I want to find a way to automatically forward all incoming text messages from my Android phone to another phone number or device. Can this happen in real-time without having to manually forward each text separately? Been searching around and getting mixed results. Some say use an app, some say use carrier settings. What actually works in 2024? Would appreciate any real tested methods.
How to Automatically Forward Android SMS to Another Phone: Every Method That Works
Great question CodeNavigator. Let me walk through every method available right now so you can pick the one that fits your situation.
Why Android Has No Built-In Forwarding
First thing to know: Android does not have a native automatic SMS forwarding feature. Unlike iPhone, which lets you forward texts to other Apple devices using the same Apple ID, Android leaves this entirely to third-party apps. Every manufacturer has their own messaging app with different rules and none of them include auto-forwarding out of the box. So you will need an app.
Method 1: SMS Forwarder App (Google Play Store)
This is the most straightforward option for most people.
Steps:
- Open Google Play Store and search for SMS Forwarder
- Install the app and open it
- Tap the plus icon to create a new forwarding rule
- Enter the destination phone number or email address
- Set filters if needed (forward all messages, or only from specific contacts, or messages containing specific words)
- Tap Done and the rule goes live immediately
Messages forward in real-time as they arrive. The free version covers basic forwarding. Premium unlocks auto-replies and more advanced filters.
Method 2: Auto Forward SMS to PC or Phone
Available on Google Play Store. Similar setup to SMS Forwarder but has a cleaner interface for beginners.
Steps:
- Download Auto Forward SMS from the Play Store
- Open the app and sign in with your Google account
- Enter the destination phone number or email
- Grant SMS read and send permissions when prompted
- Save your rule and enable the forwarding toggle
You can forward to a phone number, an email address, or both at the same time. Useful if you want a text copy and an email backup simultaneously.
Method 3: IFTTT Automation
For users who want more control without paying for a premium app.
Steps:
- Install IFTTT from the Play Store
- Create a free account
- Create a new Applet with trigger: Android SMS received
- Set action: Send SMS or Send email
- Customize the message format to include sender name and message body
- Save and activate the applet
IFTTT runs in the background and triggers the forward on every incoming message.
Method 4: AutoForward Text (Web-Based)
A dedicated forwarding service at autoforwardtext.com. You download their APK, sign in, and choose your destination. Supports forwarding to phone numbers, email, Slack, or a custom API URL. Requires phone to stay on with internet connection.
Which Method Should You Use?
For simple number-to-number forwarding with no setup headache: SMS Forwarder.
For email backup plus forwarding: Auto Forward SMS.
For power users who want custom rules and automation: IFTTT.
For business setups needing API access: AutoForward Text.
okay so I actually set this up last month for a pretty specific reason. I have two phones, a work one and a personal one, and I was sick of missing work texts when I only had my personal phone on me 
I used SMS Forwarder from the Play Store and it took me about 8 minutes to set up. Created a rule, entered my personal number as the destination, enabled the toggle, done. Every text that hits the work phone now shows up on my personal one within a few seconds. The forwarded message shows the original sender name and number at the top so you always know where it came from. Only issue I had was battery drain on the work phone is slightly higher now because the app runs continuously in the background. Nothing major but worth knowing.
IFTTT Method for SMS Forwarding: Full Setup Guide
For anyone who wants more flexibility than a basic forwarding app, IFTTT is a solid free option that a lot of people overlook.
What IFTTT Does Differently
Unlike apps that just mirror every message to another number, IFTTT lets you build conditional logic. Forward only messages containing the word invoice. Forward only messages from a specific contact. Forward to email instead of SMS. You have actual control over the trigger and the action separately.
Step-by-Step Setup
Step 1: Install and Set Up IFTTT
Download IFTTT from the Google Play Store. Create a free account. You can sign in with Google to speed things up.
Step 2: Create a New Applet
Tap the plus icon on the home screen. Tap Add next to the IF section. Search for Android SMS in the trigger list. Select the option that fits your need. Receive any SMS or Receive SMS from a specific number.
Step 3: Set the Action
Tap Add next to the THEN section. Choose your action. Options include Send SMS, Send an email, Post to Slack, Add row to Google Sheets, and more. If forwarding to another phone number, select Send SMS and enter the destination number. Fill in the message body template using the available fields like Text and Sender.
Step 4: Name and Activate
Give the applet a name, toggle it on, and save. From this point every matching message triggers the applet and forwards the content to wherever you set.
Limitations to Know
IFTTT forwarding is not always instant. There can be a delay of 30 seconds to a few minutes depending on your connection and IFTTT server load. For most casual use cases this is fine. For time-sensitive codes like OTPs, a dedicated SMS forwarding app will be faster.
Best For
People who want to forward selectively rather than everything. Also great if you want SMS content to land in email or a Google Sheet rather than another phone.
Something worth adding that nobody has mentioned yet: your mobile carrier does not help with this at all. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with customer support thinking there was a carrier-side forwarding setting like how call forwarding works. There is not. Carriers handle call forwarding at the network level but SMS stays on the device. So the only path is a third-party app on the phone itself. Just want to save anyone else from wasting time going down that route 
zerophantom the battery drain you mentioned is real but there is a way to reduce it. In Android battery settings you can find the SMS forwarding app and set it to unrestricted or no restrictions under battery optimization. By default Android puts background apps in a bucket that limits their activity to save power, which can also sometimes delay forwarding by a few minutes. Setting the app to unrestricted keeps it fully active and actually improves both speed and battery behavior because the phone stops constantly suspending and restarting the background process. Counterintuitive but it works.
SMS Forwarding via AutoForward Text: The Web-Based Option Explained
What Makes This Different
Most Play Store apps handle forwarding entirely on the device. AutoForward Text runs on a combination of a device-side app and a cloud account, which means your forwarding rules and logs are stored online and accessible from any browser.
