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Show HN: I built a universal clipboard that syncs realtime on multiple devices
I’m Gopal, the guy behind QuickClip.
I built this out of pure frustration. Copying items between my phone and laptop was very painful. Sending notes and links on WhatsApp. Saving random drafts I’d forget about. It was total waste of time.
So I made QuickClip for myself first. A dead simple way to move text, links and images between devices instantly. No setup drama. No thinking. Fully encrypted
I use it every day. Shipping it publicly now to see if anyone else has the same problem.
Would honestly love to hear, how you move stuff between devices today, what’s broken or slow and what would make this actually useful for you
Happy to answer anything and take suggestions. Thanks for checking it out.
- zekejohn 9mo agoi know a gemini 3 site when i see one lol, looks good tho! Does this work if you copy an image on your phone/laptop, will it sync to the other device?
- imgopaal 9mo agoYes, It works smoothly with texts and images both
- elicash 9mo ago> i know a gemini 3 site when i see one lol, looks good tho! Ha I thought the same. I created a website that's also in this neo-brutalist style and it has the same marquee. This reminds me of when everything used to look like default Bootstrap.
- shinycode 9mo agoI did something similar with Claude code, I did not write a single line of code and it’s hosted on cloudflare workers. With the free tier it’s enough for one person (and I feel safer to own and host my private data). Works beautifully. Your website does not show how it works, no screenshots, it would be better with it
- semyonsh 9mo agoThe website does not show anything on how the product is used, which is kind of important for me as a potential customer. Especially if it's going to be effectively handling my copy/pasting of sensitive information. Does it use some client, what do I need to install on my devices (if supported) and what permissions does it need etc? Instead I'm greeted by a login page. It's not transparent enough for me how the product is used before signing up and that's a huge turn off.
- imgopaal 9mo agoHi, Its a simple web application, nothing is required to install
- sakopov 9mo agoSo you copy/paste things into the app on one device then copy it from the app on another device?
- imgopaal 9mo agoexactly
- baobun 9mo agoAnd for but the price of a coffee per month you get both dark mode and markdown support!
- philipallstar 9mo agoOh! I thought it was more like a second copy keyboard shortcut that pushed to the cloud.
- phireal 9mo agoKDE Connect works fine for me and does more than clipboard (files, mouse sharing etc.).
- imgopaal 9mo agogreat
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- yoavm 9mo agoFor those of us on Linux, I've built clapboard - a lightweight clipboard manager that uses whatever dmenu-like system for GUI, and plain files as a storage backend. Because all the history is just files, you can easily sync it between devices with a tool like syncthing. Probably a bit more slower than 0.1s though! https://github.com/bjesus/clapboard https://github.com/bjesus/clapboard
- mentalgear 9mo agoneat!
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- janandonly 9mo agoI forgot that this was a problem for some. I’ve been op iPad iPhone and macOS for too long it guess.
- imgopaal 9mo agoyup, thats still a nightmare for a lot of people
- ValdikSS 9mo agoKDE Connect does that in LAN. Clipboard sync, file transfer, contacts, calls, remote control, etc.
- thebiblelover7 9mo agoAnd you can do it over any network if you pair it with tailscale. Tailscale + KDE Connect is such a time saver.
- utopiah 9mo agoAFAIR works also behind WireGuard.
- utopiah 9mo agoCame that for that, how is this different (not necessarily better) than KDE Connect which I already use daily?
- nicolas_17 9mo agoKDE Connect sends data directly between your devices, while QuickClip sends data through QuickClip servers using useless encryption.
- utopiah 9mo agoPrivacy minded user : "Eh... what, no." VC funding surveillance capitalism startups : "Here, take my money!" /$
- cdaringe 9mo agoInstalled. Thanks for sharing
- Someone 9mo ago> Would honestly love to hear, how you move stuff between devices today In cases where iOS/macOS misbehave, I use (IMAP) email without sending anything: - create new mail message - paste text or add attachments - save as draft - open draft on other device - copy out the data - delete draft Works reliably for not-too-large items
- imgopaal 9mo agocool
- sudopsuedo 9mo agohttps://www.quickclip.space/data-deletion https://www.quickclip.space/data-deletion .>client apps are not open source .>data-deletion page seems to imply servers are storing images/files copied to the clipboard .>"end-to-end encrypted" in the marketing materials.
- bstsb 9mo agoto be fair the data can be stored and still be "end-to-end encrypted", depending on delivery method
- imgopaal 9mo agoClarified: it's server-side encryption with per-user keys, not true E2EE. Added https://quickclip.space/data-security https://quickclip.space/data-security explaining the approach. Open source is under consideration. Thanks for pushing for transparency.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- sixtyj 9mo agoCopy API keys I would add examples how data encryption works. This is so sensitive topic. But if you explain it nicely, people could use the service. I would add FAQ. Boxes seem like I can read more but I can’t.
