It's not hard to use gestures to copy and paste on your iPhone. Hollis Johnson You can copy and paste text on your iPhone using gestures, but it may take some getting used to first. To copy with gestures on your iPhone, pinch three fingers inward; to paste with gestures, pinch outward with three fingers. Before you copy text with gestures, you'll need to highlight it, which you can also do with gestures. Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. The iPhone's gestures have long been a point of contention for Apple mobile device users.