1717071 - Allow copying URLs from iOS devices and pasting them into Firefox on MacOS, using Apple's "Universal Clipboard" feature

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Dick Kirkland]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:89.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/89.0

Steps to reproduce:

Copying text or web addresses from my iOS device's Chrome browser and then pasting them into the web address bar of the desktop version of Firefox produces a blank paste or no data. This is a feature from Apple™ called "Universal Clipboard" that works in tandem with Bluetooth and Apple's "Handoff" software. It is a major productivity enhancement that allows for content to be quickly pasted from device to desktop.

Actual results:

Usually copying from the iOS version of Chrome and pasting web addresses or content into the Firefox desktop browser works properly. Now, when pasting into Firefox's desktop version, nothing can be seen when pasting. However, the copies or copy command used on the iOS device's Chrome browser can be pasted into other browsers or software applications. Since maybe the latest version of iOS Chrome, Firefox, and/or my new MacBook purchase, this workflow was seamless.

I realize that this may be an issue that has nothing to do with Firefox.
I noticed that when using Firefox on iOS, I can copy and paste web addresses from this browser and have them paste & appear in the desktop Firefox browser as usual. Mentioning this as a bug, but may actually be a feature request. This process used to work before from iOS chrome to Firefox desktop. I do notice that when copying contacts from the iOS chrome browser, it does allow me to paste this into the Firefox desktop browser. However, web addresses from the mobile version of Chrome cannot be copied and pasted into Firefox for the desktop.

Expected results:

Usually, I'll copy web addresses from my mobile/iOS Chrome browser and then paste them into the desktop version of Firefox. Then, I can just navigate on from the web addresses to those websites.

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Core::Widget: Cocoa' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please revert this change in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[knoa]

Although it seems to be a different condition, almost the same issue has happened to me recently, maybe for many months or so.
The only condition is when I use iOS Safari's share button to copy the URL and try to paste it on Mac Firefox.

FAIL:

iOS Safari > [Share button] > [Copy]
-> paste on Mac Firefox > FAIL
(the "copied" URL can be pasted on any other Mac apps even after the failure on Firefox)

SUCCESS:

iOS Safari > [Address bar] > copy the URL as a text
iOS Safari > long press any link text > [Copy Link]
iOS Firefox > [Menu button] > [Copy Link]
iOS Chrome > [Share button] > [Copy]
-> paste on any Mac apps including Firefox > SUCCESS

--
iOS 18.3.2
macOS Sequoia 15.3.2 (24D81)
Firefox 137.0b6 and 138.0a1 (2025-03-16) (64-bit)

Comment 3

[Nishu Sheth [:nishu]]

Attachment: Bug 1717071 - Allow copying URLs from iOS devices and pasting them into Firefox on MacOS, using Apple's "Universal Clipboard" feature

Comment 4

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

Hi Nishu, I don't have this setup so I'm unable to test myself. Could you explain your patch? And since this was reported as a regression, were you able to pinpoint a patch that broke this?

Comment 5

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/99a94b48941a
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/c69dbf06208e
Allow copying URLs from iOS devices and pasting them into Firefox on MacOS, using Apple's "Universal Clipboard" feature r=mac-reviewers,masayuki,bradwerth

Comment 6

[amarc]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/c69dbf06208e

Comment 7

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

:nishu, could you consider nominating this for a release note? (Process info)

Comment 8

[Nishu Sheth [:nishu]]

Release Note Request (optional, but appreciated)
[Why is this notable]: Improves cross-device copy and paste between iOS and macOS.
[Affects Firefox for Android]: No
[Suggested wording]: On macOS, URLs copied from iOS devices using Apple’s Universal Clipboard now paste correctly in Firefox.
[Links (documentation, blog post, etc)]: N/A

Comment 9

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

Thanks, added to the Fx151 nightly release notes, please allow 30 minutes for the site to update.
Keeping the relnote-firefox flag as ? to keep it on the radar for inclusion in the final Fx151 release notes.

Comment 10

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

Added to the final Fx151 release notes