---
title: Capturing on an iPhone | Relic Help
description: Two ways to get something into Relic on an iPhone or an iPad: the share sheet in any app, and a Shortcut you can put on Back Tap or the Action Button.
canonical: https://relic.space/help/capture-on-iphone
source: https://relic.space/llms.txt
---
Capture

# Capturing on an iPhone or iPad

Two ways to get something into Relic on an iPhone or an iPad: the share sheet in any app, and a Shortcut you can put on Back Tap or the Action Button.

Updated 10 September 2026 · iPhone and iPad

## [Why it is a tap and not automatic](#why)

On a computer, Relic watches the clipboard and keeps everything you copy without being asked. An iPhone does not allow that. Only the app you are looking at, or your keyboard, may read the clipboard, and there is no way for an app to sit in the background and watch.

So on an iPhone or an iPad, capture is something you do. There are two ways to do it.

## [Share to Relic](#share-sheet)

This is the one to learn first, because it needs no setup at all. In any app, tap **Share** and pick **Relic**. Text, images, PDFs, links and files all land in your vault.

It is also the only way to get in things you cannot copy as text. A photo, a PDF from your mail, the page you are reading: share it and Relic keeps the file itself.

Relic shows a walkthrough of both routes the first time you connect this device to your vault. You can open it again any time from the settings sheet, under **Set up quick capture**.

## [Make a Shortcut](#shortcut)

The second route saves whatever is on your clipboard without opening anything by hand. It uses Apple's own Shortcuts app, so you build it once and then forget it exists.

1. Create a Shortcut
Open the **Shortcuts** app. Make a new shortcut, add an action, and pick **Open URLs**.
2. Point it at Relic
Set the URL to Relic's capture address, and name the shortcut Capture to Relic.
snippet
relic://capture
3. Bind it to a gesture
Go to Settings›Accessibility›Touch›Back Tap›Double Tap and pick **Capture to Relic**. On iPhone 15 Pro and later you can map the Action Button to it instead.
4. Use it
Copy anything, then double-tap the back of your iPhone. Relic opens and takes your clipboard.

Back Tap and the Action Button are iPhone features. On an iPad, run the same shortcut from the Shortcuts app, from Spotlight, or put it on your Home Screen.

## [Using the Shortcut](#using-it)

**Copy anything, then double-tap the back of your iPhone (or press the Action Button).** It is saved to your vault.

* Relic has to come to the front to read the clipboard, because that is the only moment iOS lets it. It opens, takes what is there, and you go back with a swipe.
* iOS may ask you to allow the paste. That prompt belongs to the system, and it is asking whether Relic may read what you copied in another app.
* Share the same thing twice and Relic tells you instead of adding it again: _Already in Relic_.

On a phone, everything you send to Relic is a deliberate act, so it goes straight to your Vault and never expires. That is what this switch does, and it starts on:

Auto-save to Vault

New captures go straight to your Vault

Settings on your phone › Capture › Auto-save to Vault: toggle, default on.

The rest of the sheet is in [Settings on your phone](https://relic.space/help/settings-on-your-phone). Anything that looks like a key or a token is hidden behind dots in the list: see [Secrets](https://relic.space/help/secrets). On Android the routes in are different again, and one of them is a Quick Settings tile: see [Capturing on Android](https://relic.space/help/capture-on-android).

Related

[Capturing on AndroidCapture](https://relic.space/help/capture-on-android)[Settings on your phoneSettings reference](https://relic.space/help/settings-on-your-phone)[SecretsCapture](https://relic.space/help/secrets)[What Relic capturesCapture](https://relic.space/help/what-gets-captured)