Setup Process
On Android:
- Go to autoforwardtext.com and create a free account
- Download their APK file directly from the site (not the Play Store)
- Before installing, go to Android Settings, find your browser or file manager app, and enable install from unknown sources
- Install the APK and sign into your account inside the app
- Enable forwarding and choose your destination: phone number, email, Slack, or a custom API webhook
- Messages will now forward in real-time and also appear in your online dashboard
What You Get in the Dashboard
Every forwarded message is logged online with timestamp, sender name, sender number, and full message body. You can search through the history, export logs, and manage your rules from any device without touching the phone again after setup.
Pricing Reality
The basic plan starts free with email forwarding included. Forwarding to phone numbers uses SMS credits, roughly one credit per message segment. For heavy use this adds up, so worth checking their pricing page before committing.
Who This Is Best For
Anyone who needs forwarding plus a searchable record of messages. Businesses handling customer SMS, parents who want a log of incoming texts on a child’s device, or anyone managing dual devices who wants a central inbox. If you just need simple phone-to-phone forwarding with no record keeping, SMS Forwarder from the Play Store is simpler and free.
Important Note
The phone must stay powered on and connected to the internet. Forwarding does not work if the device is offline, but any messages received while offline will forward as soon as the connection is restored.
Just gonna throw in a real scenario here 
my mum has two phones. Her main one stays at home and her second one she carries. She kept missing texts from the bank and from us on the home phone. I set up SMS Forwarder on the home phone, put her second phone number as the destination, and now everything that hits the home phone shows up on the one she carries. She did not have to do anything. It just works. honestly one of the most practically useful things I have done with a phone setup. took under 10 minutes, and she has not missed a message since.
Adding something for people who want forwarding to email specifically instead of another phone number. Both SMS Forwarder and Auto Forward SMS support email as a destination. You just enter your email address instead of a phone number when setting up the rule. The forwarded message arrives as an email with the subject line showing the sender info and the body containing the full message text. This is actually really useful if you want a searchable archive of all incoming texts or if you want to read them on a laptop rather than a second phone. I use this setup for work messages and it works cleanly.
Something to be aware of with all these forwarding apps: they need the SMS read permission AND the SMS send permission. The SMS send permission is what lets the app actually push the message to your chosen number. Some people get uncomfortable seeing send permission requested for a forwarding app but it is functionally required. The app reads the incoming text and then sends a copy to your destination. No send permission means it can forward to email via internet but it cannot send an SMS copy to another phone number. Worth understanding before you question why the app needs that access.
If the goal is broader than just SMS forwarding, like you also want to keep track of calls and see what apps are being used on a device, Xnspy is worth looking at alongside these forwarding-only apps. It does full SMS monitoring with a searchable log, call history, app activity, and real-time location, all from a web dashboard. So if your reason for wanting forwarded texts is to stay on top of what is happening on a device more generally, Xnspy handles that whole picture rather than just the text side of it.
Google Voice as an SMS Forwarding Option: Does It Still Work?
The Short Answer
No, not really. Not for forwarding to another phone number.
What Google Voice Used to Do
Google Voice previously had a feature that forwarded SMS messages to your linked phone numbers. You could add multiple phones to a Google Voice account and all messages to that number would push to all linked devices. This was genuinely useful and many people relied on it.
What Changed
Google has progressively stripped down Google Voice’s forwarding features over several updates. As of the current version, Google Voice no longer reliably forwards SMS messages to external phone numbers. The forwarding to linked phones option either does not appear or does not function correctly for most users.
What Google Voice Still Does
If you use a Google Voice number as your primary number, you can receive and read those messages across all devices where you are signed into your Google account. So if the Google Voice number IS the number receiving texts, you get them everywhere automatically.
The Problem
If you want to forward texts arriving on your actual SIM phone number to somewhere else, Google Voice does not help with that. Your SIM number and your Google Voice number are separate and Google Voice has no access to texts arriving on your SIM.
Bottom Line
Do not rely on Google Voice for automatic SMS forwarding in 2024. Use a dedicated app like SMS Forwarder or Auto Forward SMS instead. Those apps access your SIM messages directly and forward them reliably.
Tekvanta that Google Voice section is something I have seen confuse a lot of people. Someone told me to use Google Voice for this exact thing last year and I spent way too long trying to get it working before realising it simply does not do what it used to The Play Store apps are genuinely the most reliable path for this now. SMS Forwarder specifically has been consistently updated and the developer actively maintains it which matters because Android updates occasionally break background app behavior and you need an app that stays current with those changes.
One thing worth flagging for anyone setting this up: test it before you depend on it. After you create the forwarding rule in whatever app you use, send yourself a test message from another phone or ask someone to send you one and confirm it shows up at the destination within a reasonable time. Some devices have aggressive battery management that can delay or block background apps from running. If your test message does not arrive, go into Android settings, find the forwarding app under battery or app management, and set it to run without restrictions. On Samsung devices specifically this setting is under Device Care then Battery then App Power Management. Pixel phones handle this under Settings then Apps then the app name then Battery. Do the test first and save yourself finding out the setup did not work when it actually matters.
Coming in at the end here but wanted to summarize the practical takeaways since this thread covers a lot of ground. For simple phone-to-phone real-time forwarding with minimal setup, SMS Forwarder from the Play Store is the easiest starting point. For forwarding to email or wanting a message log, Auto Forward SMS or AutoForward Text works well. For conditional forwarding with custom rules, IFTTT gives you the most flexibility. For context like also monitoring calls and app activity alongside texts, Xnspy covers all of that in one place. Whatever you pick, remember to disable Android battery optimization for the app and run a test message first. Those two steps alone will save most of the headaches people run into with these setups 