How to read Android SMS on your iPhone
iOS has no API that lets an app read another phone’s text messages, so nothing you install on the iPhone alone will do this. The message has to be picked up on the Android side and sent across. Below are the four ways that actually work, and the trade-offs nobody mentions until your bank code fails to show up.
Why Apple’s built-in forwarding does not help
Text Message Forwarding in iOS Settings sounds like the answer, but it only relays messages that arrive on your iPhone to your other Apple devices — iPad, Mac, Apple Watch. It has no way to reach an Android phone, and Android has nothing equivalent pointing the other way.
The same applies to iCloud and to Messages in iCloud. They sync your own iMessage history between Apple devices. An SMS that lands on a Samsung or Xiaomi handset never enters that system.
The four options, compared
| Method | Good for | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier SMS forwarding | A number you rarely use | Often billed per message; availability varies by carrier and many have dropped it. The original sender ID is usually replaced, which breaks banking apps that match the sender. |
| Google Messages for web | Occasional desktop use | Browser only, no iPhone app. The pairing expires, the phone must stay online, and killing the Messages app on the phone silently stops delivery. |
| SMS-to-email / SMS-to-Telegram apps | Archiving, low urgency | Codes get buried in a mailbox or a chat feed. No unified inbox, no read state, and delivery lag of anywhere from seconds to minutes. |
| A dedicated two-app relay | Verification codes you need in seconds | You have to keep the Android phone powered on and connected. In exchange you get push delivery and a real inbox on the iPhone. |
If your goal is reading a one-off message, carrier forwarding or the web client is fine. If your goal is receiving login and payment codes reliably, the last row is the only one that behaves like a real inbox.
Setting up a relay, step by step
This is how SMSView works; the same shape applies to most relay tools. The Android phone that holds the SIM does the collecting, and every other device you sign in on becomes a reader.
- On the Android phone with the SIM, install SMS Link and sign in.
- Grant it SMS permission when prompted. On Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO there is a second permission — see the troubleshooting section, this one catches almost everybody.
- Exempt the app from battery optimisation. Settings → Apps → SMS Link → Battery → Unrestricted.
- On the iPhone, install SMS View and sign in with the same account.
- Send yourself a test message. It should appear on the iPhone within a few seconds, with a push notification.
When codes still do not arrive
Almost every failure traces back to the Android side, not the iPhone. Work down this list in order.
Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO: the hidden second permission
On MIUI and HyperOS, granting the standard SMS permission is not enough. The system splits texts into ordinary conversations and "notification" or "service" messages — and verification codes, bank alerts and delivery notices all land in the second bucket, which stays blocked. Apps typically see about 80 messages instead of the couple of thousand actually in the inbox.
Fix it at Settings → Apps → SMS Link → Permissions → SMS and MMS, and turn on notification messages / service messages. There is no Android API to request this, so no app can prompt you for it. You have to flip it by hand.
The app is being killed in the background
- Do not swipe the app away from the recent-apps screen. On MIUI in particular that revokes its ability to run.
- Turn off battery optimisation and any "adaptive battery" or "sleeping apps" feature for it. Samsung and Huawei are the usual offenders after Xiaomi.
- If the phone reboots, open the app once to confirm it came back up.
The phone is offline
The SIM receives the SMS over the cellular network, but relaying it needs data or Wi-Fi. A phone on airplane mode, out of data, or on a Wi-Fi network that has dropped will collect messages and deliver them late, once it reconnects.
It was not an SMS
RCS chats, WhatsApp, and in-app notifications are not SMS and will not sync. If the sender uses RCS, turn RCS off on the collector phone so messages fall back to SMS.
What a relay cannot do
- It does not let you reply from the iPhone using the Android number. Reading and sending are different problems; this solves the first.
- It does not work if the Android phone is switched off. There is no way around this — the SIM has to be in a live phone somewhere.
- SMSView keeps the last 7 days and cleans up older messages automatically. It is a live inbox, not an archive.
- It is built for your own devices. Putting it on someone else’s phone to read their messages is a different thing entirely, and not what this is for.
FAQ
Can I read Android texts on an iPhone without installing anything on the Android phone?
No. iOS provides no way to reach another handset, and the SMS itself is delivered to the Android phone’s radio. Something on that phone has to pick it up and pass it on. The only exception is carrier-side forwarding, which happens in the network before the message reaches either phone.
How fast do messages arrive?
With a push-based relay, typically a few seconds. Email and Telegram bridges are slower and less predictable because they depend on a third service to deliver.
Does this work if the two phones are in different countries?
Yes. The relay runs over the internet, so distance is irrelevant. What matters is that the phone holding the SIM has network coverage and a data or Wi-Fi connection.
Is it safe?
Messages move between devices signed in to your own account. The thing to be careful about is physical: whoever can unlock the Android phone can read the texts directly, relay or no relay.