Apple Announces Copy and Paste for iPhone 3.0

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

As widely rumored (yep, Kevin Rose was right!), Apple announced Copy and Paste today for iPhone OS 3.0, with "cut" relegated to apps that support it (?).

It works differently in different apps, this is what we can figure out:

Mail & Notes (and 3rd party?): double tap to begin. Drag small delineator icons to start and end of text string you want to copy.

Safari (and embedded browsers): Tap and hold to begin. Selects blocks of text.

Photos: Tap the action button to begin. Select multiple photos to paste into email. (Unknown if Apple will scale or compress before sending?)

Universally, it appears you can shake the iPhone to undo which while gimmicking, is also all kinds of awesome. You can also select paragraphs by holding your finger down on them, and Copy and Paste WILL pick up HTML including text formatting and links!

[Photo via Apple Insider]

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.