Does Text Forwarding Work When iPhone Duo Is Closed?

Yes. Text forwarding on iPhone Duo runs from a Shortcuts Message automation, and that automation starts when a text arrives, not when you open the phone, so it works the same with iPhone Duo closed, open, partly folded or locked. Folding only changes how the Shortcuts and Fwrd screens are laid out while you’re using them.

What you need: an iPhone Duo, a Message automation in the Shortcuts app with Fwrd’s action in it, and somewhere to send the texts. If you haven’t made one yet, the steps are below.

Does text forwarding work when iPhone Duo is closed?

Yes. A Message automation runs in the background whenever a matching text arrives. It doesn’t need either display to be on, and it doesn’t matter which one you used last.

iPhone Duo runs iOS 27.1, the same iOS as other current iPhones. Apple’s iPhone Duo announcement (read October 26, 2026) describes no change to Shortcuts or Message automations for it, so an automation that forwards texts on another iPhone works the same way on iPhone Duo.

The one time it waits is right after a restart: Fwrd keeps your destinations behind the iPhone’s lock, so forwarding starts once you’ve unlocked the phone one time.

What changes between the outer and inner display?

Only the layout. Apple’s guide for iPhone Duo apps (read October 26, 2026) says content moves between the displays as you open, close, fold and rotate the phone, and that the system shows navigation bars, toolbars and tab bars in a column at the side of the display in some positions. It names the outer display, when the phone is closed, as one of them.

In practice, that means:

• In Shortcuts, Library may sit in a column at the side of the outer display instead of along the bottom. The automation list, the Message trigger and its switches are the same.
• When partly folded, Apple says views adapt to the fold, so controls move away from it.
• Your automation and Fwrd’s destinations stay as they are. Opening or closing the phone doesn’t switch anything off or start anything over.

You can set everything up on either display; both reach the same settings.

Set it up once, on either display

The automation only has to be made once. These are the same iOS 27 steps as on any iPhone; How to forward texts on iPhone Duo has them with pictures.

1. Add a destination in Fwrd. Open Fwrd, tap +, and choose where texts should go. Paste the address it asks for into the Configuration field. Tap Send Test Message, then save with the tick.
2. Start a Message automation. Open Shortcuts and tap Library, then Automation, then +. If you see Describe a shortcut, tap Edit. Tap Automation, then Message.
3. Choose which texts to forward. Change Sender to Message and type a word your texts contain, such as code, or a single space to catch any text with a space in it.
4. Make it run without asking. Tap the arrow beside the trigger and leave Confirm Before Run off. Under ⓘ, then Privacy, make sure Allow Running When Locked is on.
5. Add Fwrd’s action. Search for Forward, add Forward Message to All Destinations, set its Message to Shortcut Input, and tap back to save.
6. That’s it. New texts with your word now go to your destinations on their own, with iPhone Duo closed or open, unlocked or locked.

Fwrd sends to Slack, Discord, Telegram, Microsoft Teams and your own webhook straight from the iPhone. For email, another phone or WhatsApp, add Apple’s or WhatsApp’s own send action after Fwrd’s; that action does the sending.

What folding doesn’t change

Folding doesn’t remove any of the usual limits of a Shortcuts automation, either.

• The phone has to be on and online. Closed is fine; switched off isn’t. Wi-Fi or mobile data both work.
• After a restart, unlock it once. Until then, forwarding waits.
• Only new texts that match your word. The automation starts with the next matching text, not ones already in Messages.
• Text only, and one way. Pictures don’t forward, and replies still come from iPhone Duo itself.