Implementations provide an improved drag-and-drop operation on a mobile device. For example, a method includes identifying a drag area in a user interface of a first mobile application in response to a drag command, identifying an entity from a data store based on recognition performed on content in the drag area, receiving a drop location associated with a second mobile application, determining an action to perform in the second mobile application based on the drop location, and performing the action in the second mobile action using the entity. Another method may include receiving a selection of a smart copy control for a text input control in a first mobile application, receiving a selected area of a display generated by a second mobile application, identifying an entity in the selected area, automatically navigating back to the text input control, and pasting a description of the entity in the text input control.