Named UIPasteboard between apps?

Question

Is it possible to use a named UIPasteboard (ie, not the global one) to transfer data between two apps?

• the apps are completely independent of each other, so have different bundle IDs from different vendors
• I'd like to use a named pasteboard, so the user's own content in the global pasteboard is not overwritten

Apple's docs say:

Pasteboards may be public or private. Public pasteboards are called system pasteboards; private pasteboards are created by applications, and hence are called application pasteboards.

The implication is that a pasteboard can be either "global and public" or "named and private".

I created two apps, with different bundle IDs, and seem to be able to pass stuff from one app to the other using a private named pasteboard. But is that just a feature of the iOS Simulator, or something which really supported but not well documented?

Thanks for any insight!

Answer 1

You can set a custom string for your pasteboard value and use that across your apps so your apps have to access the value with your unique string:

UIPasteboard *pasteboard = [UIPasteboard pasteboardWithName:@"youruniquestring" create:YES];

[pasteboard setPersistent:YES];

//save the unique identifier string that we created earlier
[pasteboard setString:@"your message"];

Answer 2

It’s supported. Keep in mind, though, that the named pasteboard will disappear if both apps that set it up are deleted, so don’t use it to store anything you don’t have a backup of.

Answer 3

If you use named pasteboard then the data can be transferred from your app to other app with same team IDs. I haven't tested yet but I don't think so you can do the same for apps of different vendors!

Apple doc says:

You can create named pasteboards with the class methods init(name:create:) and withUniqueName() for sharing data within your app and from your app to other apps that have the same Team ID.