- imgopaal 9mo agothanks, I would work on that
- imgopaal 9mo agoAdded https://quickclip.space/data-security https://quickclip.space/data-security with encryption details. FAQ coming soon. Thanks for the feedback—explaining encryption clearly is important.
- Closi 9mo agoOn the site: > So while the image URLs aren't encrypted, they're still secure. Only you can access your images. This isn't true though - and presumably you know it isn't true? You would be able to access and download all the images if you wanted to. > But we can't read the actual content of your encrypted items without your encryption key, and we don't have a reason to try. This is also misleading - because you do have the encryption key, so you can read the content if you want to. "We won't read the content even though we could, because we don't currently have a reason" is the actual state of affairs.
- nottorp 9mo agoFunny, i want Apple to STOP synchronizing my clipboard between devices. I'm doing different things on them and I don't need the last piece of code on my desktop to paste in the 'where do we go out tonight' chat on whatsapp on my phone. If I do want to move some info i'll message it to myself thank you.
- aprilnya 9mo agoYou can turn it off: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102430 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102430
- nottorp 9mo agoNo you can't. Turning off Handoff turns off everything that synchronizes between your devices, not just the clipboard. For example call and imessage forwarding. They decided to do it Gnome style and give the user no options.
- baobun 9mo ago> For Developers Would you mind sharing the source code? > Copy API keys ...yeah, I think that'd be a hard requirement. I don't think there is value in a cliboard-as-a-SaaS that is not self-hostable or even auditable. I think you are putting the cart before the horse and putting your users at risk by integrating credit card payments before sorting out the basics.
- ax0ar 9mo agoCool. I just wouldn't use it at all in its current form without more information on how you handle my data. Why should users trust you?
- imgopaal 9mo agoYeah fair point. QuickClip does store data in database, otherwise syncing between devices not possible. But here is how it works: - Data is encrypted when sending and also when sitting in database. - Stored only so your devices can fetch it, not for me or anyone else. - When you delete, it’s gone. I don’t keep logs of clipboard stuff. - I don’t look at your data, only your devices can see it. I know trust is big thing for clipboard app. I’ll write small “how it works” page so it’s more clear. Appreciate you asking this, makes sense.
- Oras 9mo agoYour footer “no rights reserved just kidding” is not helping with trust building either.
- imgopaal 9mo agofixed, thanks you for comment
- josephg 9mo agoWhere are the keys stored? If you encrypt the data but just have the keys in another database table, I don’t really see the point of having it encrypted at all. I agree with others. I wouldn’t use this unless I trust how you’re handling my data security. All sorts of highly sensitive passwords and security keys hit my clipboard.
- r0xsh 9mo agoClosed source ? i mean thanks for the project but not for me
- jzellis 9mo agoI sync my history between Fire/Waterfox on my phone and laptops, and since almost anything I wanna copy and paste is in the browser, I just open whatever it is from Other Devices. For files or images, I use LocalSend now for everything. Which is not to say there's not a big use case for this, but speaking only for myself, it's not a pain point. But it looks cool!
- imgopaal 9mo agoI also use localSend. Amazing tool
- dailen 9mo agoSo I just wanted to take a moment and say nice work I have a solution that works for me at the moment, although I should check if it's e2ee, but this is a great example of a simple SaaS that could really catch on and meet the niche needs of users. I like the design, I like the implementation, and I really like the price. Everyone and their 3rd cousin charges $5/month for for simple functions which I usually just pass on but yours is a great price point for the job. Will definitely repost on social media!
- imgopaal 9mo agoReally appreciate your insights. Thanks
- Retr0id 9mo agoI inspected the HTTP requests and this is absolutely not E2EE. Clipboard contents are POSTed as plaintext to https://www.quickclip.space/api/encrypt https://www.quickclip.space/api/encrypt, and can be decrypted later via https://www.quickclip.space/api/decrypt https://www.quickclip.space/api/decrypt Encryption appears to be in the openssl "Salted__" format (and base64 encoded). I can't infer the actual encryption algorithm configured, but it's an unauthenticated block cipher with 128-bit blocks, presumably in CBC mode, padded with PKCS7. Additionally, the same encryption key (whatever it is, I can't see it since it's stored on the server) is shared across all users (I tested this by decrypting a ciphertext from one account on a second account).
- Retr0id 9mo agoAlso, uploaded images are publicly reachable in plaintext and without auth: https://wjynmjluabqwqhtdxbtl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/clipboard-images/491a3113-b371-4680-a42b-26a517f1ae38/1767194245874-Screenshot_From_2025-12-24_07-44-29.png https://wjynmjluabqwqhtdxbtl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/c...
