Forwarding SMS from iPhone to Telegram lets you read and manage your texts on any device — phone, tablet, or desktop — without touching your iPhone. This guide walks you through the complete setup using Fwrdly.

What You’ll Need

  • iPhone running iOS 16 or later
  • Fwrdly installed from the App Store
  • A Telegram account
  • 5 minutes

Step 1: Download Fwrdly

Install Fwrdly from the App Store. It’s the only iOS SMS forwarding app that runs fully on-device — your messages never pass through third-party servers.

Step 2: Open Fwrdly and Add a Destination

  1. Launch Fwrdly on your iPhone
  2. Tap “Add destination” on the home screen
  3. Select Telegram from the list of platforms

Step 3: Set Up the Fwrdly Telegram Bot

Fwrdly uses an official Telegram bot to deliver messages to your account.

  1. Tap “Open Telegram Bot” in Fwrdly — this opens @FwrdlyBot in Telegram
  2. Press Start to activate the bot
  3. The bot will reply with your unique Chat ID (a number like 123456789)
  4. Copy that number

Step 4: Connect Your Chat ID

  1. Go back to Fwrdly
  2. Paste the Chat ID into the field provided
  3. Optionally give the destination a name (e.g. “My Telegram”)
  4. Tap Save

Step 5: Enable Forwarding

  1. Toggle “Enable forwarding” to ON in Fwrdly
  2. Grant the required permissions if prompted (Fwrdly needs access to Messages)

Step 6: Test It

Send a text message to your iPhone from another number. Within seconds it should appear in your Telegram chat from the Fwrdly bot.

Forwarding to a Telegram Group

You can also forward SMS to a group chat:

  1. Add @FwrdlyBot to your Telegram group
  2. Send /start in the group
  3. The bot will reply with the group’s Chat ID (starts with -)
  4. Use that negative number as the Chat ID in Fwrdly

Forwarding to a Telegram Channel

To forward to a channel, make @FwrdlyBot an admin of the channel, then use the channel’s ID (format: @yourchannel or the numeric ID).

Filtering Messages

Fwrdly lets you filter which messages get forwarded:

  • By sender — only forward from specific contacts or numbers
  • By keyword — only forward messages containing certain words (e.g. “verification”, “code”)
  • By contact group — forward all messages from a contact group

This is useful for forwarding only OTP codes and verification messages, ignoring personal conversations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Fwrdly work in the background? Yes. Fwrdly uses iOS background processing to forward messages even when the app is not open. For best reliability, disable Low Power Mode and keep Fwrdly unrestricted in iOS battery settings.

Will my messages be forwarded if my iPhone is off? No. Fwrdly runs on your iPhone, so your device needs to be on and connected to the internet.

Is there a delay? Typically under 5 seconds. Delays can occur if your iPhone is in a low-signal area or if Telegram’s servers are under load.

Can I forward to multiple Telegram chats? Yes. Add multiple Telegram destinations in Fwrdly and all matching messages will be forwarded to each one.

Is my data private? Fwrdly forwards messages directly from your iPhone to Telegram’s API — there are no intermediary servers that store or process your messages.