How to Keep Your Australian Mobile Number Overseas

To keep your Australian mobile number while living overseas, keep the service recharged or paid and the SIM in a spare iPhone, left with family in Australia or carried with you, because myGov and some Australian banks send SMS codes only to an Australian number. Fwrd can forward that iPhone’s code texts to Telegram or any of its eight destinations (for email, another phone and WhatsApp, it hands them to your shortcut’s send step), so they reach the phone you carry.

What you need: your Australian number on an active plan; a spare iPhone on iOS 26 or later with that SIM in it; a home in Australia where it stays plugged in and on Wi-Fi, with someone who can unlock it every two or three days; Fwrd; and an app you read overseas.

How do I keep my Australian mobile number overseas?

Keep the service recharged or paid, and keep the SIM in a phone that receives its texts. A spare iPhone does that, and Fwrd passes each code on to you over the internet.

Why myGov and some banks want an Australian number

Because their own help pages say their SMS codes go only to an Australian mobile number.

• myGov says that when you add SMS codes as a backup sign-in option, the number must be an Australian mobile number (myGov, read October 26, 2026).
• Bankwest says it can’t send SMS codes to an international mobile number (Bankwest, read October 26, 2026).
• P&N Bank says its Secure SMS codes can only be sent to an Australian registered mobile phone number (P&N Bank, read October 26, 2026).

Not every bank works this way: CommBank says a NetCode can come by SMS or as a CommBank app notification, and that you can bank with an international mobile number (CommBank, read October 26, 2026). Where a service offers app approvals or an authenticator app, as myGov now does, use it.

How to get your Australian codes overseas

1. Pick where the codes should go. Telegram, WhatsApp and email work anywhere you have internet. Another Phone texts the phone you carry through Apple’s Send Message; check what your plan charges to text overseas. For Telegram, the Telegram post shows how to make the bot.

2. Add it in Fwrd on the spare iPhone. Open Fwrd, tap +, choose the destination, and fill in its details in the Configuration field. Tap Send Test Message, then save with the tick.

3. 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, and change Sender to Message. On iOS 26, open the Automation tab, tap +, and choose Message.

   

4. Choose which texts to forward. Type a single space to forward any text with a space in it, which covers most code texts. Then make it run without asking: on iOS 27, tap the arrow beside the trigger and check Confirm Before Run is off, and under ⓘ, then Privacy, check 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, add Forward Message to All Destinations, and set its Message field to Shortcut Input (on iOS 26, Shortcut Input, then Message). For another phone, email or WhatsApp, add Apple’s Send Message, Apple’s Send Email or WhatsApp’s Send Message below it, set its message to Fwrd’s output, and pick the recipient. Give Send Email a subject and turn off Show Compose Sheet. Tap back to save (Done on iOS 26).

6. That’s it. New texts to your Australian number now reach you overseas on their own, with the spare iPhone unlocked or locked.

On Telegram, you can keep only the codes: open the destination in Fwrd, choose Which Texts, and pick texts that look like a verification code. For another phone, email or WhatsApp, the automation’s word decides what’s sent instead, so type code rather than a space. To see who sent each code, turn on Include Who Sent It in Fwrd’s Settings and choose Sender on Fwrd’s action. The automation guide shows every tap on iOS 26 and 27.

Where should the spare iPhone live?

In Australia is the usual choice, because the SIM is always on its home network there. Carrying it works too, wherever the SIM gets service.

Keep the number active

A deactivated number gets no codes, so recharge before each recharge expires, with a card that works overseas, or keep a post-paid bill paid. Providers set their own deadlines:

• Telstra says that if you don’t recharge within 6 months of a Pre-Paid recharge expiring, the service is deactivated and you lose your mobile number (Telstra, read October 26, 2026).
• Vodafone says a prepaid service that isn’t recharged within 120 days of its last recharge expiry date is disconnected (Vodafone, read October 26, 2026).

On Optus or another provider, read your plan’s own terms.

Keep the spare iPhone working

• Someone has to unlock it every few days. An iPhone that isn’t unlocked for three days restarts itself, and after any restart Fwrd can’t forward until someone unlocks it once.
• Turn off automatic iOS updates and the SIM PIN. An update restarts the phone, and a SIM PIN leaves it off the network after a restart until someone types it.
• Leave it with someone you trust. Whoever unlocks it can read its texts, so forward codes only to a chat or inbox that only you can read.

Fwrd is free for 15 forwards a month as of October 2026, which myGov, bank and shop codes together can pass. Fwrd Pro removes the limit for $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year in the US; set it up before you leave.

What this can’t do

• It can’t reply as your Australian number. Fwrd only forwards. Replies still come from the spare iPhone.
• It can’t forward voice codes or pictures, only text.
• It can’t keep the number alive. If the service is deactivated or disconnected, nothing arrives to forward.
• It isn’t banking or tax advice. Whether you can keep an Australian account while living overseas is up to your bank.