Best iPhone SMS Forwarder for Telegram, Compared

The best iPhone SMS forwarder for Telegram sends each text from your iPhone through a bot you own, so your texts never pass through a bot someone else runs, and lets you choose which texts go. Fwrd works only with your own bot, with no account and no Fwrd server, and its free plan includes Telegram for 15 forwards a month. It needs iOS 26 or later, so if your iPhone runs an older version, the table below shows which apps run on it.

What you need: an iPhone, the Telegram app, a few minutes to make a bot with @BotFather, and a rule for which texts to forward, such as ones that contain the word code.

Which iPhone apps forward texts to Telegram?

These five US App Store apps list Telegram as a destination. Ratings, minimum iOS and what each says about its servers come from Apple’s App Store data and each app’s own description, checked on November 4, 2026.

SMS Forwarder: Forward SMS, the forwarder with the most US ratings, doesn’t list Telegram. Prices and plans change, so check the purchase screen in your own storefront. For every destination, see the best SMS forwarding apps for iPhone.

What matters when the destination is Telegram

• Whose bot sends the text. Telegram delivers through a bot. With the app’s ready-made bot, setup is quicker, but every text passes through a bot its developer runs. With your own bot, the texts go from your iPhone to Telegram and nowhere else. Re:Text says its Telegram setup uses its own bot, and SMS Forwarder and Forward SMS: SMS Forwarder have said on their websites that Telegram passes through their servers.
• Where the token lives. A bot token lets anyone send as your bot, so it belongs in the iPhone’s Keychain.
• Groups. Families and small teams often want a group, which needs the group’s chat ID and the bot added to it.
• A filter per chat, so a codes chat gets only codes.

Why I’d pick Fwrd for Telegram

I make Fwrd, so here’s my case, and each point is on its App Store page:

• Your bot, not mine. Fwrd has no shared bot, so texts go from your iPhone to your own bot’s chat with nothing in between. No account and no Fwrd server.
• The text arrives as it was sent. Fwrd sends the plain text with no formatting, so characters like underscores and asterisks in a code don’t get mangled.
• Groups work, with the bot added and the group’s chat ID in Fwrd.
• A filter on each Telegram destination, by words, verification codes or hours, and a history in Activity of every forward.
• One text counts once across all your destinations, out of 15 free a month.

How to forward iPhone texts to Telegram with Fwrd

1. Make a bot. In Telegram, open @BotFather, send /newbot, and copy the token it gives you.
2. Start the chat. Open your new bot’s chat and tap Start, because a bot can’t message you until you do. Then read your chat ID, as the Telegram post shows.
3. Add Telegram in Fwrd. Tap +, choose Telegram, enter the token and chat ID, and tap Send Test Message.
4. Create a Message automation in Shortcuts with Message Contains set to a word your texts include, and let it run without asking: Confirm Before Run off on iOS 27, Run Immediately on iOS 26.
5. Add Fwrd’s action, Forward Message to All Destinations, with Message set to Shortcut Input.

The Telegram setup guide has a video of every tap.

What forwarding to Telegram can’t do

• No app can read your texts on its own. iPhone gives apps no access to your messages, so each one needs the Shortcuts automation you set up.
• It can’t forward texts you already have, only new ones that arrive after the automation is on.
• It can’t work while the iPhone is off or offline, because the iPhone itself sends each text. After a restart, Fwrd waits until you unlock the phone once.
• Fwrd forwards the words, not pictures, and replying to your bot doesn’t reach the sender.