- foltik 9mo agoEven better, you can enumerate ALL USER UPLOADS with the token you get by typing a random email into the sign-up without verification. List all folders in the clipboard-images bucket (there's 5, guessing for each user): curl -X POST \ "https://wjynmjluabqwqhtdxbtl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/list/clipboard-images" \ -H "authorization: Bearer eyJXXXXXXXX" \ -H "content-type: application/json" \ -d '{"prefix": ""}' \ | jq List everything in a specific user's folder: curl -X POST \ "https://wjynmjluabqwqhtdxbtl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/list/clipboard-images" \ -H "authorization: Bearer eyJXXXXXXXX" \ -H "content-type: application/json" \ -d '{"prefix": "7b407af2-f30c-4e37-adc7-b7bf48f2661b"}' \ | jq For example: { "name": "1766836115975-Gopal_Resume.pdf", "id": "7ba4b09f-a0ab-4ce1-ae04-dc664be25b0f", "updated_at": "2025-12-27T11:48:36.761Z", "created_at": "2025-12-27T11:48:36.761Z", "last_accessed_at": "2025-12-27T11:48:36.761Z", "metadata": { "eTag": "\"eb528546d014c8756fc1d0fedc252cff\"", "size": 75023, "mimetype": "application/pdf", "cacheControl": "max-age=3600", "lastModified": "2025-12-27T11:48:37.000Z", "contentLength": 75023, "httpStatusCode": 200 } } https://wjynmjluabqwqhtdxbtl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/clipboard-images/7b407af2-f30c-4e37-adc7-b7bf48f2661b/1766836115975-Gopal_Resume.pdf https://wjynmjluabqwqhtdxbtl.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/c...
- Terretta 9mo agoSo, real time unencrypted pastes of password manager MFA digits from active user device to CC server? Cool cool. This is definitely not 1/2 of a smishing toolkit pretending to be a convenience utility.
- imgopaal 9mo agoThank you to everyone who took the time to review QuickClip and give honest feedback. I spent the day going through everything and fixing the issues that were pointed out, especially around security. You were right. The concerns were valid, and they’re now addressed. 1. Shared encryption key (Retr0id's main issue): Problem: All users shared one encryption key, so any user could decrypt any other user's data. Fix: Each user now has a unique encryption key derived via PBKDF2 from master key + user ID (10,000 iterations). Old items encrypted with the shared key are detected during decryption and automatically re-encrypted in the background with the new per-user key. Backward compatibility is maintained during the migration. 2. Public image access (Retr0id's second issue): Problem: Images were publicly accessible without authentication. Fix: Images now use signed URLs that expire after 1 year. The app automatically converts any public URLs to signed URLs. Storage bucket policies restrict access to user-specific folders. 3. Storage enumeration (foltik's issue): Problem: Could enumerate all user uploads with a sign-up token. Fix: Storage policies now restrict folder access by user ID. Still reviewing listing permissions to prevent enumeration. 4. E2EE misrepresentation: Problem: Marketing claimed "end-to-end encrypted" but it wasn't true E2EE. Fix: Added a /data-security page that explains: It's server-side encryption with per-user keys, not true E2EE Why server-side encryption was chosen (seamless cross-device sync) 5. Transparency issues: Problem: No information about how data is handled before signup. Fix: Added /data-security page with details. Link added to footer. Removed the footer joke that hurt trust. 6. Other fixes: Rate limits adjusted for encryption/decryption operations Background re-encryption for old items Proactive signed URL conversion for images What's still being worked on: Storage bucket listing permissions (enumeration prevention) Adding screenshots to landing page FAQ section Considering open source (evaluating) I appreciate the security review. The app is more secure now, and I'm committed to transparency about what it does and doesn't do. Check /data-security for the full explanation.
- fc417fc802 9mo agoPBKDF2 is outdated. You should be using Argon2. But, why use a key stretching algorithm for this particular scheme to begin with? What is it protecting against here? The master key is presumably high entropy. If someone gains access to the master key and breaks into your server a key stretching algorithm isn't going to help you. Lots of secrets get sent through the clipboard. Anything handling it either needs to be strictly local or E2EE. Otherwise everything is vulnerable if someone breaks into the server. It's also accessible by you at will regardless of any promises you might make to the contrary. Seamless cross device sync isn't an excuse. E2EE itself doesn't impede that whatsoever, only certain protocol choices that aren't (or at least don't need to be) relevant here.
- yablak 9mo agoSee also Push Go: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/push-go-for-pushbullet/dghndapbehjdbhiffbckojkhoennbofg https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/push-go-for-pushbul... ... works with Pushbullet apps.