# How to forward iPhone text messages to email > Forward iPhone texts to email: Fwrd processes each message, then Shortcuts’ own Send Email action sends it from the Mail account on your iPhone, on its own. Last updated: 2026-10-28 Canonical HTML page: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/email Send the texts you choose to an email address. Your iPhone’s own Send Email action sends them. Fwrd is available on the App Store. Install: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fwrd-sms-forwarder/id6759069713 Requires an iPhone running iOS 26.0 or later. ## How this destination works Fwrd’s action, Forward Message to All Destinations, takes the incoming text from your Shortcuts automation and passes it to the next action. The Email action that follows in Apple Shortcuts performs delivery; Fwrd does not send it directly. ## Before you begin - Mail configured on the iPhone - The address that should get your texts - Fwrd installed on the iPhone that receives the messages Configuration used by this guide: Saved email recipient ## Set up the destination 1. **Choose Email in Fwrd’s setup.** On the iPhone, open Fwrd and tap Set Up Forwarding at the end of the intro. When it asks where your texts should go, choose Email Address. 2. **Type the address.** Under Send To, type the address that should get your texts, then continue. 3. **Add Fwrd to Email.** Choose which texts to forward. Tap Get Shortcut. In Shortcuts, tap Add Shortcut, then ◀ Fwrd at the top left. Fwrd to Email already holds Send Email, which sends to the address you typed in Fwrd. 4. **Switch it on.** On iOS 27, tap Open Shortcut. In Shortcuts, tap Edit, then the small › at the end of the first line, “When I receive a message where” (not the ×), and turn on Automation, as in the picture. On iOS 26, Fwrd calls this step Make it automatic: tap Open Shortcuts, then New Automation or +, then Message. Type one space in Message Contains and tap Done. Choose Run Immediately, tap Next, and tap the shortcut you just added, under My Shortcuts. ![Trigger step opened with its arrow: Automation switched on and Confirm Before Run switched off](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/sc-confirm-off-af785d18.jpg) 5. **Allow the first run.** Fwrd runs the shortcut once with a sample text. Shortcuts asks twice the first time: tap Allow, then Always Allow. 6. **You’re all set.** That’s it. New matching texts now go to the inbox you chose on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked. After the iPhone restarts, unlock it once and forwarding carries on. ## Build it yourself Rather build the automation yourself? Follow these steps instead. ### Setup video Forward texts to email: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/video/email-2e3a6101.mp4 (102 seconds, captions: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/video/email-b22fd962.vtt). Shown on iOS 27 with Fwrd 1.1. The addresses and numbers are examples. 1. **Add Email in Fwrd.** In Fwrd, tap + at the bottom of the screen and choose Email Address. Scroll down to Recipient Reference, type the address that should get your texts, and tap + to add it. Then tap the tick to save. Fwrd shows the Shortcuts steps as a checklist on the same screen. ![Fwrd’s Email destination screen with you@example.com added under Recipient Reference](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/email-fwrd-23d9ccee.jpg) 2. **Create a Message automation.** Open Shortcuts and go to Library → Automation, then tap +. If you see Describe a shortcut, tap Edit. Tap Automation, then Message. Change Sender to Message and type a word your texts contain, such as code. Then tap the arrow beside the trigger and check that Confirm Before Run is off, so it runs without asking. Under ⓘ, then Privacy, check that Allow Running When Locked is on. On iOS 26 the screens differ: the automation guide covers both. `Message contains ← your word · Confirm Before Run ← Off · Allow Running When Locked ← On` ![Trigger step opened with its arrow: Automation switched on and Confirm Before Run switched off](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/sc-confirm-off-af785d18.jpg) 3. **Add Fwrd’s action.** Search for Forward and choose Forward Message to All Destinations, so it sits right below the trigger. `Fwrd · Forward Message to All Destinations` ![Action search for Forward with Fwrd’s Forward Message to All Destinations marked](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/sc-add-fwrd-e66225c2.jpg) 4. **Hand Fwrd the incoming text.** Tap Message in Fwrd’s action, tap Select Variable, and choose Shortcut Input. Shortcuts then adds a Receive block at the top; leave it as it is. On iOS 26, set Message to Shortcut Input too. `Message = Shortcut Input` ![Fwrd’s action reading “Forward Shortcut Input to all destinations”, with a Receive block added at the top](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/sc-shortcut-input-0dbdbb93.jpg) 5. **Add Send Email.** Search for Send Email and tap Apple’s Send Email action. It goes below Fwrd’s action. This action, not Fwrd, sends the message. `Send Email` ![Action search for Send Email with Apple’s Send Email action marked](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/email-add-action-d4aeeb95.jpg) 6. **Pass Fwrd’s output forward.** Tap Message in Send Email. In the bar above the keyboard, pick Forward Message to All Destinations: that’s the output of Fwrd’s action. Select Variable works too, if you choose the blue output under Fwrd’s action. `Message = Forward Message to All Destinations` ![Send Email’s Message field selected, with Forward Message to All Destinations marked in the bar above the keyboard](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/email-fwrd-output-d44bf014.jpg) 7. **Set the recipient.** Tap Recipients and add the same address you saved in Fwrd, then tap the tick. `Recipients ← the address saved in Fwrd` ![Send Email action reading “Send Forward Message to All Destinations with Subject to you@example.com”](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/email-recipient-82b6e1ce.jpg) 8. **Type a subject.