Privacy

In short

• Fwrd has no account. You never sign in, and Fwrd holds no customer identity for you.
• Your messages are processed on your iPhone and sent to the destinations you configure. Fwrd does not operate a relay or a server that receives them.
• Neither the app nor this website runs advertising SDKs, and the app has no analytics SDK. The app tells RevenueCat, anonymously, how far you got through setup and which kinds of destination you use, and passes on Apple's ad attribution token once per install. It never sends a message or a phone number. The website counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which sets no cookie. If you click an App Store link, its campaign code tells Apple which page sent you there; Apple reports aggregate App Store results to Fwrd.

Message data

When a Message automation you created in Apple Shortcuts matches an incoming message, Shortcuts passes the message text into Fwrd's Forward Message action. Fwrd receives who sent a text only if you turn on Include Who Sent It (off by default). It sends that with the message and never stores it. Fwrd uses the text to build a request for each destination you have turned on and sends it directly from your iPhone to that destination.

You choose the matching criteria in Shortcuts, so you decide which messages reach Fwrd at all. Fwrd does not request access to your Contacts or your message history, and it cannot read messages your automation does not pass in.

Where forwarded messages go

Direct destinations, such as a chat webhook or your own HTTPS endpoint, receive an HTTPS request from your iPhone containing the message text and nothing else — no timestamp, no heading, and no sender unless you turn on Include Who Sent It. Every destination is one you own and configure; Fwrd runs no shared webhook, bot, or inbox.

Once a message reaches a destination service, that service holds it under its own privacy policy and retention rules, and Fwrd cannot reach or delete it. Some destinations are native Shortcuts actions rather than Fwrd requests — for those, Apple's or the provider's own action does the sending, under their policies.

Data stored on your iPhone

The app stores these on your device:

• A local forwarding log containing message text, destination, time, and delivery result, along with the number of send attempts and any error the destination returned. Fwrd keeps at most 500 entries and drops entries older than 30 days.
• Your destination settings — labels, chat identifiers, recipients, and setup progress.
• A counter of how many free forwards you have used in the current calendar month.
• A record of whether your Fwrd Pro subscription was active the last time it could be checked, so forwarding still works when an automation runs without a network connection.

That log is stored in the app's local data on your iPhone (Fwrd has no server), inside the app's private container with iOS file protection applied. None of it is sent to Fwrd. Of your setup progress, only the short notes described under Subscriptions and purchases go to RevenueCat.

Destination credentials

Webhook URLs and bot tokens are treated as secrets, because anyone holding one can post to your channel. Fwrd stores them in the iOS Keychain, on that device only, and does not sync them to iCloud or send them to any Fwrd system. Your saved destination settings hold only a reference to the Keychain entry, never the secret itself, and editing or deleting a destination releases the entries it no longer needs.

Subscriptions and purchases

Fwrd Pro is sold through the App Store. Apple processes the payment, and Fwrd never sees your payment method, card details, or Apple Account credentials.

Fwrd uses RevenueCat to determine whether your subscription is active. The RevenueCat SDK sends your App Store purchase and receipt information, an anonymous identifier it generates for the installation, and basic device and app metadata such as iOS version and app version to RevenueCat's servers. Fwrd does not supply your name, email address, or any message data to RevenueCat, and does not set an identifier of its own — the identifier is random and is not linked to you.

On that same anonymous record, the app notes how far setup got: whether you finished onboarding, the furthest setup step you reached, whether the sample text in setup went through, whether a real text has gone through, and which kinds of destination you use, such as Discord or Email. These notes carry no message text, phone numbers, destination names, addresses or links, and no count of your texts. The app also passes on Apple's ad attribution token once per install, which says whether the install came from an Apple Search Ads campaign, not who you are.

Your purchase belongs to your Apple Account, which is what lets Restore Purchases work without a Fwrd account. Subscriptions are managed and canceled in your Apple Account settings, not in Fwrd.

Notifications

Forwarding notifications are scheduled locally on your iPhone. There is no push server, and a notification names the destination rather than repeating your message text. Notification permission is optional and can be withdrawn at any time in iOS Settings.

Deleting app data

You can clear the forwarding log or delete individual destinations inside the app at any time. Deleting a destination also releases its stored credentials, so delete your destinations before removing the app if you want to be certain no credential remains in the Keychain.

Deleting Fwrd from your iPhone removes the forwarding log, your destination settings, the usage counter, and the stored subscription state. It does not remove anything already delivered to a destination service — remove that in the destination service itself.

Website forms

The feedback form sends the name you provide, your reply email, the selected topic, and your message to the Fwrd inbox. Please do not put real message contents or destination credentials into any form on this website.

Website analytics

This website counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It sets no cookie and doesn't use your IP address to identify you or follow you to other sites. The only thing the site keeps in your browser is the language you pick on it, or that you closed its note offering one, so it can offer the right language next time; it never leaves your browser. Fwrd sees only totals, such as page views, referring sites, countries and device types. Fwrd loads no advertising script and sets no tracking cookie. App Store download links include a page-specific campaign code. When you click one, Apple uses that code to attribute App Store page views, downloads, usage, sales, and subscriptions, and shows Fwrd aggregate results in App Store Connect. Apple withholds results below its privacy thresholds. Fwrd does not receive your identity or individual browsing history from these reports.

Vercel and Cloudflare also keep the operational request logs any web host keeps in order to serve and protect the site.

The setup videos in the guides are hosted on YouTube. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play, and from then on YouTube's privacy policy applies.

Service providers

The iPhone app uses Apple for App Store purchases and RevenueCat for subscription status. The website uses App Store campaign links to measure aggregate install and subscription outcomes after a click. It also uses Vercel for hosting, Cloudflare for DNS and content delivery, and Resend to deliver feedback messages. Each provider processes only the data needed to operate its service. You can read the RevenueCat privacy notice.

Changes and contact

I'm Alan, and I make Fwrd on my own. If this policy changes materially, the date at the top of this page will change with it. To ask a privacy question or request deletion of anything you sent through this website, email support@fwrdsms.com.