WhatsCopy

Restore ⌘C for selected text in WhatsApp for Mac.

WhatsCopy is a small, privacy-first macOS menu-bar utility for cases where WhatsApp for Mac disables or breaks its normal Edit > Copy behavior. It listens for Command-C, checks whether WhatsApp is the frontmost app, asks macOS Accessibility for the text you actively selected, and writes that selected text to the system clipboard.

WhatsCopy is unofficial open-source software. It is not affiliated with WhatsApp, Meta, or any related company.

What It Does

• Runs as a lightweight menu-bar-only macOS app.
• Restores Command-C for selected text exposed by WhatsApp through macOS Accessibility.
• Leaves Command-C alone in every other app.
• Passes Command-C through when no selected text can be read.
• Includes menu controls for enable/disable, Launch at Login, Accessibility setup, version info, and About.

Privacy

WhatsCopy is intentionally narrow:

• No analytics.
• No telemetry.
• No tracking.
• No network access.
• No WhatsApp database access.
• No message scraping.
• No reading chat history, files, private app storage, or network traffic.
• Only selected text is copied when you press Command-C while WhatsApp is frontmost.

Build And Run

Requirements:

• macOS 13 or newer
• Xcode with Swift 5.9 or newer

Build from the command line:

swift build

Run from the command line:

swift run WhatsCopy

You can also open the package in Xcode and run the WhatsCopy executable product.

Release DMG

Open source is useful for transparency and developer builds, but it does not remove macOS Gatekeeper checks for downloaded apps. For normal users, publish a signed and notarized WhatsCopy.dmg from GitHub Releases.

Create an unsigned local test package:

./scripts/package-release.sh

This creates:

dist/WhatsCopy.app
dist/WhatsCopy.dmg

The packaged app uses Assets/whatscopy-logo.png for its app icon and includes the logo in Contents/Resources.

The unsigned DMG is useful for local packaging checks, but users may see Gatekeeper warnings if they download it from the internet.

Create a signed DMG without notarizing:

DEVELOPER_ID_APPLICATION="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" \
./scripts/package-release.sh

Create a signed and notarized release DMG:

DEVELOPER_ID_APPLICATION="Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)" \
APPLE_ID="you@example.com" \
APPLE_TEAM_ID="TEAMID" \
APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD="xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx" \
NOTARIZE=1 \
./scripts/package-release.sh

Optional release metadata:

BUNDLE_ID="dev.whatscopy.WhatsCopy" VERSION="0.1.0" BUILD_NUMBER="1" ./scripts/package-release.sh

After a signed release, maintainers should verify:

codesign --verify --deep --strict --verbose=2 dist/WhatsCopy.app
spctl --assess --type execute --verbose dist/WhatsCopy.app
xcrun stapler validate dist/WhatsCopy.dmg

Accessibility Permission

WhatsCopy needs Accessibility permission because macOS only exposes selected text in another app through Accessibility APIs.

1. Launch WhatsCopy.
2. Open the WhatsCopy menu-bar icon.
3. Choose Open Accessibility Settings or Check Accessibility Permission.
4. Enable WhatsCopy in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
5. Restart WhatsCopy if macOS requires it.

Manual Test Checklist

1. Build and run WhatsCopy.
2. Grant Accessibility permission in System Settings.
3. Open WhatsApp for Mac.
4. Select part of a message.
5. Press ⌘C.
6. Paste into Notes or TextEdit.
7. Confirm the selected text was copied.
8. Confirm ⌘C still works normally in Safari, Chrome, TextEdit, VS Code, Finder, and other apps.
9. Confirm WhatsCopy does nothing when no text is selected.

Known Limitations

• WhatsCopy depends on WhatsApp exposing selected text through macOS Accessibility.
• If WhatsApp does not expose selected text, WhatsCopy may not be able to copy it.
• WhatsCopy only handles actively selected text; it does not inspect message databases or chat history.
• A future fallback may support WhatsApp Web through a browser extension.

Troubleshooting

• If nothing copies, confirm WhatsCopy has Accessibility permission.
• If permission was just granted, quit and relaunch WhatsCopy.
• If copying still fails in WhatsApp, WhatsApp may not be exposing that selected text through Accessibility.
• If Command-C behaves unexpectedly elsewhere, turn off the Enabled menu item or quit WhatsCopy.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for local setup, test expectations, and project guidelines.

Security

Please report security concerns privately. See SECURITY.md.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.