** Tap Subject in Send Email and type one, such as Forwarded text. If you leave it blank, Shortcuts stops and asks for a subject every time it runs, so nothing is sent while the iPhone is locked. `Subject ← Forwarded text` ![Send Email action reading “Send Forward Message to All Destinations with Forwarded text to you@example.com”](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/email-subject-6e431ceb.jpg) 9. **Turn off the prompt.** Tap the arrow at the end of Send Email and turn Show Compose Sheet off. With it on, Mail opens a draft and waits for you, which can’t happen while the iPhone is locked. `Show Compose Sheet ← Off` ![Send Email opened with its arrow, showing From, Cc, Bcc and the Show Compose Sheet switch marked](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/email-compose-sheet-550ac7d9.jpg) 10. **Save, and you’re all set.** Tap back to save. The automation appears under Automation, switched on. In Fwrd, tick off the destination’s checklist. That’s it: new texts with your word now go to the inbox you chose on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked. `Automation ← On` ![Automation list showing “When I Get a Message Containing ‘Code’ · Send Email” switched on](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/email-saved-f523b51f.jpg) The Shortcuts screens differ between iOS 26 and iOS 27. The automation guide walks through both: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/automation ## If a message doesn’t arrive ### Shortcuts asks for a subject Type a subject in Send Email, such as Forwarded text. With Subject blank, Shortcuts stops to ask for one every time, and nothing is sent while the iPhone is locked. ### A draft opens instead of sending Turn off Show Compose Sheet in the Send Email action. ### Nothing is sent Send Email uses the Mail app. Check that Mail has an account set up that can send, and that Send Email has a subject. ### The forwarded email lands in spam Mark it as not spam, add the sending address to your contacts, or make a filter for it. The subject you typed in Send Email, such as Forwarded text, makes the filter easy. ### Email’s status in Fwrd doesn’t change That’s normal. Mail does the sending, so your forwards show up in Mail rather than in Fwrd’s Activity. Problems that apply to every destination, like texts that never trigger the automation, are in the troubleshooting guide: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/troubleshooting ## Common questions - [Can I automatically forward iPhone text messages to email?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-automatic) - [How do I forward text messages to email from my iPhone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-setup) - [Can I forward text messages to Gmail or Outlook from my iPhone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-gmail) - [Can an iPhone forward texts to email by itself?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-built-in) - [Why are my forwarded texts going to spam?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-spam) - [Does forwarding to email work when my iPhone is locked?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-locked) - [Is it free to forward iPhone texts to email?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-cost) - [Which email account sends the forwarded texts?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-sending-account) - [Can I choose which texts get forwarded to email?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-choose-texts) - [Does Fwrd see or store the texts I forward to email?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email#faq-privacy) ## Popular ways to use Fwrd - [Executive assistants who need an executive’s sign-in codes](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/executive-assistant-verification-codes) - [Bookkeepers who need a client’s bank codes](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/bookkeeper-client-bank-verification-codes) - [Living abroad and keeping your US number](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/keep-us-phone-number-living-abroad) - [NRIs receiving Indian bank OTPs abroad](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/receive-indian-bank-otp-abroad) - [Keeping your UK number abroad for bank codes](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/keep-uk-number-abroad-bank-codes) - [Helping your parents with bank codes from far away](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/help-parents-with-bank-codes) - [Reading iPhone texts on a Windows PC or Chromebook](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/get-iphone-texts-on-windows-pc) ## More help - [How to Forward iPhone Texts to Email Automatically](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-iphone-texts-to-email) - [Can You Read Your iPhone Texts Online?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/read-iphone-texts-online) ## Good to know Keep the iPhone that gets the texts on and online. After it restarts, unlock it once and forwarding carries on. Mail does the sending, so your forwards show up in Mail rather than in Fwrd’s Activity. ## Free plan and pricing 15 free forwards per calendar month. No paid subscription or Fwrd account required. Pro removes the monthly limit, allows more than one filter condition per destination, and adds a Never Forward list of words to always skip. US prices: $4.99/month or $29.99/year. ## Related - [Forward iPhone text messages to email: overview and FAQ](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-email.md) - [All setup guides](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides.md) - [Shortcuts automation guide](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/automation.md) - [Troubleshooting](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/troubleshooting.md)