Problems With Apple’s Current Updated “Simple and Copy Feature”

Copy and paste between devices has always required they be using the same Apple Account. It has never worked the way you claim.

You are probably referring to AirDrop, which can be done between devices with different Apple accounts.

That still works fine. Just make sure AirDrop is set to Everybody on both devices and you can send urls, files, notes photos etc, from one device to another that are logged in to different Apple Accounts.

click here ➜ Use AirDrop on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

redhead101 wrote:

Apple needs to allow me and others to paste from a copy done on somebody else’s Apple device like my mom’s iPhone 12 for example because of them getting rid of this feature in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 is making my current heartburn and gut issues worse for me because they “f*cked” up the simple cut and paste feature that they need to go back to what it was before they decided that you had to copy and paste from the same Apple Account because this is making my life “h*ll” right now, especially when all I needed to do was paste a website that I copied on my mom’s iPhone 12 to my iPad Ait 5th generation tablet for me to fill out needed paperwork for a new doctor a GI doctor that I have to see this upcoming Tuesday at 1:15 pm.

No such cross-account cut-and-paste feature exists. Not from Apple. It’s always been limited to transfers within the same Apple Account. (Use Universal Clipboard to copy and paste between your Apple devices - Apple Support)

Usual for accessing and transferring info to other device and other account would be using FaceTime to perform screen-sharing, or to use AirDrop (probably left set to contacts only), or sometimes SMB sharing, or iCloud Drive file links. Using Apple Messages and such for text or URL transfers works, too.

redhead101 wrote:

No. I remember being able to copy and paste from Apple devices on different Apple accounts before iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. I am not referring to Airdrop here at all since I am needing to copy a website from my mom’s iPhone 12 to paste to Google’s Chrome app on my iPad Air 5th generation tablet and Airdrop is not the feature I am looking for at all. Plus I only use Airdrop to move photos from one Apple Device on one Apple Account like my own Apple Account to another Apple account like my mom’s Apple Account for example. Apple’s Airdrop is not for copying a website on her iPhone 12 and pasting to Google’s Chrome app on my own iPad Air 5th generation tablet. Apple needs to fix the “simple copy and paste feature” they broke in the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 and updates since. Thanks for helping anyways.

Nothing has changed here with copy-and-paste: same Apple Account (formerly Apple ID) required.

From five years ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/mztwk0/is_there_a_way_to_copypaste_text_between_a_mac/

Here’s the same Apple Account requirement from 2018:

How can I stop devices sharing paste/copy - Apple Community

I can go further back with citations.

Is it possible that your parent’s device was using your same Apple Account, or you were using their account?

That account sharing would be bad and bad for various reasons, but it would allow copy and paste.

Using AirDrop or the other mechanisms mentioned earlier are the path.

There are open-source browser versions of AirDrop available including PairDrop, though those can see less use where AirDrop is available. Such as is the case here, where AirDrop is available.

AirDrop can be configured for ten minutes open access, or for contacts only, or for receive off. How to configure that is described here: Use AirDrop on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

To request Apple enhance their Universal Clipboard and its copy-and-paste functions to allow transfers across Apple Accounts (by means other than AirDrop, Messages, or such), log some feedback: Product Feedback - Apple