Forward iPhone SMS to n8n: Webhook Node Setup

To forward iPhone SMS to n8n, add a Webhook node set to POST, publish the workflow, and paste the node’s production URL into Fwrd’s Webhook destination. A Shortcuts Message automation then hands each matching text to Fwrd, which posts it from the iPhone to n8n as JSON, and your workflow takes it from there.

What you need: an iPhone on iOS 26 or later, the Shortcuts app (it’s already on the phone), Fwrd, and an n8n workflow on n8n Cloud or a self-hosted n8n with a public HTTPS address.

How do you forward iPhone texts to n8n?

With n8n’s Webhook node as the trigger and Fwrd’s Webhook destination on the iPhone. n8n gives you the URL; Fwrd sends each text to it.

n8n’s Webhook node docs (read October 25, 2026) say the node has two addresses. The test URL is registered while you’re listening for an event in the editor. The production URL is registered when you publish the workflow, and its runs show in the workflow’s Executions tab rather than in the editor. Fwrd needs the production URL, because texts arrive when you’re not watching.

Send iPhone texts to Zapier, Make or n8n compares the three tools. This post is the n8n workflow, step by step.

How to set up the n8n workflow and Fwrd

1. Add a Webhook node. In a new n8n workflow, add the Webhook trigger. Set HTTP Method to POST, and choose Immediately under Respond.

2. Make the path a secret. Fwrd sends no login header, so leave Authentication at None and replace the Path with a long random string. Anyone with the full address could post to your workflow, so treat it like a password.

3. Copy the production URL and publish. Open the node’s Production URL, copy it, and publish the workflow. Until you publish, the production URL doesn’t answer.

4. Add the webhook in Fwrd. On the iPhone, open Fwrd, tap +, and choose Webhook. Paste the production URL into the Configuration field, tap Send Test Message, then save with the tick. The sample run shows in n8n’s Executions tab, with the fields you’ll map.

5. Choose which texts go to n8n. To send only some, choose Only Some Texts under Which Texts and pick words or Looks Like a Code. Otherwise every text the automation hands over goes on.

6. 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, change Sender to Message, and type a word your texts contain, or a single space for any text with a space in it. On iOS 26, open the Automation tab, tap +, choose Message, and type it under Message Contains.

7. Make it run without asking. On iOS 27, tap the arrow beside the trigger and check that Confirm Before Run is off. Under ⓘ, then Privacy, check that Allow Running When Locked is on. On iOS 26, choose Run Immediately, then tap Next and Create New Shortcut.

8. Add Fwrd’s action. Search for Forward and add Forward Message to All Destinations. Set its Message to Shortcut Input (on iOS 26, Shortcut Input, then Message). Tap back to save (Done on iOS 26).

9. That’s it. New texts with your word now start your n8n workflow on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked.

Fwrd’s webhook guide has every Fwrd screen for this destination.

What does the Webhook node receive?

A JSON body with the text exactly as it arrived, in content and again in text. n8n puts the body under body, so in later nodes the message is {{ $json.body.content }}.

If you turn on Include Who Sent It in Fwrd’s Settings and choose Sender on Fwrd’s action in Shortcuts, the body also gets a sender field: {{ $json.body.sender }}. There’s no timestamp, so use {{ $now }} in n8n when you need the time. Every attempt for the same text carries the same Idempotency-Key header, which you can use to skip repeats.

Three workflows to build next

• Log every text to Google Sheets. After the Webhook node, add Google Sheets and choose Append Row. Map one column to {{ $json.body.content }} and another to {{ $now }}.
• Post texts to a team channel. Add n8n’s Slack, Discord or Telegram node and send the content as the message. If posting is all you need, Fwrd can send to those apps by itself, without n8n.
• Pull out verification codes with an AI Agent node. Pass the content to an AI Agent node, or a Code node with a regular expression, and hand the digits to the step that signs in. Let an AI agent read SMS verification codes covers the security side.

Ready-made n8n workflows are in the fwrd-sms-webhook-examples repository on GitHub, which you can import and adjust.

What this setup can’t do

• It can’t send old texts. Only new texts that arrive after the automation exists reach n8n.
• It can’t reach a private address. Fwrd rejects IP addresses and .local or .internal names, so a self-hosted n8n needs a public HTTPS hostname.
• It doesn’t run while the iPhone is off. The phone must be on and online. After a restart, forwarding waits until you unlock it once.
• It’s one way. n8n can’t reply through Fwrd, and pictures don’t come through, only the text.