Clipboard Bridge tutorial

1. Put the devices on the same network

Start with your PC and phone on the same trusted Wi-Fi/LAN. The phone must be able to reach the PC or server. Guest Wi-Fi may block communication between devices.

Away from home or on untrusted Wi-Fi, we recommend Tailscale. Connect your devices and clipboard host to the same private Tailscale network, then use the host's Tailscale address in the apps and both Apple Shortcuts. This also works with Windows Server mode. Tailscale is optional: another private VPN can work too. Follow the network guide for setup, firewall precautions and optional subnet routing.

2. Let Windows be the host

Keep Windows up to date: from 2.0.18, open Settings > Updates to check GitHub and install a newer stable release. Automatic checks are on; automatic installation is optional and off by default. Save to enable it. Older clients need one manual upgrade first; Windows security approval may still be required. Update guide.

1. Download the Windows installer for your processor. Most Intel/AMD PCs need x64; Snapdragon Windows 11 PCs need ARM64. A portable EXE is also available.
2. Open Clipboard Bridge. Find its clipboard icon in the system tray; Windows may put it under the hidden-icons arrow.
3. Right-click the icon and open Settings > General. Choose Server mode, keep port 5088 and save.
4. Use the Server address shown in the tray menu. Click the address to copy it. Allow the app through the Windows firewall on your trusted private network when prompted.
5. Keep the PC and app running. Enter this same address on Android or in your two iPhone Shortcuts below.

A sample address is http://192.168.1.50:5088. Replace it with the address your PC shows. Do not use 127.0.0.1 or localhost on the phone: those refer to the phone itself.

Left-click the tray icon to open History. The default History shortcut is Ctrl+Alt+H: press again to close it. Change it in Settings > Shortcuts.

3. Connect an iPhone or iPad

Apple devices use two user-triggered Shortcuts: one sends the current item, the other receives the newest item. There is no native iOS app or continuous background clipboard synchronization.

1. On your iPhone, download and open iPhone Load Clipboard and iPhone Download Clipboard. Add both to Apple's Shortcuts app.
2. Edit Load Clipboard. In Get Contents of URL, replace the entire example URL with your host's address followed by /clipboard. Keep the method POST.
3. Edit Download Clipboard. Replace its URL with the same host followed by /clipboard/latest/raw. Keep the method GET.
4. Leave accounts and tokens empty for an unprotected shared clipboard on a trusted network. If your administrator enabled them, use the account instructions below in both Shortcuts.

Send:    POST http://YOUR_HOST:5088/clipboard
Receive: GET  http://YOUR_HOST:5088/clipboard/latest/raw

Try the first transfer

Copy Hello from Windows on the PC and use Send clipboard in its tray menu. Run Download Clipboard on iPhone, then paste into a blank note. To go back, copy a short message on iPhone, run Load Clipboard, then use Receive latest on Windows and paste it.

Put both actions in Control Center

3. Tap Choose. Select Load Clipboard for Send. Add a second control and select Download Clipboard for Receive. Apple's Shortcut instructions.

Official iOS 26 examples, © Apple, loaded from Apple's website. They do not show Clipboard Bridge configured; appearance varies by iOS version. Clipboard Bridge is an independent project.

For Share Sheet input, original filenames and multiple-file transfers, follow the advanced Shortcut recipe. The signed downloads have not been changed in this release; do not assume they include the newer multi-file recipe. That recipe sends a temporary ZIP to /clipboard/bundle and can extract the returned group after reading /clipboard/latest/meta.

Mac can build the same manual workflow in Apple Shortcuts. There is no native Mac client; see the Mac setup guide.

4. Connect Android

1. Install the signed Android APK. It requires Android 10 or newer and is currently a public beta.
2. Open Settings in the app and enter the same host address as Windows or your Docker server. Save. Leave optional credentials empty unless your administrator configured them.
3. Copy a sample message on Android. Open the app and tap Send clipboard. Use Receive on Windows to get it.
4. Send another message from Windows, then tap Receive latest on Android. Paste the result into a note.

Share a photo or document from another app using Share > Clipboard Bridge. Several files selected together travel as one history item. The app reads the selected server/account's history; it is not a separate local-only list.

