If you’re using your personal iPhone for business (or plan to), you’ll need to know how to forward text messages to collaborate effectively with coworkers.
This guide explains how to forward text messages from an iPhone so you can answer questions, address comments, and resolve issues as a team.
Just keep in mind that manually forwarding texts isn’t a long-term solution for business owners.
That’s why we also provide a better alternative and explain how it can help you sustainably scale your business.
How to forward texts from your iPhone
Want to forward text messages from your iPhone to a coworker’s phone?
Here’s a step-by-step guide to SMS forwarding from an iPhone:
1. Open your Messages app and locate the conversation thread you wish to forward.
2. Tap and hold any message in the thread until the options menu pops up. In the menu, select More.
3. Select the message(s) you wish to forward.
4. Tap the arrow icon to open the Recipients screen.
5. Add the recipients who should receive your forwarded text. Tap the forward icon (which looks like another arrow) to complete the text forwarding process.
Keep in mind this forwarding option won’t retain the text message’s original time stamp. The only way to keep that is to take a screenshot of the conversation thread — which is far from ideal for most business owners.
How to automatically forward texts from your iPhone to another IOS device
Don’t want to manually forward incoming text messages? It’s possible to automatically forward texts from your iPhone to another personal iOS device (including your iPad, Mac, and more).
Here’s how to automatically forward an iPhone text:
1. Make sure you’ve signed into all new devices with your existing Apple ID.
2. Unlock the iPhone you wish to forward text messages from. Navigate to Settings —> Messages.
3. Select Text Message Forwarding.
4. Select the devices that should receive your forwarded texts. Tap the toggle bars to enable/disable devices.
5. Enter the verification codes of each device you wish to forward messages to. As long as your existing iPhone is connected to WiFi or a mobile network, the other devices you’ve toggled on should receive your forwarded texts.
Keep in mind that automatic forwarding comes with its own set of limitations. You can’t use auto-forwarding to send messages to coworker’s devices, for example.
With either of the processes outlined above, though, you’ll face a number of other issues highlighted in the next section.
Limitations of forwarding text messages from an iPhone
As you can see, Apple’s text forwarding features aren’t really built for businesses. They may be helpful if you’re a personal user, but they’re often slow and problematic for small business owners.
The biggest drawbacks include:
- Team members can’t send or receive messages from the same number. This makes it difficult to split responsibility among team members or resolve customer issues as a group.
- You can’t tag high-priority support requests. When you forward multiple texts from your iPhone, you can’t tag which ones are a higher priority to make sure they get resolved first.
- Managers can’t keep up-to-date with customer interactions. There’s no way to see the entire interaction, making it harder to join conversations with customers or spot opportunities to provide meaningful feedback to reps. You’ll also run into similar issues forwarding calls from an iPhone.
If you’re tired of juggling text messages on your own and need an easier way to loop your team into the conversation, learning how to forward a text won’t be enough to support your business.
A shared number, however, will.
If you’re a personal user you might not mind the hassle of forwarding text messages. You won’t have any team members to loop into conversations, and you (probably) aren’t managing hundreds of messages per day.
On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense for most small business owners to manually forward their iPhone text messages. Manual processes can create bottlenecks for your team, and automatic forwarding doesn’t work with Android phones at all.
What you really need is a collaboration tool where you can send and receive texts together as a team. Plus, you can easily call and text from the same phone number your contacts recognize. That’s what makes OpenPhone’s shared numbers so popular — it’s the easiest way to manage calls and messages in one place without needing to forward a single incoming text.
Let’s break it down:
- When you set up a shared number for your team, everyone with access to the number will see the same contacts, phone calls, and text threads in the same unified inbox.
- Any member of the number can receive notifications for incoming calls and texts, which means anyone can answer new messages as they arrive. (If you’re a manager, you can easily mute the number to silence notifications and still easily jump into OpenPhone and coach.)
- If you’re unsure how to answer a message, you can tag a team member using internal threads and mentions. This makes it much easier to delegate tasks, ask for clarification, and resolve problems faster.
- OpenPhone keeps a full communication history for every contact which means you don’t need to record every phone call (unless you want to) or switch between apps to get the full context.
- If you prefer to switch between apps, you can forward incoming texts to any Slack channel or email account your team members use.
- Texting automations can streamline your workflow further. With auto-replies, you can immediately address incoming texts while letting customers know when you’ll be back at your desk. You can also schedule text messages to reach customers overseas without forcing yourself to stay awake or tapping the send button manually.
- OpenPhone runs on VoIP technology, which means we work across multiple devices (including iPhones, Androids, laptops, and desktops). No need to purchase additional hardware — you just need your iPhone and a WiFi connection.
This barely scratches the surface of what you can do with OpenPhone. We make it easier than ever to put your workflow on autopilot and unlock more features as your business grows.
Shared numbers with OpenPhone start at $15 per user per month. If you’re ready for bigger and better features, upgrade to our Business plan, which costs $23 per user per month.
Ready to forward your text messages with OpenPhone?
Giving your customers the option to text can do a world of good for your business. But if you want it to work to its full potential, you’re going to need more than your iPhone’s built-in forwarding tools.
OpenPhone’s solutions make it oh-so-easy to share responsibility for incoming texts. Our shared number feature can help you get the job done right — no text forwarding, screenshotting, or third-party apps required.
Curious to learn more about how OpenPhone can help? See for yourself why thousands of users rate us the #1 small business phone system on G2.
Get started today with a free seven-day trial and create a shared number your whole team will love.
Yes, you can automatically forward text messages to another Apple device (including your MacBook or iPad). However, you can only auto-forward texts to devices you own — they all need to share your Apple ID. The better solution is to set up a shared number on OpenPhone and share incoming messages with everyone on your team.
No. Due to technical limitations on Apple devices, it’s not possible to auto-forward SMS messages to email on iPhones. If you put your business phone number on OpenPhone, you can automatically forward text messages to any email address on file.
