Universal Clipboard not working (Mac > iPhone, iPhone < Mac)

[Elmr]

None of those types works for me for my iPhone and Mac. But iPad and Mac works fine it's been a year that I'm looking for a solution

 

[SaguaroSeven]

I have this problem except is from my ipad to Mac, Mac to ipad works fine but both universal clipboard and handoff from ipad to mac don't seem to work.
Right now I tried all of the solutions mentioned here, none have seem to worked so far. including deleting the handoff key from the keychain access, the plist entries, etc.

I have an iphone too but everything there works as expected with clipboard/handoff to mac and vice versa, even after doing these steps handoff works fine on my iPhone to Mac but still not on my ipad, I just don't know why, it's a device signed to the same icloud account

What about between iPhone and iPad? That might suggest you you which device to focus on. Sounds like the iPad though.

Seems different solutions work for different people. Depends a lot on how many devices you have, whether changes in Handoff keys are being propagated, the order of steps, etc. Often people will find that the steps work one time, but not another, or it takes two tries to get a "fix" to work.

The whole thing is frustrating. If you're more frustrated with problem, rather than living with it, the simplest solution is usually disable handoff on effected devices, then turn back on. I would add a restart between off/on for good measure.

 

[mushakiss]

Suddenly today after updating to iOS14 pb8 my iPhone cannot paste to Mac Mini (2018) with Catalina. Works fine iPhone to Mojave MacBook Air and from Mac mini to iPhone! Basic disable/enable Handoff on both devices did nothing. After finding this thread, I checked com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist and found no ClipboardSharingEnabled just two "kLocalPasteboardBlobName" entries (which I presume are keys for other Handoff devices).

Added ClipboardSharingEnabled= 1 using defaults write... no change. Disabled handoff again and saw no change in com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist contents.

This Draconian approach worked for me. Not sure which element did it though:

1. Disable Handoff in System Prefs
2. Terminal: rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist
3. Keychain Access -> delete "handoff-own-encryption-key" (this is the local device's handoff key)
4. Restart in Safe Mode
5. System Prefs -> Enable Handoff.
6. Reboot.
7. Universal Clipboard working correctly!

Thanks, this worked for me ????

 

[jod2012]

So I set up a fresh user profile and it was working on there, so I decided to dig into my users ~/Library folder...

I found the cause, how to fix it and it's below! (Just so this doesn't become a thread like the classic xkcd comic - https://xkcd.com/979/)

In ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist I discovered a key ClipboardSharingEnabled with the value 0 Setting it to 1, logging out and back in had no effect. So I removed the entry… logged out and back in and now it’s working!

Hi it looks like I don't even have that key: ClipboardSharingEnabled I run a terminal command and it says ClipboardSharingEnabled does not exit. Any idea?

 

[FruityLoop]

Hey guys,

WOHOOO!!! IT WORKS ???

Just right now, took about an hour..

I signed out of iCloud on all my devices, signed back in

restarted a few times

YOu GuyS ROCK!!


Thank you so much ☺️

Have the most wonderful day,
may it be blessed

may you shine bright with happiness

thank you all again

Thank you

...
well now.. what to do..

ah well, inner monologue out loud

have the most beautiful day you all ?


Edit;

And it doesn't work once again..

hooray...

 

[bplein]

This Draconian approach worked for me. Not sure which element did it though:

1. Disable Handoff in System Prefs
2. Terminal: rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist
3. Keychain Access -> delete "handoff-own-encryption-key" (this is the local device's handoff key)
4. Restart in Safe Mode
5. System Prefs -> Enable Handoff.
6. Reboot.
7. Universal Clipboard working correctly!

I was struggling figuring out why my new work 16" MBP wouldn't handoff with my iMac Pro. Given how our work laptops are locked down including CarbonBlack, I suspected the laptop. I noticed that the laptop would handoff with my iPhone and with other Macs in the house, however, just not my iMac Pro. The iMac Pro could handoff with everything but the laptop.