Quick Settings actions, incoming notifications and receiving options are available. Android restricts background clipboard reading: do not expect every copy made in another app to be detected while Clipboard Bridge is in the background. Start with manual actions, then enable the optional automation you need.

More details: Android guide.

5. Use text, photos and files

• Text: copied rich text arrives as ordinary Unicode text, keeping emoji, accents and line breaks but not fonts or colours.
• Original documents: a PDF, RTF document or any other file keeps its original bytes. A document is not converted just because its contents are text.
• Windows files: copy them in File Explorer and use Send clipboard, or choose Send a file. Received files are saved to Downloads\Clipboard Bridge and placed on the Windows clipboard.
• Groups: selecting several files in one operation creates one history item. Windows and Android can restore members together. Generic browser/API downloads return a ZIP; Apple extraction needs the multi-file Shortcut variant.
• Latest item: the newest item wins. A newer text message is not hidden behind an older image or file group.

Open Windows History, select an item and enable Preview to read the complete text with scrolling, see image thumbnails or view a PDF's first page. Reading a preview does not change the clipboard. Use Copy to restore it. In Settings, you can configure Send, Receive and History hotkeys, notifications and optional synchronization.

Optional: an always-on Docker or NAS host

The server page offers English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and simplified Chinese, including login. Choose the language in its header and expand Connect your devices for setup steps, the server address and links to this guide. The browser remembers your choice; the native apps have their own language settings.

Use this instead of Windows Server mode if you want shared history while the PC is off, a browser page and optional isolated accounts. It is your own host, not a mandatory cloud service.

For compatible custom app stores, follow the App Store guide. ZimaOS uses the permanent JSON source; these are custom catalogs, not claims of official store acceptance.

With Docker and Compose already installed, save this as compose.yaml in an empty project folder:

services:
  clipboard-bridge:
    image: ghcr.io/mattboxx/clipboard-bridge-server:1.0.11
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5088:5088"
    environment:
      CLIPBOARD_DATA_DIR: /data
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data

Run docker compose up -d in that folder, then docker compose ps. Open http://YOUR_HOST:5088/ from a device on the same trusted network.

In Windows, select Client mode and set the server address in Settings. Put that same host address in Android and both Apple Shortcuts. /health reports the standalone server's version.

Update without losing your history

Back up your data and Compose file. Change the image tag, retaining your existing environment values and the volume mounted at /data. If your image is pinned with an old @sha256 digest, update that too or remove the old digest.

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d
docker compose ps

Do not delete the data folder or run docker compose down -v as an update step. Read the complete Docker guide for accounts, backups and other deployment settings.

Optional: separate accounts

The standalone server can provide separate histories. Windows Server mode does not have separate accounts. Adding an account does not remove the general shared clipboard.

The administrator can set CLIPBOARD_ACCOUNTS or use the accounts file described in the full guide. Windows and Android then use that account's username and password in Settings. Do not enter the web-page password as the account password unless they actually match.

For an Apple account, append the same URL-encoded credentials to both action URLs. These are placeholders, not real credentials:

http://YOUR_HOST:5088/clipboard?user=alice&password=YOUR_PASSWORD
http://YOUR_HOST:5088/clipboard/latest/raw?user=alice&password=YOUR_PASSWORD

Use & instead of ? when the URL already has a query parameter, such as ?filename=.... Encode reserved characters in the credential values, not the entire URL. For a protected shared clipboard, use the configured optional token instead. See the account guide.

Try a Windows and iPhone transfer

1. Copy Hello from Windows on your PC and choose Send clipboard.
2. Run Download Clipboard on iPhone, then paste into a blank note.
3. For the other direction, copy text on iPhone and run Load Clipboard.
4. Choose Receive latest in Windows, then paste into a document.

These are instructions to try on your devices, not a recorded phone test. This setup can use Windows Server mode without a separate server.

An optional Docker/NAS host can replace the Windows host and keep the clipboard available when the PC is off. Android connects to the same chosen host. All devices must reach it over a trusted LAN or private VPN.

If something does not work

Report a reproducible problem in GitHub Issues, including versions, host mode and steps. Do not attach passwords, token URLs, private clipboard contents or unredacted logs.