When it comes to smartphones, the ability to copy and paste any text from one app to another makes our lives so much easier. If you think about it, this is one simple feature we cannot live without and believe it or not, it makes things productive in different scenarios. For instance, while working on projects, we need to copy and paste stuff from browser to notes. While most apps including the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Twitter etc. include the ability to copy text, there are a few apps and UI elements, where the text is not available to select and copy.
For instance, you cannot copy Twitter bios or text from Instagram, YouTube etc. So, if you want the ability to copy text from any app, we are here to help you out with that. Here’s how you can copy and paste unselectable text on Android:-
Universal Copy for Android
Universal Copy is a nifty app that works through OCR technology and makes it easy for you to copy text from fields that are disabled by the developers. Once the app is installed, you will have to enable its services and also give it permission to operate on top of other apps in the Android Accessibility Settings.
Once the permission is granted and the services are running, you will see a persistent notification of Universal Copy in the notification shade.
Whenever you want to copy a text that’s restricted by Android, just pull down the notification drawer from the top and tap on the Universal Copy option. Then, you will get an option to select the text you’d like to copy. When the selection is done, tap on the Copy option that’s on the top right corner of the screen. Once done, the selected text will be instantly copied to the clipboard. It’s important to note that you can select multiple snippets from the same screen and copy them to the clipboard.
Now, open the app you would like to paste the text in and long tap on the text field and tap the paste option to paste the text. It’s that simple and works like a charm. However, since the app works on OCR technology, you might get some false detection but chances of that are minimal and it only happens when special characters and emoticons are involved.
Why use Universal Copy
There are various apps in the Play Store, which let you copy restricted text on Android but here are a couple of reasons to support Universal Copy’s superiority:
1. Firstly, Universal Copy is free to download & use, without any restrictions and there are no ads in the app to hinder your copy/paste experience. Other alternative apps available in the Play Store are mostly available as trial versions, with the pro versions priced around $2.9 to $4.99. Moreover, these apps do incorporate ads in their trial version, which can result in an annoying experience.
2. Also, most of the other apps include a fairly lengthy process to copy text from restricted apps. These apps ask you to take a screenshot of the page you would like to copy the text from and then share that screenshot with the app. Next, they require you to crop the image in order to select the text and wait for OCR. Seems quite a bit of hard work, doesn’t it? On the other hand, Universal Copy doesn’t require you to take any screenshots and does a quick OCR to select text, which makes the process pretty easy.
Where Universal Copy Fails to Work and Alternatives
While Universal Copy works great for text in English, it doesn’t yet support other foreign languages like Chinese, Hindi, etc. So, if you would like to copy text in languages other than English, you might want to try Copy – Text On Screen. It supports a ton of languages, available through an additional installation of language pack. However, the app requires you to take screenshots for OCR.
The trial version of Copy – Text on Screen comes with ads and can be installed for testing purposes. If you like the app, it can be bought for $4.99. The app also features a text editor, which basically lets you edit the text you just copied.
SEE ALSO: How to Reverse Tether Your Computer Internet to Android
That’s Not All
So, that covers how you can copy and paste anything and everything you see on your Android screen. While we are talking about clipboards, you must also check out Clipper – Clipboard Manager for Android, which lets you copy multiple texts, access your clipboard history and organize clippings in lists. So, that’s all from our side folks, get copying with Universal Copy and do let us know if you come across any problems.
Abubakar Mohammed
