Getting started
Getting started
The essentials for trying WhatTheClip and building a simple everyday workflow.
What does WhatTheClip include?
The complete WhatTheClip workflow handles text, links, images, screenshots, and local files. It includes history through 80 items, unlimited App Profiles, 10 favourite slots per profile, image compression presets, and a keyboard overlay for navigating and returning to the previous target app.
What is the difference between WhatTheClip Free and WhatTheClip?
WhatTheClip Free is the focused text-and-link edition: 10 history items, 2 App Profiles, and 3 slots per profile. WhatTheClip is the planned paid-upfront Mac App Store edition: history through 80, unlimited App Profiles, 10 slots per profile, and support for text, links, images, screenshots, and local files.
Neither edition is available yet. See the edition comparison or the current release status.
What is an App Profile?
An App Profile groups the favourite slots you use in a particular workflow. A support profile might contain replies and links, while a coding profile might contain snippets and review comments.
WhatTheClip Free supports 2 profiles with 3 slots each. The planned Mac App Store WhatTheClip edition supports unlimited profiles with 10 numbered slots in each profile.
Is WhatTheClip long-term storage or a backup?
No. WhatTheClip is a focused tool for active copy-and-paste work. Recent history is intentionally bounded, and favourite slots are for reusable working material.
Keep important originals in the document, source control, asset library, or password manager where they belong. Read how the workflow fits together and why clipboard history is not a backup.
When will WhatTheClip be available, and what will it cost?
Neither edition is available yet, and no release date has been announced. WhatTheClip Free is planned as a $0 direct download. WhatTheClip is planned as a US$12.99 paid-upfront Mac App Store app in the United States; Apple will display and charge the localized price for each storefront.
The Download page shows the current Free release status, and the Pricing page keeps both edition statuses together.
Capabilities and availability
Capabilities and availability
A practical look at the current workflow, its deliberate limits, and where to view release status.
How much clipboard history does WhatTheClip keep?
WhatTheClip Free keeps 10 history items. The planned Mac App Store WhatTheClip edition lets you configure history through 80 items. Both are for active work, not long-term storage or backup.
Can WhatTheClip keep images and files?
The planned Mac App Store WhatTheClip edition handles text, links, images, screenshots, and local files. WhatTheClip Free is intentionally limited to text and links.
How will WhatTheClip receive updates?
The Mac App Store edition is planned to use App Store updates. The update method for the direct Free edition has not been announced. The Download page will show the current Free build and installation details when it is ready.
There is no public lifetime-updates promise.
Privacy and your Mac
Privacy and your Mac
Clear answers about where clipboard data stays, which permissions are used, and what to expect when you paste.
Does WhatTheClip upload clipboard content?
WhatTheClip keeps managed clipboard payloads on the Mac. It has no CloudKit clipboard sync, remote clipboard processing, product analytics, or remote application logging.
Managed payload files are encrypted locally with a Keychain-backed key. Titles, previews, timestamps, profile names, and slot metadata can remain visible locally so the app can present and organise saved items. Read the Privacy Policy and Security page for the precise boundary.
How does WhatTheClip handle protected or password-manager clipboard items?
WhatTheClip skips items marked as concealed, transient, auto-generated, or carrying known password-manager clipboard markers. Ordinary copied secrets without those markers can still enter local history.
Keep passwords and other durable secrets in a password manager, and review the precise boundary on the Security page.
Which permissions does it need?
Clipboard access supports history. Accessibility supports user-triggered paste into the previous app. Input Monitoring supports global shortcuts and overlay navigation while another app is active. File access only applies to copied or explicitly selected local files, and Keychain stores the local payload-encryption key.
The Permissions Guide explains what each capability does and how to disable it.
What happens if automatic paste does not work in an app?
You can still paste manually. WhatTheClip uses the standard macOS Command-V path after restoring the previous target, but the destination app controls whether it accepts automatic paste. If it does not, the selected content remains available for your own Command-V.
Which Macs are supported?
WhatTheClip supports Apple silicon Macs running macOS 14 or later.