Film fans were amazed how Tom Cruise dragged files across screens in 2002’s sci-fi cop blockbuster Minority Report just by flicking his fingers between them.
And now shocked iPhone users have discovered with a little-known feature they can feel like they’re in the future by literally dragging and dropping to copy and paste between devices.
TikTok user @_zoey_stein learned the ‘copy and paste hack’ from the social media platform and filmed herself and a friend trying to use it for the first time.
They tried dragging a photo from an iPhone to an iPad by pinching but it did not seem to work, causing the girls to laugh and say: ‘This is so weird.’
The Apple tech user tried again and, after initially pinching her fingers the wrong way, successfully copied the photo to an iPad by spreading her fingers on the screen.
Shocked iPhone users have discovered with a little-known feature they can feel like they’re in the future by literally dragging and dropping to copy and paste between devices
The Universal Clipboard feature was introduced across Apple products, including iPads, in 2016 – and it lets you copy and paste between devices by pinching your fingers together on one screen, and then opening them on another
Film fans were amazed how Tom Cruise dragged files across screens in 2002’s sci-fi cop blockbuster Minority Report (pictured) just by flicking his fingers between them – and this little-known iPhone feature feels just like it
And as the file was moved over the pair whooped in joy and exclaimed: ‘You did it!’
The clip was shared on Twitter by user @Bornakang, who said: ‘I had apple devices most of my life and still barely know how to use em.’
One iPhone user was similarly surprised to discover the feature, replying: ‘No way, since when.’
Another said: ‘I was today years old when I learned this.’
One jokester replied: ‘How do your fingers remember the data, tho?’
And one other said: ‘What kind of witchcraft did I just witness’?
The Universal Clipboard feature was introduced across Apple products, including iPads, in 2016 – and it lets you copy and paste between devices by pinching your fingers together on one screen, and then opening them on another.
The tech giant uses iCloud as a glue to connect all your Apple devices together if you quickly need to copy something from one device, like your Macbook, to another.
To use Universal Clipboard with the pinching features your iPhone or iPad needs to be running iOS 13 or later but Universal Clipboard itself runs on iOS 10. iPads need to be running iPadOS 13 and Macs need to be on macOS10.12 or later.
Both devices need to be signed in with the same Apple ID, and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Handoff need to be switched on.
On their website, Apple explain you need to pinch closed with three fingers to copy, do it twice to cut, and pinch open with three fingers to paste.
