iOS Extensions

This page is iOS-only. Besides its main screen, the UniClipboard iOS app ships two system-level extensions — a custom keyboard and a share extension — that let you read and write the clipboard and push content to your desktop without opening the app. Android users can skip this page.

Prerequisite: you've already installed the app and configured at least one server via Connect to Desktop. For how to turn on phone sync on the desktop and how to get pairing credentials, see Mobile Sync and Pairing and Sync.

Keyboard Extension

The keyboard extension is a custom input method. Once installed, you can switch to the UniClip Keyboard in any app's text field to type out your most recent clipboard content directly, or push what you're typing to the desktop — without switching back and forth to the main UniClipboard app.

The keyboard must have "Allow Full Access" enabled, otherwise it can't read the system clipboard or reach your server, and is just an empty shell. This is a hard iOS restriction on third-party keyboards, unrelated to this app.

Enable the Keyboard

Open the keyboard list in system Settings

Go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards on your iPhone. This lists all currently enabled input methods.

Add UniClip Keyboard

Tap Add New Keyboard… and select UniClip Keyboard under "Third-Party Keyboards".

Allow Full Access

Back in the keyboard list, tap into the UniClip Keyboard you just added and turn on Allow Full Access. The system will ask for confirmation once — choose Allow. Without this the keyboard won't work (it can't read the clipboard or reach the server).

Switch to it in any text field

In any app's text field, long-press the globe icon (🌐) at the bottom left and pick UniClip Keyboard to use it.

Keyboard Settings and Status

The app's Settings → Keyboard has an enablement guide and a status display, with three states: Not Added / Added / Ready.

The status isn't real-time — it refreshes from a heartbeat reported when you open the keyboard once. If you just added the keyboard in system Settings and the app still shows the old status, switch UniClip Keyboard into any text field and use it briefly, then come back to the app and the status will be updated.

The same page also lets you toggle key sounds and haptic feedback to your liking.

The share extension lets you send content to UniClipboard directly from other apps. It appears in the system share sheet automatically once the app is installed — there's no separate toggle, and you don't need to enable anything inside the app.

To use it: tap the system share button in any app, find UniClipboard in the row of app icons in the share sheet, and tap it — the content lands in your clipboard history and is pushed to the desktop. It supports sharing text, links, images, and a single file.

If UniClipboard is ranked too far down the share sheet, iOS has no API for an app to promote itself, so you have to set it once by hand:

Tap the share button in any app, scroll the row of app icons all the way to the right, and tap More (the ellipsis icon).

Set UniClipboard as a favorite

Find UniClipboard in the list that appears and tap the green plus on its left or Favorite on its right. It will be pinned to an earlier position in the share sheet so you can reach it at a glance from then on.

UniClipboard donates some sharing suggestions to the "people / suggestions" strip at the very top of the iOS share sheet, so you can share content to it faster.

These are not shortcuts in the Shortcuts app — don't go looking for UniClipboard in the Shortcuts app, it isn't there. These suggestions only appear in the top area of the system share sheet.

The main app, the keyboard extension, and the share extension all share the same clipboard history and settings (via iOS App Group shared storage). So the content you push from the keyboard, the content you send from the share sheet, and what you work with in the main app all see the same history, and you only need to configure settings once in the main app for all three to take effect.

Where to Go Next

Connect to Desktop — scan a code or enter the server address manually.
Daily Use — the main screen, uploading, auto-sync.
Troubleshooting — common issues like the keyboard reading an empty config or uploads not taking effect.
Mobile Sync — how to turn on phone sync on the desktop.

On this page