click and paste.
How to do it
- Put the phone and the PC on the same Wi-Fi network. A desktop on Ethernet counts as long as it is behind the same router.
- Open https://www.clipboardapp.org/en/ in a browser on each device. Devices on the same network are grouped automatically under the Same network tab. There is no code to type and no invite to send.
- Copy the text as usual: long-press and choose Copy. Links, verification codes and whole paragraphs all work.
- On the page, tap the Paste card once and allow clipboard access when the browser asks. The text is shared immediately.
- The text appears on the PC screen. Click it to copy it to the PC clipboard, then Ctrl+V into whatever you were working on.
- To send from the PC to the phone, copy on the PC and press Ctrl+V / Cmd+V anywhere on the page. Tap the item on the phone to copy it.
Good to know
- Add the page to your phone's home screen so it opens like an app. On Android it also shows up in the share sheet, so you can share selected text straight from any app.
- Nothing is synced in the background. The browser only reads the clipboard when you tap Paste, so it does not follow everything you copy.
- Verification codes expire quickly; keep the page open on the PC before you request the code.
- If the two devices are on different networks, switch to the Everyone tab. Items there are visible to anyone with the service open, so keep personal files and one-time codes on the same network instead.
Questions
Does it work between an iPhone and a Windows PC?
Yes. iPhone to Windows, Android to Mac, any combination with a current browser. There is no Apple or Microsoft account involved.
Is there a length limit?
Normal notes, code snippets and long URLs are fine. For very long documents, save them as a text file and use the Upload File card instead.