As with every new version of the operating system, Android 13 brings some seemingly trivial but ultimately life-changing new features. Google has introduced a new clipboard that offers even more possibilities. Plus, there’s one more safety feature you should definitely be aware of. kwgeek shows you how to use the new squeeze.
Google introduced a new clipboard in Android 13. Now that the OS has been released for Google’s Pixels, we were able to test the new copy and paste system. In this article, I’ll show you all the new possibilities of the Android 13 clipboard. But before that, you have to consider two fundamental changes after updating to Android 13.
Check out our list of smartphones that will receive Android 13. Currently, you can install the OneUI 5.0 beta on Samsung’s Galaxy S22s in addition to Google’s Pixels. With ColorOS 13, Oppo has also shown an Android 13-based overlay.
Auto clear sync
On the web, the media warned about Android 13’s new clipboard. In fact, Google will automatically delete sensitive content you copy after an hour. This should protect your data from malware that snoops on your clipboard in a targeted manner. Obviously, you run the risk of losing important information. So be careful when copying passwords and security keys.
Another topic more generally related to the clipboard is synchronization between Android devices. If you copy content to an Android tablet, passages of text or images may be pasted on the tablet using the same Google Account. Apple offers similar functionality between the iPad, iPhone, and MacBook, so I can assure you that this feature is very useful.
How Google’s new clipboard works
The copied content can finally be modified
On Android, you can copy text with a long press. On the Google Pixel 6, we got very clear vibration feedback and the ability to select the desired text with a finger. Then we choose “Copy” in the dialog above the selected text, and that’s where the first change comes in. In Android 12, the marker just disappeared and you can see in Gboard that the text has been copied.
You can now edit the copied content. / © kwgeek
As with the screenshot, you will now see a brief preview of the copied text at the bottom left. Clicking it will allow you to edit the clipboard again. If all is well, you can press “Done” and insert the text elsewhere as usual. To do this, long-press on an empty text field and tap “Paste”. You can also press the clipboard in the Google Gboard keyboard.
Easily transfer copied text
Since we’re talking about text: you’ll also find a share button next to the small window at the bottom left of the screen after copying the content. Here you can enable nearby sharing or send a text to the messenger of your choice. You won’t have more possibilities, but this feature is really useful.
If you don’t want to change anything, you can just press the share dialog / © kwgeek
Copy images and tag them before transfer
In addition to text, you can also copy images found on the Internet, for example. To do this, click on the desired image again and the clipboard dialog will appear at the bottom left of the screen. If you click here on the image, the Google markup feature will turn on. This is a mini image editor that allows you to mark elements on images or add text indications.
Images will be edited directly in Google Markup. / © kwgeek
Again, tap “Done” when you’re done, then long-press the “Insert” key in the Mail or Messages app to insert the image. As with text, you’ll again be able to select the share dialog to share images directly in other apps.
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Overall, I found Android 13’s new clipboard to be very handy. But what do you think? Let me know in the comments!