AT&T Text to Email Stopped? Get iPhone Texts in Email

AT&T switched off text-to-email and email-to-text on June 17, 2025, so texts sent to an email address from an AT&T phone, and emails sent to an AT&T number, no longer go through. To get the texts your iPhone receives into your inbox again, make a Message automation in Apple’s Shortcuts app with Fwrd’s action and Apple’s Send Email after it. Mail sends each one from the account on your iPhone, whichever carrier you’re on.

What you need: the iPhone that gets the texts, on iOS 26 or later, a Mail account on it that can send, and the address that should get them, such as Gmail, Outlook or iCloud.

Why did AT&T text to email stop working?

Because AT&T shut the service down for everyone. Its support page, Say goodbye to email-to-text and text-to-email (last updated August 14, 2025, read November 1, 2026), says: “Effective June 17, 2025, you can no longer send or receive texts using email.” It adds that others who have AT&T Wireless “can’t use email to send you a text or use text to send you an email.”

So if AT&T text to email is not working for you, it isn’t a setting on your iPhone or a problem with your account. Both directions stopped on that date, and the page doesn’t name a replacement.

How do I get my texts in email now?

Let your iPhone do the sending. A Shortcuts Message automation runs each time a text arrives, Fwrd’s action passes the text on, and Apple’s Send Email mails it to your inbox. Nothing goes through AT&T’s old email service, so it works the same on AT&T as on any other carrier.

What’s different from the old AT&T service:

• It starts on your iPhone. The automation runs when a text arrives, and Mail sends the email from your own account.
• You choose which texts. A word in the automation, such as code, decides which texts are emailed.
• It can say who sent it. Turn on Include Who Sent It in Fwrd’s Settings and choose Sender on Fwrd’s action, and each email starts with a From: line.
• It can go further than email. The same action can also post each text to any chat app or webhook you add in Fwrd.

How to send iPhone texts to email, step by step

1. Add Email in Fwrd. Open Fwrd, tap +, and choose Email Address. Under Recipient Reference, type the address that should get your texts and tap + to add it, then save with the tick.

2. Create a Message automation. On iOS 27, open Shortcuts, tap Library, then Automation, then +. If you see Describe a shortcut, tap Edit. Tap Automation, then Message. On iOS 26, open the Automation tab, tap + (or New Automation if it’s your first), and choose Message.

3. Choose which texts to email. Choose Message Contains (on iOS 27, change Sender to Message) and type a word those texts include, such as code. To email any text with a space in it, type a single space instead.

4. Let it run without asking. On iOS 27, tap the arrow beside the trigger and turn off Confirm Before Run. Under ⓘ, then Privacy, turn on Allow Running When Locked. On iOS 26, choose Run Immediately (if you see Notify When Run, turn it off), then tap Next and Create New Shortcut.

5. Add Fwrd’s action. (On iOS 26, tap Add Action first.) Search for Forward, add Fwrd’s Forward Message to All Destinations, and set its Message to Shortcut Input.

6. Add Apple’s Send Email below it. Search for Send Email and pick Apple’s. Tap its Message field and choose Forward Message to All Destinations in the bar above the keyboard. Under Recipients, add the address you saved in Fwrd.

7. Type a subject. Tap Subject and type one, such as Forwarded text. If you leave it blank, Shortcuts stops and asks for a subject every time, and nothing is sent while the iPhone is locked.

   

8. Turn off the compose sheet. Tap the arrow at the end of Send Email and turn off Show Compose Sheet, so Mail sends without waiting for you. Tap back to save (Done on iOS 26).

9. That’s it. New texts with your word now land in your inbox on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked.

The email setup guide has a video of every tap.

What this can’t do

• It can’t text an email address for you. Fwrd forwards texts your iPhone receives. It doesn’t send the texts you write in Messages to an email address.
• It can’t turn emails into texts. Email-to-text alerts sent to an AT&T number stay switched off.
• It can’t forward texts you already have. Only texts that arrive after the automation is on are emailed.
• The iPhone has to stay on and online. Mail sends each email from the iPhone, over Wi-Fi or mobile data.
• After a restart, unlock it once. Forwarding waits until the first unlock.
• Text only, one way. Pictures don’t forward, and replying to the email doesn’t reach the person who texted you.
• Handing a text to Email counts as a forward, since Fwrd can’t see whether Mail’s send arrived.