How Apple Could Handle Copy and Paste in the iPhone - MacRumors
Skip to Content

How Apple Could Handle Copy and Paste in the iPhone

by

One feature found to be missing from the iPhone is "Copy and Paste".

If Apple decides to implement this feature in the iPhone, the obvious question becomes... how? The iPhone does not have the traditional menu bar to allow users to select "copy" or "paste". What's interesting is that Apple has tackled this issue before in the Newton -- Apple's now discontinued personal digital assistant.

As the story goes, Apple wanted the Newton to have a true handheld operating system, rather than a shrunk down desktop operating system. Certain design features, such as Copy/Paste, exemplified this design goal.

To select text, a Newton user would tap and hold the stylus on the screen which would then allow you to select text. To move text, you simply drag the text to the proper location. To "cut" the text, you simply drag the text to the side of the screen where it would become "stuck". You were then free to switch applications and then drag the text to the proper location. To copy instead of cut, you would simply double tap the text before dragging it from its original location.

Obviously, some changes would have to be made as Apple has already assigned "tap and hold" to another function on the iPhone, but the basic method could be used.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Prices Estimated Ahead of Apple Event Next Week

Thursday September 3, 2026 3:41 am PDT by
Less than a week before Apple debuts new iPhone 18 Pro models, research firm TrendForce has estimated the prices of the devices based on the latest hardware cost environment. TrendForce's price estimates compared to last year's models look like this: Model Starting Price Model Starting Price Change iPhone 17 Pro $1,099 iPhone 18 Pro $...
iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...
iPhone 18 Pro Dark Cherry Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Reportedly Starts With 256GB of Storage

Thursday September 3, 2026 9:22 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro has double the base storage compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, there will apparently be no further increase this year. Taiwanese research firm TrendForce today again reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models will start with 256GB of storage, like the iPhone 17 Pro models. Minimum storage capacities by model:iPhone 16 Pro: 128GB iPhone 17 Pro: 256GB iPhone 18 Pro...