# Clipboard background monitoring

To get **copy-and-record** behavior, the app needs to keep watching the system clipboard for changes in the background. That is what we mean by **clipboard background monitoring**.

> [!TIP] Just want to turn it on quickly?
> Jump to the [quick enable guide](/features/source/background-monitoring/quick-start) for per-platform paths and a comparison of the Android methods (Shizuku / Accessibility / Root).

## What background monitoring does

Background monitoring does one thing:

> When the system clipboard changes, read the new content once and save it as a clip.

It does **not**:

- Record your keyboard input
- Capture screenshots or screen recordings
- “Peek” at anything when you have not copied content

In technical terms: **listen for clipboard change events → read the current clipboard → write to clip history**.

## How it runs on each platform (brief)

Depending on platform limits, behavior differs slightly:

- **Windows / macOS**: After you open the app, it can run in a background process and reliably keep listening for clipboard changes.
- **Android**: Because of system limits, background monitoring may rely on a foreground service, accessibility, or specific system APIs; you may need extra authorization and configuration.
- **iOS**: Because of system limits, the app can only listen for clipboard changes while it is in the foreground. We provide Shortcuts and similar tools to help you get closer to **copy and record** in practice.

In the app, switches such as **Sources → Clipboard → enable source** or **Sources → Clipboard → background monitoring** control whether this behavior is on.

## Privacy design principles

Background monitoring follows these design principles:

- **Minimal necessity**: Only the clipboard—not keyboard, screen, or unrelated data
- **Local-first**: Clips are stored on the device first; whether to upload or sync is your choice
- **Visible and controllable**: In Settings you can:
  - Turn off or pause background monitoring
  - Clear clip history
  - Exclude specific sources or apps (“do not filter / do not record”)

## When to turn off background monitoring

Consider turning it off temporarily if you:

- Are handling highly sensitive data (IDs, passwords, etc.) and do not want it recorded
- Are using a shared or temporary device
- Only need certain features for a short time and do not need long-running recording

You can pause background monitoring or use an app exclusion list so specific scenarios are not recorded.

## Next steps

:::cards{cols=2}
:::card{title="Quick enable guide" icon="lucide.toggle-right" href="/features/source/background-monitoring/quick-start"}
Per-platform enable paths and limits at a glance.

:::
:::card{title="Clip history overview" icon="lucide.history" href="/features/clip-history/overview"}
Find and organize clips after they are captured.

:::
:::card{title="First-run troubleshooting" icon="lucide.triangle-alert" href="/getting-started/first-run-troubleshooting"}
When copies never reach history or behavior looks wrong.

:::
:::card{title="Background monitoring unstable" icon="lucide.timer-off" href="/advanced/troubleshooting/background-monitoring-unstable"}
Flaky capture, app kills, battery policies.
:::
:::