# How to Forward Texts From Your Old Number > Carriers won’t forward texts from an old number. Keep the number in an old iPhone and forward its new texts to your new phone, email or a chat app. Last updated: 2026-10-23 Canonical HTML page: https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-texts-from-old-number Published: 2026-10-16 Carrier call forwarding doesn’t move texts, so the old number has to stay active somewhere you can read it. Keep it in an old iPhone and let a Shortcuts automation with Fwrd send each new text to your new number, email or a chat app. **What you need:** the old number still active in an iPhone you can leave at home. Fwrd needs iOS 26 or later, which means an iPhone 11 or newer, or an iPhone SE (2nd generation) or later. ## Can your carrier forward texts from an old number? No. Carrier call forwarding moves calls, not texts: Verizon’s [call-forwarding FAQ](https://www.verizon.com/support/call-forwarding-faqs/) (checked October 16, 2026) says call forwarding won’t forward the texts you receive, only calls. Moving the number to a new iPhone doesn’t keep the old one going either. Apple says your new iPhone’s cellular plan deactivates the previous SIM when it activates ([Apple](https://support.apple.com/en-us/118669), checked October 16, 2026). ## Where the texts can go The old iPhone keeps the number alive, and Fwrd sends each new text on. It needs no account and reaches eight places: email, another phone or iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Telegram and your own webhook. - **To your new phone.** Use the Another Phone destination, and the texts arrive as ordinary texts. - **To an inbox or a chat.** Email, Slack, Telegram or Discord get the same text, and a filter can keep only codes or chosen words. - **To several places at once.** One automation can reach more than one destination, and a text counts once however many places it goes. ## How to forward texts from your old number Set this up on the old iPhone, with the old number still in it. These steps use Fwrd’s Another Phone destination. 1. **Add your new number in [Fwrd](https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6759069713?pt=128544281&ct=blog-old-number&mt=8).** On the old iPhone, open Fwrd, tap +, and choose Another Phone. Scroll down to Recipient Reference, enter your new number, and 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 +, and choose Message. 3. **Choose which texts to forward.** Choose Message Contains (on iOS 27, change Sender to Message). To forward nearly everything, type a single space: it catches any text with a space in it. To forward only some, type a word they share. 4. **Let 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. 5. **Add Fwrd’s action.** Search for Forward and add Fwrd’s Forward Message to All Destinations. Tap its Message field and choose Shortcut Input (on iOS 26, Shortcut Input, then Message). 6. **Add Apple’s Send Message below it.** Set its Message to Fwrd’s output and its Recipients to your new number. Tap the arrow and check that Show Compose Sheet is off, or Messages waits for a tap. If both iPhones use the same Apple Account, sign the old iPhone out of iMessage (Settings, then Apps, then Messages), so forwards arrive on the new phone as ordinary texts. Tap back to save (Done on iOS 26). ![Send Message action reading “Send Forward Message to All Destinations to +1 (555) 010-0142”](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/phone-recipient-8a301491.jpg) 7. **That’s it.** New texts to your old number now go to your new one on their own, with the old iPhone unlocked or locked. Each forward comes from the old number, so turn on Include Who Sent It in Fwrd’s Settings and choose Sender on Fwrd’s action to see who wrote the original. The [automation guide](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/automation) shows the trigger on video, and the [another phone page](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone) has the rest. Rather read them in Telegram, Slack or Discord? Add that chat in Fwrd and skip Send Message; a filter can keep only codes or chosen words. ## Keep the old iPhone forwarding - **Unlock it at least every three days.** Since iOS 18.1, an iPhone that isn’t unlocked for three days restarts itself, and that can’t be turned off. After any restart, Fwrd waits for one unlock, because it keeps your destinations behind the iPhone’s lock. - **Turn off automatic iOS updates.** In Settings, open General, then Software Update, then Automatic Updates. An update restarts the phone. - **Keep it plugged in and online.** - **Turn off the SIM PIN if you use one,** or a restart leaves the iPhone off its network until someone types it. ## What forwarding can’t do - **Replying to a forward texts your old iPhone,** not the person who wrote. Text them directly instead. - **It only forwards new texts,** and only their words. Old messages and pictures stay on the old iPhone. - **Another phone’s filter needs an If.** Put Send Message inside one in the shortcut; until then it gets every text. - **It doesn’t forward calls.** Carriers forward calls, not texts. ## Questions about texts from an old number ### Can I get texts from my old number on my new iPhone? Yes. Keep the old number in your old iPhone and forward new texts with Fwrd and a Shortcuts automation, with Apple’s Send Message sending them to your new number. Include Who Sent It adds who wrote each one. ### Can I get them in email or a chat app instead? Yes. Add Email, Slack, Telegram or Discord in Fwrd, and the old iPhone sends each new text there. A filter can keep only codes or words you choose. ### Will my iMessages forward too? Yes. The Message automation runs for messages that arrive in the Messages app, iMessages included. Each one goes on as a new text from the old iPhone. ### Does forwarding from my old number cost anything? Fwrd is free for 15 forwards a month. Fwrd Pro removes the limit for $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year in the US. ## Keep reading - [Can Two iPhones Share the Same Phone Number?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/two-iphones-same-number) - [Can You Forward Text Messages Like Calls?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-text-messages-like-calls)