By following this procedure on BOTH the desktop and laptop, I was able to get it to work. Thank you for documenting this, @SaguaroSeven

 

[SaguaroSeven]

I was struggling figuring out why my new work 16" MBP wouldn't handoff with my iMac Pro. Given how our work laptops are locked down including CarbonBlack, I suspected the laptop. I noticed that the laptop would handoff with my iPhone and with other Macs in the house, however, just not my iMac Pro. The iMac Pro could handoff with everything but the laptop.

By following this procedure on BOTH the desktop and laptop, I was able to get it to work. Thank you for documenting this, @SaguaroSeven

Glad to hear it!

When people sign out of iCloud on all devices, it's basically doing something similar I believe: in effect "resetting" the keychain entries that enable all the high-tech Continuity features. I'm pretty sure these and Apple Watch + Mac unlocking issues are all tied to synchronizing these keys through iCloud.

 

[maverick28]

An interesting thing is that the Universal Clipboard works only in one direction for me on Catalina: iPhone -> Mac but not vice versa. Was buttery smooth on Mojave. But iOS is 12.4.1. Can it be the reason? Knowing Apple, it can. Wasting such time for fixing what should work as a Swiss knife isn't worth it. The solution is to get back to 10.14.

 

[SaguaroSeven]

An interesting thing is that the Universal Clipboard works only in one direction for me on Catalina: iPhone -> Mac but not vice versa. Was buttery smooth on Mojave. But iOS is 12.4.1. Can it be the reason? Knowing Apple, it can. But wasting such time for fixing what should work as Swiss knife isn't worth it. The solution is to get back to 10.14.

Mojave might work for you or it might not. I had problems on Mojave. It has less to do with OS and more to do with what's in your Keychain, I suspect.

Universal Clipboard is another Handoff-related feature that depends on "Keys" saved in Keychain and iCloud Keychain, if enabled. The Keychain-related arcanery that can fix UC/Handoff is similar to the steps to "fix" Apple Watch not unlocking Mac. These keys allow the devices to authenticate requests, and securely hand-off data...

In addition to looking into AW Unlock problems, you might be able to reset your Mac's trust store using the Octagon Trust Utility, though I haven't found any documentation that explains it. "otctl health" and "otctl status" seem safe. Use with caution! https://github.com/kendfinger/MacHack#otctl

 

[maverick28]

As I said, I deemed all the fuss not worthy. Too many steps, no pattern, boring, non-essential. I'm on Mojave and 0 issues since: UC just works here. By many accounts (too many for the last OS that supports my Mac), Catalina is a disaster. And they introduced UC in 2014. Why is it so hard for them to get it into shape during these 7 years?

 

[lessthen]

Handoff features like universal copy-paste, Safari tabs, Mail etc. all work between MacBook Pro 14 2021 and iPad 2020. But when it comes to my iPhone 12, nothing related to handoff works, which points to the problem being on the iPhone.

I tried literally everything I could find online like iCloud signing out on all devices, settings factory reset, delete keychain, terminal commands, turning BT and WiFi on-off etc. All devices are updated to the latest stable versions and for the life of me, I cannot make it work. I've also tried all suggestions posted here in this thread and on reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/applehelp/comments/qkad72 but no luck.

These handoff features are very useful, please help me ?

 

[dobby007]

Suddenly today after updating to iOS14 pb8 my iPhone cannot paste to Mac Mini (2018) with Catalina. Works fine iPhone to Mojave MacBook Air and from Mac mini to iPhone! Basic disable/enable Handoff on both devices did nothing. After finding this thread, I checked com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist and found no ClipboardSharingEnabled just two "kLocalPasteboardBlobName" entries (which I presume are keys for other Handoff devices).

Added ClipboardSharingEnabled= 1 using defaults write... no change. Disabled handoff again and saw no change in com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist contents.

