Copying and pasting text between Galaxy devices could get easier

One of the main reasons people stick with Apple’s ecosystem is the seamless integration between iPhones, iPads, and Macs. While Google lacks the same level of integration on Android, the company is attempting to replicate some Apple features. One such feature, universal clipboard, could be introduced with Android 17 and could come to Galaxy devices with One UI 9.

A report from Android Authority claims that Google has been working on a universal clipboard feature since last year. Signs of it have appeared once again in the latest beta and canary releases of Android. A new class called UniversalClipboardManager was added in Android's android.companion.datatransfer.continuity path. This is the same path where Android's experimental Handoff features are placed. The under-development feature will likely appear as a part of Google Play Services in the future.

Whenever a user copies text, a phone's system app will broadcast that information to Google Play Services, which then transmits that data to the Handoff framework. The copied text is then broadcasted to a linked device, such as an Android PC, phone, or tablet.

This feature could arrive with the beta version of Android 17 in the first half of next year. Samsung's implementation of Android 17 will likely be called One UI 9.0, and the universal clipboard feature could arrive on Galaxy laptops, phones, and tablets with it in mid-2026.

Google and Qualcomm are working on laptops and PCs running the Android operating system. Since Samsung has been a close partner to Google, there is a good chance of Samsung making an Android PC, and the universal clipboard feature could be present on those devices.