# How to forward iPhone text messages to another phone > Forward iPhone texts on to another number: Fwrd processes each message, then Shortcuts’ own Send Message action delivers it through Messages, automatically. Last updated: 2026-10-28 Canonical HTML page: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/phone-imessage Send the texts you choose to another phone number, on an iPhone or any other phone. Your iPhone’s Messages app 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 Phone / iMessage action that follows in Apple Shortcuts performs delivery; Fwrd does not send it directly. ## Before you begin - Messages configured on the iPhone - The number that should get your texts - Fwrd installed on the iPhone that receives the messages Configuration used by this guide: Saved Messages recipient ## Set up the destination 1. **Choose Another Phone 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 Another Phone. 2. **Type the number.** Under Send To, type the number that should get your texts, then continue. 3. **Add Fwrd to Phone.** Choose which texts to forward. Tap Get Shortcut. In Shortcuts, tap Add Shortcut, then ◀ Fwrd at the top left. Fwrd to Phone already holds Send Message, which sends to the number 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 other phone 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 another phone: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/video/phone-imessage-fc508f50.mp4 (89 seconds, captions: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/video/phone-imessage-f510b994.vtt). Shown on iOS 27 with Fwrd 1.1. The addresses and numbers are examples. 1. **Add Phone / iMessage in Fwrd.** In Fwrd, tap + at the bottom of the screen and choose Another Phone. Scroll down to Recipient Reference and enter the number that should get your texts. Then tap the tick to save. Fwrd shows the Shortcuts steps as a checklist on the same screen. ![Fwrd’s Another Phone destination screen with +1 555 010 0142 under Recipient Reference](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/phone-fwrd-58ed55e0.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 Message.** Search for Send Message and tap Apple’s Send Message, the one with the green Messages icon. It goes below Fwrd’s action. This action, not Fwrd, sends the message. `Send Message` ![Action search for Send Message with Apple’s Send Message action marked](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/phone-add-action-9acb5b14.jpg) 6. **Pass Fwrd’s output forward.** Tap Message in Send Message. 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 Message’s Message field selected, with Forward Message to All Destinations marked in the bar above the keyboard](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/phone-fwrd-output-5b8ada72.jpg) 7. **Set the recipient.** Tap Recipients and add the same number you saved in Fwrd, then tap the tick. `Recipients ← the number saved in Fwrd` ![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) 8. **Turn off the prompt.** Tap the arrow at the end of Send Message and check that Show Compose Sheet is off. It’s off to begin with on iOS 27. With it on, Messages opens and waits for you to tap send. `Show Compose Sheet ← Off` ![Send Message opened with its arrow, with the Show Compose Sheet switch off](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/phone-compose-sheet-b86f2d7b.jpg) 9. **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 other phone on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked. `Automation ← On` ![Automation list showing “When I Get a Message Containing ‘Code’ · Send Message” switched on](https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/steps/phone-saved-38e13af4.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 ### Messages opens instead of sending Turn off Show Compose Sheet in the Send Message action. ### The other phone gets nothing Check the number in Send Message. Messages sends it as it would if you typed it: iMessage to Apple devices, and SMS or RCS otherwise. ### Another Phone’s status in Fwrd doesn’t change That’s normal. Messages does the sending, so your forwards show up in Messages, in your conversation with that number, 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 texts to another phone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-automatic) - [How do I forward text messages from my iPhone to another number?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-setup) - [Can I forward iPhone texts to an Android phone or another iPhone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-android) - [Should I use this to see my texts on my own iPad or Mac?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-own-devices) - [Are pictures forwarded to the other phone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-pictures) - [Does forwarding to another phone work when my iPhone is locked?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-locked) - [Is it free to forward iPhone texts to another phone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-cost) - [Will the other phone see who sent the original text?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-original-sender) - [Can I choose which texts get forwarded to another phone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#faq-choose-texts) - [Does Fwrd see or store the texts I forward to another phone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone#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) - [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) - [Families sharing verification codes](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/share-verification-codes-with-family) - [Forwarding texts to an iPhone on a different Apple ID](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/iphone-text-forwarding-different-apple-id) - [Forwarding iPhone texts to a flip phone](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-iphone-texts-to-flip-phone) - [Forwarding work phone texts to your personal phone](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-work-phone-texts-to-personal-phone) ## More help - [How to Forward All Texts From One iPhone to Another](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-all-texts-to-another-iphone) - [Forward iPhone Texts to Android](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-iphone-texts-to-android) - [Can You Auto-Forward iMessages From an iPhone?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/auto-forward-imessages-iphone) - [Can Two iPhones Share the Same Phone Number?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/two-iphones-same-number) ## Good to know Keep the iPhone that gets the texts on and online. After it restarts, unlock it once and forwarding carries on. Messages does the sending, so your forwards show up in Messages 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 texts to another phone: overview and FAQ](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-another-phone.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)