This Draconian approach worked for me. Not sure which element did it though:

1. Disable Handoff in System Prefs
2. Terminal: rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist
3. Keychain Access -> delete "handoff-own-encryption-key" (this is the local device's handoff key)
4. Restart in Safe Mode
5. System Prefs -> Enable Handoff.
6. Reboot.
7. Universal Clipboard working correctly!

This method worked for me! Just remember to switch to System Keychain as shown on the screenshot below. Otherwise, you will not be able to delete the key even in the Safe mode! The default was iCloud for me.

Funny thing that I noticed - com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist is updated every time I copy something on other devices. So, if your file is not updated or it does not contain kLocalPasteboardBlobName and kRemotePasteboardBlobName, that's a red flag for you!


Wow, it has been boggling my mind for a long time. In fact, I didn't know this feature even existed before I read about it somewhere some time ago! So essentially it has never worked for me... Until I finally tried to search for this issue on more technical forums and found this solution. Thanks so much!

 

[SaguaroSeven]

So glad to hear the instructions worked for you! Yeah, don’t recall whether it was the login or System keychain. It’s been so long. Never modify the iCloud keychain, is the advice I’ve heard. Login stuff gets copied to iCloud and System is so mac can be on the WiFi before you log in, for example. I’ll have to take a look at this again….

 

[tomasn]

So I set up a fresh user profile and it was working on there, so I decided to dig into my users ~/Library folder...

I found the cause, how to fix it and it's below! (Just so this doesn't become a thread like the classic xkcd comic - https://xkcd.com/979/)

In ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist I discovered a key ClipboardSharingEnabled with the value 0 Setting it to 1, logging out and back in had no effect. So I removed the entry… logged out and back in and now it’s working!

Thank you...this worked for me too!!! I was trying all kind of other stuff and it never helped.

 

[Deedeekay]

So... is there a less 'drastic' approach to fixing this? It's become so unreliable over the last couple of years that it's now, essentially, functionally useless to me. I'm constantly having to reset this or that to get it to work again and now not even that seems to be doing the trick.

I swear Apple has gotten far worse in the last five or so years with QC and feature issues like this just flat out not working most of the time.

 

[SaguaroSeven]

So... is there a less 'drastic' approach to fixing this? It's become so unreliable over the last couple of years that it's now, essentially, functionally useless to me. I'm constantly having to reset this or that to get it to work again and now not even that seems to be doing the trick.

Did you try the “drastic” approaches here? Any of them? What did you try? What are your “constantly” resetting? Do you have BT or USB interference?

It‘s pretty hard to guess at solutions with nothing to go on.

 

[notgonna]

Suddenly today after updating to iOS14 pb8 my iPhone cannot paste to Mac Mini (2018) with Catalina. Works fine iPhone to Mojave MacBook Air and from Mac mini to iPhone! Basic disable/enable Handoff on both devices did nothing. After finding this thread, I checked com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist and found no ClipboardSharingEnabled just two "kLocalPasteboardBlobName" entries (which I presume are keys for other Handoff devices).

Added ClipboardSharingEnabled= 1 using defaults write... no change. Disabled handoff again and saw no change in com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist contents.

This Draconian approach worked for me. Not sure which element did it though:

1. Disable Handoff in System Prefs
2. Terminal: rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist
3. Keychain Access -> delete "handoff-own-encryption-key" (this is the local device's handoff key)
4. Restart in Safe Mode
5. System Prefs -> Enable Handoff.
6. Reboot.
7. Universal Clipboard working correctly!

This worked. Thanks

 

[ProphetX]

So I set up a fresh user profile and it was working on there, so I decided to dig into my users ~/Library folder...

I found the cause, how to fix it and it's below! (Just so this doesn't become a thread like the classic xkcd comic - https://xkcd.com/979/)

In ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.plist I discovered a key ClipboardSharingEnabled with the value 0 Setting it to 1, logging out and back in had no effect. So I removed the entry… logged out and back in and now it’s working!

You're a ****ing legend.