Official documentation

Secure clipboard handling

Android Developers, n.d.

Read on October 17, 2026

What it is: Google's guidance for Android developers on clipboard risks. It describes how clipboard access differs by Android version and how apps can mark sensitive content.
How much weight it carries: Official Google developer documentation. Behavior differs by Android version, so an older phone may behave differently from the versions described, and the page does not list every app's clipboard use.

Facts taken from this source

Google says that Android versions older than Android 10 let background apps read clipboard information from the foreground app.
“Android versions older than Android 10 (API level 29) allow background applications to access foreground app clipboard information” (Enforce Latest Android Versions section)
From Android 12, Google shows a toast each time an app reads and pastes clipboard data, which makes attacks harder to miss.
“From Android 12 onwards (API level 31), every time an application accesses data within the clipboard and pastes it, a toast message is shown to the user, making it more difficult for attacks to go unnoticed” (Secure clipboard handling, version differences)