How to Clear Clipboard on Mac, iPhone, and iPad (Quick Guide)

You copied something sensitive — a password, a 2FA code, a private note — and now you want it off the clipboard before the next app reads it. Or you just want to know how to clear the clipboard on Mac, iPhone, or iPad before you hand the device to someone else.

This is one of those questions that should have a one-line answer, and almost does. Here is the short version for each Apple platform, plus the slightly longer version if you also want to clear a clipboard history (which is a different problem with a different fix).

The short answer

• Mac: open Terminal and run pbcopy < /dev/null. The system clipboard is now empty.
• iPhone: copy a single space (or any throwaway character) from any app — the previous clipboard item is replaced.
• iPad: same as iPhone — copy a throwaway character.

If you also use a clipboard manager (Maccy, Paste, SnipTray), the steps above clear the current clipboard item but leave your history intact. Skip to the clipboard manager section for the full wipe.

How to clear the clipboard on Mac

There are three clean ways. Use whichever fits your workflow.

1. The one-liner in Terminal

The most direct method. Open Terminal (⌘Space → Terminal → Return) and run:

pbcopy < /dev/null

pbcopy writes its standard input to the clipboard; piping /dev/null writes nothing, which overwrites whatever was there. After running this, pbpaste will print nothing — the clipboard is genuinely empty.

If you do this often, alias it in your shell:

# in ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc
alias clipclear="pbcopy < /dev/null"

2. Copy something throwaway

If you do not want to open Terminal, the easiest method is to copy a single character (a space, a period) from any app. The new clipboard item replaces the old sensitive one. Crude but effective.

3. A one-tap Apple Shortcut

For something repeatable without opening Terminal, build an Apple Shortcut:

1. Open Shortcuts on Mac.
2. Add the action Copy to Clipboard with the value left empty.
3. Save the shortcut as “Clear Clipboard”.
4. (Optional) Bind a keyboard shortcut to it in Shortcuts settings, or pin it to the Menu Bar.

One click and your clipboard is empty.

For the bigger picture of how the Mac clipboard actually works under the hood, see How to access clipboard history on Mac.

How to clear the clipboard on iPhone or iPad

iOS does not expose a direct “clear clipboard” command, but the same trick works: copy something throwaway to overwrite the previous item.

1. Copy a space (or anything you do not mind)

Open Notes. Type a space. Select it, tap Copy. The clipboard now contains a single space — whatever was there before is gone.

2. Use an Apple Shortcut

For a repeatable one-tap solution:

1. Open Shortcuts on iPhone or iPad.
2. Add the action Copy to Clipboard with the value left empty.
3. Save as “Clear Clipboard”.
4. (Optional) Add it to your Home Screen, your Action Button on iPhone 15 Pro and later, or your Lock Screen.

Tap the shortcut and your iOS clipboard is wiped.

3. Restart the device (heavy-handed)

A reboot clears the system clipboard along with most other in-memory state. Useful if you suspect more than just the clipboard needs clearing.

What about Universal Clipboard?

If Universal Clipboard was syncing the sensitive item to your other Apple devices, clearing it on one device does not actively clear it on the others — but the next time anything new is copied on any device, the old item is replaced everywhere. Copy a throwaway character on your Mac too, just to be safe. For more on cross-device clipboard quirks, see How to copy and paste between iPhone and Mac.

Clearing clipboard manager history (the part most guides miss)

If you have a clipboard manager installed (Maccy, Paste, SnipTray, Pastebot, Raycast, etc.), clearing the system clipboard with the steps above does not clear the manager’s history. That history is a separate database the app maintains.

To clear it properly, you usually need to:

1. Open the clipboard manager.
2. Find the “Clear History” or “Wipe All” command — typically in the app’s main menu, the tray’s settings, or Preferences → History.
3. Confirm. Most apps will ask once before wiping irreversibly.

For SnipTray specifically:

• Open SnipTray, click the gear icon, choose Clear History to wipe the local database on this Mac.
• If you have iCloud sync enabled on Pro, this also propagates the clear to your iPhone and iPad through your private iCloud container.
• For ongoing peace of mind, configure auto-clear in Settings → Privacy — choose 1 hour, 1 day, or 1 week. After that interval, items are automatically expired.

How to make sure sensitive items never get recorded in the first place

Clearing after the fact is reactive. Better defenses are proactive: stop the sensitive item from being recorded at all.

In a properly-configured clipboard manager:

• Auto-detection of passwords, 2FA codes (TOTP), and credit-card-shaped numbers — recognized and skipped automatically.
• App exclusion list — copies from 1Password, Bitwarden, KeePassXC, Apple Passwords, and Authy are never recorded.
• Honoring the org.nspasteboard.ConcealedType flag — apps that mark their clipboard items as “concealed” (most password managers do) have those items skipped.

SnipTray ships with all three on by default. If your clipboard manager does not, that is the bigger issue — for a full safety checklist, see Are clipboard managers safe? What to check before you install one.

Frequently asked questions

Why is there no “Clear Clipboard” menu item in macOS?

Apple’s design treats the clipboard as ephemeral — it expects you to overwrite the current item by copying something new. A dedicated “clear” command was never added. The Terminal one-liner is the closest equivalent.

Does restarting my Mac clear the clipboard?

Yes. The system clipboard is held in memory by the pboard process and does not persist across reboots. A full restart guarantees an empty clipboard.

Does emptying Trash clear the clipboard?

No — these are unrelated. Emptying Trash deletes files; the clipboard is system memory.

How do I clear an image or file from the clipboard?

The same techniques work for non-text items: pbcopy < /dev/null on Mac, or copy a throwaway character on iOS. The clipboard is type-agnostic; replacing it with anything new (including emptiness) clears what was there.

Does Universal Clipboard expire on its own?

Yes. Universal Clipboard items expire from the cross-device buffer after about two minutes. After that, only the device that did the original copy still has the item locally; the others have already let it go. If yours is misbehaving, see Universal Clipboard not working: 12 fixes.

Will a clipboard manager record passwords I forgot to exclude?

A well-designed one will not — it auto-detects passwords by shape and skips them. SnipTray does this by default. If you used a different app that captured a password, clear its history immediately and add your password manager to its exclusion list. See Are clipboard managers safe? for the broader picture.

The bottom line

To clear the clipboard on Mac, run pbcopy < /dev/null in Terminal, or bind a one-action Apple Shortcut to do the same. On iPhone and iPad, copy a throwaway character from any app, or use a Shortcut.

If you have a clipboard manager, also clear its history through the app’s settings — and turn on auto-detection of sensitive content so the cleanup is not something you have to remember.

Try SnipTray free — and the passwords, 2FA codes, and credit-card numbers that should never be on your clipboard will not be, by default.