Fwrd vs Forwardly (Fwrdly): iPhone SMS Forwarders Compared

Fwrd and Forwardly (which calls itself Fwrdly on its website) are separate iPhone apps from different developers, and both forward new texts through a Shortcuts automation to the same eight kinds of destination. Fwrd has a published price, 15 free forwards a month with no account, and an app in nine languages. Fwrd needs iOS 26 or later; Forwardly lists iOS 18 or later.

What you need: an iPhone on iOS 26 or later, the Fwrd app, and the place you want texts to go, such as a Slack channel, a Telegram chat or an email address.

How do Fwrd and Forwardly compare?

Both apps forward new texts with an automation in Apple's Shortcuts app, and both say texts are handled on the iPhone, with no servers of their own in between. The differences are in price, what the free plan includes, filters, privacy labels and which iPhones they run on. Everything about Forwardly below comes from its own App Store page and website, read on October 22, 2026.

Sources, all read October 22, 2026: SMS Forwarder - Forwardly on the App Store, Apple's app lookup for its release date, fwrdly.app with its guides and privacy policy, and Fwrd on the App Store. App Store prices and features change, and other countries see their own prices.

Why choose Fwrd over Forwardly?

We make Fwrd, so here's our case, with the points you can check yourself:

• A price you can see before you install. Fwrd Pro is $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year in the US, with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan for eligible customers. Forwardly's site describes a Pro plan with a 3-day free trial, but neither its site nor its App Store page shows what it costs.

• A free plan with a clear limit. Fwrd is free for 15 forwards a month to any of its eight destinations, and one text counts once however many places it goes. Forwardly's site lists forwarding to several destinations at once, and custom webhooks, as Pro features.

• No account, ever. There's nothing to sign up for on Fwrd's free plan or on Fwrd Pro, and your destinations stay in the app on your iPhone.

• Only the text, unless you ask for more. Fwrd's webhook gets JSON with just the message text, and adds who sent it only if you turn on Include Who Sent It in Settings. Forwardly's webhook guide shows the sender's number and name and the time in every request.

• In your language. Fwrd's App Store page lists English and eight more languages, including Spanish and French. Forwardly's lists English.

• Sender rules live in Shortcuts. Fwrd's own filters work on words, codes and time of day; to forward texts from certain people only, you use the Sender rule in the Shortcuts automation, which lists your Contacts.

How to switch to Fwrd

1. Turn off the old automation. In Shortcuts, open Automation, open the automation that runs Forwardly's action, and switch it off. Then two apps won't forward the same text.
2. Add your destination in Fwrd. Tap +, choose where texts should go, and follow its guide, such as the Slack guide or the Telegram guide.
3. Create a new Message automation. Choose which texts to forward with a word they contain, such as code, and set it to run without asking. The automation guide shows each step for iOS 26 and iOS 27.
4. Add Fwrd's action. Use Forward Message to All Destinations, with Shortcut Input as the message.
5. For email, another phone or WhatsApp, add the send step. Below Fwrd's action, add Apple's Send Email or Send Message, or WhatsApp's own Send Message, with Fwrd's output as the message. The email guide shows it step by step.

That's it. New texts with your word now go to your destination on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked.

What Fwrd doesn’t do

• It doesn't run below iOS 26. Fwrd installs only on iPhones that run iOS 26 or later.
• It doesn't send email, texts or WhatsApp messages by itself. For those three, Fwrd hands the text to the next action in your shortcut, and that action sends it from your iPhone.
• It only forwards new texts. Messages that arrived before setup stay in Messages.
• It doesn't forward pictures. Only the words of the text are sent.
• The phone has to stay on and online. After a restart, unlock it once before forwarding starts again.