How to Forward Text Messages and Calls to Another Phone

By SalesCaptain Team · Updated September 17, 2026

You’re in a meeting, on a job site, or finally taking a day off. Your business phone keeps ringing. Texts pile up. Customers who don’t get an immediate response move on to a competitor. Sound familiar? Learning how to forward text messages and calls to another phone is one of the simplest ways to make sure that doesn’t happen. Whether you’re routing calls to a partner, a personal cell, or an AI agent, forwarding keeps your business reachable around the clock.

Forwarding text messages and calls to another phone redirects incoming communications from one number to a second device automatically. Call forwarding reroutes calls before or after a set number of rings, while text forwarding delivers SMS and MMS messages to another number, keeping you reachable without staying physically tied to one phone.

What Does It Mean to Forward Text Messages and Calls?

Call forwarding redirects an incoming call from one phone number to another before it rings or after a set number of rings. Text message forwarding works similarly: incoming SMS or MMS messages sent to one number are automatically delivered to a second device or number. Both features let you stay responsive without being physically tied to a single phone.

For personal use, this might mean sending your iPhone texts to a Mac while you’re at your desk. But for a business? It’s far more critical. A data-driven analysis of missed call costs shows that even a handful of unanswered calls per week can translate into thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Forwarding is your most basic safeguard against that.

How to Forward Calls on iPhone, Android, and Landline

The exact steps depend on the device and carrier you’re using. Here’s a breakdown of the three most common setups.

iPhone Call Forwarding

• Open Settings → Phone → Call Forwarding.
• Toggle Call Forwarding on.
• Enter the number you want calls sent to.
• Once active, a phone icon appears in the status bar. All incoming calls go straight to the forwarding number.

Keep in mind that this is unconditional forwarding. Every call gets redirected, not just missed ones. If you only want calls forwarded when you don’t answer, you’ll need to use your carrier’s conditional forwarding codes (typically *61*[number]# for no-answer forwarding on GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile).

Android Call Forwarding

• Open the Phone app and tap the three-dot menu → Settings.
• Select Calls → Call Forwarding (the exact path varies by manufacturer).
• Choose from Always Forward, Forward When Busy, Forward When Unanswered, or Forward When Unreachable.
• Enter the destination number and tap Enable or Turn On.

Android gives you more granular control out of the box than iOS. You can set different forwarding rules for different situations, which is useful if you want calls to roll over only after four rings.

Landline and Carrier-Level Forwarding

Most traditional carriers support forwarding through star codes dialed from the phone itself. The standard sequence is *72 + destination number + Send/Call. To deactivate, dial *73. Verizon, AT&T, and CenturyLink all support these codes. Though some VoIP-based landlines require you to configure forwarding through a web portal instead. If you’re on a business PBX system, your IT admin typically controls forwarding rules through the system’s dashboard.

How to forward text messages to another phone

Text forwarding is trickier than call forwarding. SMS wasn’t originally designed to be rerouted. Your options depend heavily on whether you’re using a personal phone or a business number.

Apple iMessage Forwarding

If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, you can forward iMessages and SMS to other Apple devices signed in with the same Apple ID. Go to Settings → Messages → Text Message Forwarding and toggle on the devices you want to receive texts. This only works between your own Apple devices, not to a different phone number.

Manual Forwarding on Any Phone

Both iOS and Android let you manually forward individual messages. Long-press a message, tap the share or forward icon, and choose a recipient. It’s simple enough. But it’s impractical at scale. You’d have to sit there forwarding each message by hand.

Carrier and Third-Party Solutions

Some carriers offer conditional SMS forwarding, though it’s inconsistent. T-Mobile’s DIGITS feature, for instance, lets you mirror a number across multiple devices. Google Voice also lets you forward texts to email or another number. However, for business use, these consumer-level solutions fall short quickly. They don’t track conversations, can’t auto-respond, and don’t integrate with your booking or CRM tools.

That gap is exactly why AI receptionist platforms have gained traction among small businesses. Instead of forwarding a text to a personal phone and hoping someone replies, these systems handle responses automatically.

Why Basic Forwarding Isn’t Enough for Businesses

Forwarding solves the “where does this go?” problem. It doesn’t solve the “who answers it and how fast?” problem. And speed matters enormously. Research on missed call revenue impact consistently shows that leads contacted within the first few minutes convert at dramatically higher rates than those left waiting even an hour.

Here’s what basic forwarding still leaves on the table:

• No after-hours intelligence. Forwarding to a personal phone at 10 PM just means you’re working at 10 PM. Miss it anyway, and the customer gets voicemail.
• No context. The person receiving the forwarded call or text has no idea who’s calling, what they need, or their history with your business.
• No automation. You can’t auto-reply, book an appointment, or qualify a lead through native call forwarding. It’s a dumb pipe.
• Channel silos. Even if you forward calls, your texts, Facebook DMs, Instagram messages, and webchat conversations still live in separate apps.

