How to Forward a Text Message on an iPhone

The Hidden Forwarding Feature

In the early days of mobile phones, forwarding a text message was a prominent option located directly in the main options menu of every handset. Today, however, Apple has designed the iPhone’s Messages app to be as visually clean and minimalist as possible. To achieve this clean look, Apple hid several essential functions, including the ability to forward a message, behind a series of long-press gestures and hidden menus.

If you receive an important address, a funny picture, or a critical piece of information from someone, you do not need to take a screenshot or manually copy and paste the text to send it to someone else. You can seamlessly forward the exact message (including any photos or links attached to it) directly to another contact.

Here is exactly how to uncover the hidden forwarding menu in the iOS Messages app.

How to Forward a Single Text Message

This method works for both standard green SMS text messages and blue iMessages.

1. Open the Messages app on your iPhone and tap on the conversation containing the message you want to forward.
2. Find the specific message bubble you want to send to someone else.
3. Press and hold your finger firmly on that specific text bubble for about one second.
4. A reaction menu (showing a heart, thumbs up, etc.) will pop up above the message, and a list of options will appear below it.
5. Tap More… at the bottom of that list.
6. You will now notice a blue circle with a white checkmark has appeared next to the message you selected, indicating it is ready to be moved.
7. Look at the very bottom right corner of your screen and tap the Forward arrow (it looks like a curved arrow pointing to the right).
8. A brand new message draft window will open. The text (or photo) you selected will already be sitting in the message box.
9. Type the name or phone number of the person you want to send it to in the “To:” field at the top.
10. Tap the blue or green Send arrow.

Note: When you forward a message, the person receiving it will not see who originally sent it to you. It will look exactly as if you had typed the message yourself.

How to Forward Multiple Messages at Once

If someone sends you a long story broken up over five different text messages, or sends you an address followed by a gate code in a separate text, you do not need to forward them one by one.

1. Press and hold on the first message bubble you want to forward.
2. Tap More… from the pop-up menu.
3. The blue checkmark will appear next to the first message, and empty circles will appear next to every other message in the conversation.
4. Simply tap the empty circles next to the other messages you want to include. A blue checkmark will appear next to each one.
5. Once you have selected all the relevant messages, tap the Forward arrow in the bottom right corner.

The iPhone will automatically combine all the selected messages into one single, cohesive text block in the new draft window, saving you the hassle of sending multiple separate texts to the new recipient.

Alternative: Using Copy and Paste

If the built-in forwarding method feels too cumbersome, or if you only want to forward a specific sentence from a much longer text message, you can use the classic copy and paste method instead.

1. Press and hold the message bubble.
2. Instead of tapping “More…”, simply tap Copy from the pop-up list.
3. Open a new conversation with the person you want to send the text to.
4. Tap once in the empty text-entry field at the bottom of the screen.
5. Tap Paste when the option appears.
6. You can now edit the text (delete sentences you don’t need, or add your own thoughts) before pressing Send.