# How to forward iPhone text messages to Telegram

> Set up iPhone SMS forwarding to Telegram: create a bot with BotFather, get your chat ID, add both in Fwrd, and texts arrive in your chat on their own.

Last updated: 2026-10-28
Canonical HTML page: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/telegram

Forward selected iPhone messages to your own Telegram chat through a bot you create.

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 sends each matching text over HTTPS, straight from the iPhone to this destination, whenever the destination is active in Fwrd.

## Before you begin

- A Telegram account, so you can message BotFather and create the bot
- A few minutes in Telegram on any device — the bot is created there, not in Fwrd
- Fwrd installed on the iPhone that receives the messages

Configuration used by this guide: Telegram bot token and chat ID

## Set up the destination

1. **Create a bot with BotFather.** This works in Telegram on the iPhone. Search for @BotFather (it has a blue tick), open the chat, and send /newbot. BotFather asks for a name, which can be anything, then a username: 5 to 32 letters, numbers, or underscores, ending in “bot”, such as my_texts_bot. The username can’t be changed later.

2. **Copy the bot token.** BotFather replies with a token: a number, a colon, then a long string. Anyone who has it controls your bot, so keep it private. Send /token to BotFather if you ever need to replace it.

   `110201543:AAHdqTcvCH1vGWJxfSeofSAs0K5PALDsaw`

3. **Start the chat yourself.** A Telegram bot can’t message you first. Tap the t.me link BotFather sent, tap Start, then send the bot any message, such as hello, so the next step has something to read.

4. **Read your chat ID.** Open the address below in a browser, with your token in place of <YOUR_TOKEN>. The word bot goes straight in front of the token, with no space. Find "chat":{"id": followed by a number, and copy that number exactly. Your own chat is a positive number. If the page shows "result":[], send the bot another message and reload: Telegram only keeps these for 24 hours.

   `https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_TOKEN>/getUpdates`

5. **Choose Telegram 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 Telegram.

6. **Enter the token and chat ID.** Paste the token into Bot token and the number into Chat ID, then continue. Fwrd checks the shape of both first.

   `Bot token + Chat ID ← BotFather and getUpdates`

7. **Add the ready-made shortcut.** Choose which texts to forward. Tap Get Shortcut. In Shortcuts, tap Add Shortcut, then ◀ Fwrd at the top left.

8. **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)

9. **Allow the first run.** Fwrd runs the shortcut once with a sample text. Shortcuts asks twice the first time: tap Allow, then Always Allow.

10. **You’re all set.** That’s it. New matching texts now go to your Telegram chat on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked. After the iPhone restarts, unlock it once and forwarding carries on.

### Sending to a group instead

Fwrd accepts a group chat ID too. Three things change: add the bot to the group, send /start@your_bot there because Telegram hides ordinary group messages from bots, and expect a negative chat ID — a supergroup starts with -100, and the minus sign is part of it. Converting a group to a supergroup changes its ID, so you would need to update it here. Enter the group’s chat ID in Fwrd, tap Send Test Message, and save.

## Build it yourself

Rather build the automation yourself? Follow these steps instead. If Fwrd already forwards somewhere, stop once Telegram is saved: your automation sends to every active destination.

### Setup video

Forward texts to Telegram: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/video/telegram-ee779545.mp4 (64 seconds, captions: https://www.fwrdsms.com/guides/video/telegram-0df6a353.vtt). Shown on iOS 27 with Fwrd 1.1. The addresses and numbers are examples.

1. **Add Telegram in Fwrd.** On the iPhone, open Fwrd, tap + at the bottom of the screen, and choose Telegram. You can rename it to tell destinations apart.

2. **Enter the token and chat ID.** Paste the token into Bot token and the number into Chat ID. Fwrd checks the shape of both before it lets you continue.

   `Bot token + Chat ID ← BotFather and getUpdates`

3. **Save and keep the destination active.** Tap Send Test Message, then tap the tick at the top right to save. If iOS offers to save a password, tap Not Now: Fwrd already keeps it in the iPhone’s Keychain. Leave Destination Active switched on. An inactive route stays saved on the iPhone but is skipped when messages arrive.

   `Destination Active ← On`

4. **Create a Message automation.** On the receiving iPhone, open Shortcuts. On iOS 27, go to Library → Automation and tap +. If you see Describe a shortcut, tap Edit. Tap Automation, then Message, and change Sender to Message. Type a word your texts contain, such as code or verification: matching on the message catches short codes and senders outside your Contacts, which Sender can’t. Then tap the arrow beside the trigger and check that Confirm Before Run is off. Under ⓘ, then Privacy, check that Allow Running When Locked is on. On iOS 26, tap Automation, then +, then Message, and choose Run Immediately.

   `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)

5. **Add Fwrd’s Forward Message action.** Search for Forward and add Fwrd’s Forward Message to All Destinations below the trigger. Tap Message in it, tap Select Variable, and choose Shortcut Input; Shortcuts adds a Receive block at the top, which is fine. Tap back to save. On iOS 26, tap Create New Shortcut first, then add the action, set its Message to Shortcut Input, and tap Done.

   `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)

6. **You’re all set.** That’s it. New matching texts now go to your Telegram chat on their own, with the iPhone unlocked or locked. After the iPhone restarts, unlock it once and forwarding carries on.

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

### Send Test Message fails with “chat not found”

A bot can’t message you until you open its chat and tap Start. Do that, then read the chat ID again with getUpdates.

### getUpdates shows an empty list

Send the bot a message first, then reload the page. If the bot has a webhook set elsewhere, getUpdates stays empty until you remove it.

### It stopped working after I changed the token

A new token from BotFather replaces the old one straight away. Paste the new token into Fwrd.

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 SMS to Telegram?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-automatic)
- [How do I forward text messages from my iPhone to Telegram?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-setup)
- [Do I need my own Telegram bot?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-own-bot)
- [Why forward iPhone texts to Telegram?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-why-telegram)
- [Can I forward texts to more than one Telegram chat?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-multiple-chats)
- [Does forwarding to Telegram work when my iPhone is locked?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-locked)
- [Is it free to forward iPhone texts to Telegram?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-cost)
- [Can Fwrd forward texts to a Telegram group?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-groups)
- [Can I choose which texts get forwarded to Telegram?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-choose-texts)
- [Does Fwrd see or store the texts I forward to Telegram?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram#faq-privacy)

## Popular ways to use Fwrd

- [Small businesses with one shared work phone](https://www.fwrdsms.com/forward-shared-phone-texts-to-team)
- [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)
- [Families sharing verification codes](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/share-verification-codes-with-family)
- [Reading iPhone texts on a Windows PC or Chromebook](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/get-iphone-texts-on-windows-pc)

## More help

- [How to automatically forward iPhone SMS to Telegram](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/forward-iphone-sms-to-telegram)
- [Can WhatsApp or Telegram Receive Text Messages?](https://www.fwrdsms.com/blog/can-whatsapp-receive-sms)

## Good to know

Keep the iPhone that gets the texts on and online. After it restarts, unlock it once and forwarding carries on. Every forward is listed 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 SMS to Telegram: overview and FAQ](https://www.fwrdsms.com/iphone-sms-to-telegram.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)