How to copy and paste text on the Apple iPhone with iCopy

Apparently, copy and paste is the most requested missing feature on the iPhone (and not, as you might have thought, the ability to use it on other networks…), but Apple has so far denied users this simple tool. Fortunately, some enterprising soul has figured out a way to do it, but only in the iPhone’s web browser – still, being able to copy and paste text into forms is a start. The installation is a bit of a rigmarole, so there are full instructions, plus a demo video, after the cut.

The utility is called iCopy and it works its magic via a ‘bookmarklet’ – essentially a browser bookmark that does rather more than just take you to a web page. This particular bookmarklet contains a ton of JavaScript to perform the seemingly simple task of copying and pasting text, and while it isn't a particularly elegant solution, it works and kudos to the author Preston Monroe for figuring this out.

Here's a video of Preston demonstrating iCopy in action -- read on to see how to install and use it for yourself.

Here's how to install and use iCopy on your Apple iPhone:

Step 1
Browse to http://www.biocow.com/iCopy on your iPhone and click the link to install iCopy – it’s at the top right of the page.

Step 2
A new page will open. First, click the ‘Click here’ link to open another page, then click the + icon at the bottom of the Safari browser window to bookmark it.

Step 3
Click the Add Bookmark button that pops up, then confirm or edit the bookmark details in the usual way. Click Save when you’re done. When you’re back on the web page, click the Click here link at the bottom and you’ll be taken back to the main iCopy page.

Step 4
You now need to edit the Copy/Paste bookmark that’s just been added, so tap the Bookmarks icon in Safari. Tap Edit on the Bookmarks screen and tap the Copy/Paste bookmark (it should be at the bottom of the list).

Step 5
It’s an extraordinarily long URL and when you tap to edit it, the cursor appears at the end. So, just tap and hold to bring up the magnifying glass, then drag your finger left and hold it at the far left of the iPhone’s screen to start fast-scrolling (this will take several seconds). When the cursor is at the start, now move it until it sits just before the word javascript and after .php?.

Step 6
Delete everything to the left of the cursor so that the URL now starts with javascript:function…, then tap the Bookmarks button to save your changes. Tap Done to leave the Edit Bookmarks screen and again to leave the Bookmarks screen itself.

And that’s it for the install! Simple, eh..?

Step 7
To copy and paste some text from a web page, open your tap the Bookmarks icon and select the Copy/Paste bookmark. If the web page disappears at this point, don’t panic. Three buttons will appear – Copy, Paste, and Cancel.

Step 8
Tap Copy Text and a message will pop-up to confirm the web page you were last on (and want to copy from) – tap OK and the page will re-appear. iCopy’s text option  can only copy and paste paragraphs, so find the one you want (you can still drag and zoom), then tap to select it. A new page will open briefly as the text is copied.

Step 9
To paste the copied text, just open the Copy/Paste bookmark when you’re on the appropriate web page. This time, choose Paste (you may need to scroll around to find the buttons on the page) and the Biocow web page will open briefly, then the original page will appear.

Zoom into the text box on the page into which you want to paste the text, the open the Copy/Paste bookmark a second time and tap Paste again. A ‘Ready to Paste’ message will pop-up – tap the OK button. Tap the text box and the copied text will be pasted. As iCopy’s author states, think of this as Copy/Paste/Paste rather than just Copy/Paste…

Step 10
To copy the URL of an open web page, just open the Copy/Paste bookmark and tap the Copy URL button. You’ll see a brief ‘copied’ confirmation web page open, then you can paste the copied URL into a form’s text box as before. Unfortunately, you can’t paste the URL in the address box of a new web page.

Step 11
Finally, the Email Text and Email URL options work in the same way as the Copy Text and Copy URL options, but once you’ve copied the text/URL, it’s automatically pasted into a new email message. We couldn’t get this to work on all web pages, though.

So, that’s copy and paste on the iPhone. Not as slick as Windows Mobile’s tap and hold method, obviously, but until Apple pulls its finger out and adds the feature to the firmware, iCopy is the best we’ve got.

There are a few caveats with iCopy. One we found was that it wouldn’t paste text into certain pages – new Gmail email text boxes being one example. It’s also limited to copying paragraphs, so you may need to edit text once it’s been pasted. iCopy also transmits anything it copies across the internet as plain text (as part of a URL). This means that in theory, anyone can see what you’re copying and pasting, but as long as you don’t use iCopy to copy and paste private information, this shouldn't be a problem.