According to the SBA’s 2024 report on small business, the vast majority of U.S. businesses have fewer than 20 employees. Most can’t afford to staff a phone around the clock. So forwarding calls to a personal cell works until it doesn’t. Which is usually when your business starts growing beyond what one person can handle.

Best Practices for Business Call and Text Routing

If you’re going to set up forwarding, do it strategically. A few guidelines make the difference between “better than nothing” and “actually effective.”

Use Conditional Forwarding, Not Unconditional

Always-on forwarding means your primary phone never rings. That’s rarely what you want. Set calls to forward only when unanswered, when you’re on another call, or outside business hours. Most carriers and VoIP systems support all three conditions separately.

Set Up Missed Call Text-Back

If a call goes unanswered even after forwarding, an automatic text response buys you time. Something as simple as “Hey, we missed your call. Can we help over text?” keeps the lead warm. Studies on missed call economics suggest that this single step can recover a meaningful portion of otherwise lost leads.

Centralize Your Channels

Forwarding calls and texts to different personal phones creates a fragmented mess. No one knows who spoke to which customer, or what was said. A unified system that captures every interaction in one place eliminates the confusion. This becomes especially important once you’ve more than one person handling customer communication.

Consider AI as the Forwarding Destination

Rather than forwarding to another human who might also be unavailable, forward to an AI agent that’s always on. Modern AI phone agents sound natural. They can book appointments, answer FAQs, and qualify leads without any human involvement. It’s the logical evolution of call forwarding for businesses that can’t afford to miss opportunities.

How SalesCaptain Helps

SalesCaptain replaces the patchwork of call forwarding, manual text replies, and separate app logins with a single platform. It’s purpose-built for service businesses. Instead of forwarding calls to a personal phone and hoping for the best, you route them to SalesCaptain’s AI Phone Agent, which answers every call 24/7 with natural-sounding conversation. It books appointments, qualifies leads, answers common questions, and blocks spam calls.

On the text side, SalesCaptain’s AI Chat Agents handle incoming SMS, webchat, Instagram DMs, and Facebook Messenger automatically. There’s no need to forward texts to another device because the AI responds instantly from a unified number. Every conversation, whether it started as a phone call, a text, or a social media message, appears in the Unified Inbox where your whole team can see it.

The platform also includes a full business phone system with IVR, custom call flows, and call routing. You get a drag-and-drop builder. You can set rules like “forward to my cell during lunch, then route to AI after 6 PM,” all without touching carrier settings or dialing star codes. With independent reviews of AI front desk solutions pointing to faster response times and higher lead capture rates, this approach is quickly becoming the new standard. Especially for businesses that take phone and text communication seriously.

Key Takeaways

Knowing how to forward text messages and calls to another phone is a useful starting skill. But it’s just the first step for any business that depends on customer calls and messages. Native forwarding on iPhones, Android devices, and landlines is free and easy to set up. Yet it doesn’t solve the deeper problems. Slow response times, missed after-hours leads, and fragmented communication channels all remain.

For personal use, built-in forwarding works fine. For a business, conditional forwarding combined with automated text-back, AI call handling, and a unified inbox is what actually moves the needle. The goal isn’t just to redirect calls. It’s to make sure every customer interaction gets handled promptly, professionally, and completely. Whether you’re available or not.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I forward text messages and calls at the same time?

Call forwarding and text forwarding are separate features on most phones. You can enable call forwarding through your phone’s settings or carrier codes. But SMS forwarding typically requires either Apple’s Text Message Forwarding feature (for iMessages across Apple devices) or a third-party app. Business phone platforms like SalesCaptain handle both from a single system.

Does call forwarding cost extra?

Most major carriers include call forwarding at no additional charge on standard plans. However, the forwarded call uses your airtime minutes (if your plan isn’t unlimited). And if you’re forwarding to a long-distance or international number, per-minute charges may apply. VoIP-based business phone systems typically include forwarding in their base pricing.

Will the person I forward calls to see the original caller’s number?

It depends on your carrier and forwarding method. With most carrier-level call forwarding, the receiving phone shows the original caller’s number. Some VoIP systems display the forwarding number instead. Check your specific provider’s documentation to confirm how caller ID behaves during forwarding.

How do I stop forwarding calls once I’ve turned it on?

On iPhone, go to Settings → Phone → Call Forwarding and toggle it off. On Android, follow the same path you used to enable it and select Disable. For landlines using star codes, dial *73 and press Send. If you set up forwarding through a carrier portal, log back in and remove the forwarding rule.

Is there a way to forward only certain calls or texts?

Native phone settings don’t support selective forwarding by contact. You can use conditional forwarding (forward only when busy or unanswered). But filtering by caller requires a business phone system with call flow rules. SalesCaptain’s call flow builder lets you route specific types of calls differently based on time of day, caller input, or other criteria.