Looking for clipboard manager candidates that work (syncs) with both iOS and Mac.
I have looked at Pycopaste and Paste - Endless Clipboard. I don’t mind paying but trying to avoid another iOS keyboard.
Any other candidates I should consider?
I’ve used Paste but switched to PastePal a while back as it’s a one-time purchase.
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I’ll second Copy’em. It’s the first app I install on every new device. Their other app, Paste Queue, is also handy if you find yourself moving a bunch of individual clips from one or more places to another place or places (for instance, when I’m publishing a newsletter at work and need to move the heading, subheading, summary, content, etc. from Word into individual fields in our CMS).
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Using PastePal on multiple devices it’s possible to have an always running background clipboard from iOS/iPadOS. Easy to set-up.
Assuming the shared clipboard is turned on via Handoff an old iPad (I’m using an iPad Air 2) can be left with PastePal running in the foreground. Have it set to monitor the clipboard. Turn on iCloud sync in PastePal (requires purchase).
Anything I copy on my iPad Pro will automatically copy to PastePal on the Air 2 then sync to iCloud. Has been working perfectly and nearly instantly for months.
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I’m using Paste (through Setapp), and I think it’s very good. I prefer it to the other two I’ve used, which is PasteBot and the one built into Raycast. But I think I’d try PastePal if I weren’t using like 15 apps in Setapp already. 
I just really like the way it previews stuff (including hex colours), and that I can organise and edit snippets. The search is also great, and it’s just pretty smooth, like how you can drag and drop as well.
Apple has completely neutered clipboard managers on iOS, though - so I almost never use it there. But I use it for two things (very rarely): Search for something I’ve copied, and to get to my snippets. It works fine for this. I like that you can access the history both through the app itself and a keyboard.
But again, I almost never access it on iOS - but I’m not sure how much more they could do there than what they’re already doing… What are your needs and wants for the iOS portion?
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My needs for iOS - just access to the last few text/snippets that I’ve copied. Nothing fancy. It’d be great if I had access to the stuff I’ve copies across Mac and iOS. I do NOT want another iOS keyboard.
There is a whole MPU episode about clipboard managers:
I used Paste for a while and it is pretty good, except for the subscription. I’m now using Alfred’s clipboard manager, but its a bit too basic for my taste. I’m looking for a replacement. I’ll probably just return to Paste.
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I’ve checked out numerous clipboard managers over the years, and Paste is my favourite. I like the visual interface and feature set. The iPhone/iPad app + keyboard works well, even though it’s not as convenient to use as the Mac app due to iOS/iPadOS limitations. I get Patse as part of Setapp, which is a bonus (though I like it enough that I’d subscribe even if it weren’t part of Setapp).
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Well, Paste allows you to access your snippets through the app and an iOS keyboard. I’m not quite sure why you find the first one way better than the latter, but you can just not turn on the keyboard if you want. 
The clipboard manager in Raycast, free version, does everything I need a manager to do. And it launches apps, launches shortcuts, finds files …
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The problem I found with using Paste was that it never quite clicked that the automatic sync only went Mac → iOS. I always wanted it to be bidirectional, but never remembered to actually switch over to the keyboard to save anything on iOS, which was endlessly frustrating when I would later realize I’d lost something I thought was saved because I had forgotten to activate the clipboard. So Paste got the axe—I’m not interested in managing my clipboard manager.
Now I at least remember to be deliberate about moving things over somehow (“throwing the switch,” as David would say). Hyperduck is great for ephemera that I want to take a closer look at later, but don’t care enough about retaining to clutter up any inboxes (it’s also vastly superior to AirDrop for self-serving between devices). Everything else goes to Drafts, Goodlinks, or DEVONthink.
I use Alfred for text snippets and replacement on my desktop, but any static text replacements I need on iOS have alternate configurations set up through Settings → Keyboard → Text Replacement. This is because I typically use special characters to prefix or suffix text snippets on my desktop, but dislike having to switch to the second keyboard layer on iOS. For example, my Alfred snippet to enter my iCloud email is @@ic, but the system text replacement is kkic (k is for keyboard).
The only variable snippet I really wish I had on iOS is inserting a date code for the current date, formatted as YYYYMMDD. I haven’t tried it out yet, but there is a command-line tool suited for this exact purpose that I learned about over in this Automators thread a couple of weeks ago:
The idea is to programatically update a system text replacement on macOS, then sync that over to iOS.
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Same here. Went from Paste to PastePal. It does what it needs te do and it ticks the boxes for what you’ve asked for.
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It’s seems a bit cumbersome to switch from keyboard to keyboard as I have a few I juggle already.
I love Alfred on the Mac but I haven’t seen an Alfred app on iOS that handles copy and paste.
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Yeah, I don’t disagree. I just also find it a bit cumbersome to open an app to get something from my clipboard. But what can you do, when the OS is as locked down as it is? 
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I like the concept of Paste, but it always crashes on iOS. I’ve been in contact with the developer many times over the years, reinstalling and deleting the database from iCoud, wiping all my clips on all platforms (bummer), and it inevitably ends up not working on iOS, either iPhone or iPhone or both. For example, right now, when I try to start it on iPhone, it won’t even open—it just flashes.
Then I’d check out Copy’em. If you haven’t loaded it in a while it can take a minute or so to sync, particularly if you’ve clipped a bunch of large files (photos, for instance), but other than that it works great.
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Are clipboard managers on iOS allowed to work in a useful way by iOS’s security model?
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Can’t wait for AltStore to be available in the EU (as a proper App Store) to try out Clip…