# Send the texts you get to AveryIQ

> Set up your iPhone so texts from your clients reach AveryIQ, even without a team number. Texts from other numbers wait for you to choose.

Source: https://averyiq.com/help/forward-your-texts
Updated: 2026-10-31

When you text from your own phone, Avery can't see the replies. Text
forwarding fixes that. Your iPhone sends each text you get to AveryIQ.

- A text from someone in your AveryIQ contacts goes into their thread. Avery
  reads it and can write your reply.
- A group text goes into the group's thread when everyone in it is in
  AveryIQ. Avery's reply goes to the whole group.
- Anything else is held for review: a text from any other number, or a group
  text with someone new in it. Avery doesn't read it. You choose to add it or
  ignore it.

You set it up once, in the Shortcuts app on your iPhone. It takes about two
minutes.

## Before you start: add your mobile number

AveryIQ needs your own number to tell a group text from a text sent just to
you. Tap **More**, then **Settings**, then **Text forwarding**, then **Your
mobile number**. The setup steps show up once it's saved.

If your mobile number is ever removed, forwarding pauses. Your texts wait on
your iPhone for up to a week and come in once you add it again.

## 1. Make the automation

1. Open the **Shortcuts** app and tap **Automation**. Tap **New
   Automation**, or **+** if you already have one.
2. Choose **Message**.
3. Tap **Message Contains** and type a single space. Almost every text has a
   space, so it runs for almost every text.
4. Choose **Run Immediately**, so it runs without asking you. Then tap
   **Next**.
5. Tap **New Blank Automation**. Search for **Send Text to AveryIQ** and tap
   it.

## 2. Fill in the action

The action has three rows: **Content**, **Sender** and **Recipients**. Each
one gets the item with the same name.

1. Tap **Content**. Tap **Shortcut Input** above the keyboard.
2. Tap **Shortcut Input** in the row and choose **Content**.
3. Do the same for **Sender**, choosing **Sender**.
4. Do the same for **Recipients**, choosing **Recipients**. This is how
   AveryIQ knows a text came from a group, like a couple texting you together.
5. Tap **✓** to save.

The same steps are in the app. Tap **More**, then **Settings**, then **Text
forwarding**, then **How to set up**.

Your iPhone may show a small banner each time it runs. That's normal.

## 3. Check that it works

Ask a friend to text you a full sentence. Then open **Text forwarding** in
Settings. It says when the last text came in.

## Texts held for review

When a text is held, **Texts forwarded from your personal phone** shows at the
top of your Inbox. Tap it to see each number or group and what they said. For
each one, choose:

![Two numbers held for review, each with Ignore and Add to AveryIQ](https://averyiq.com/help/images/forward-your-texts-held.png)

- **Add to AveryIQ.** For a number, type their name, or add the number to
  someone you already have. For a group, the new people are added with their
  names from your phone's contacts, or with no name if you don't have them
  saved. The texts move into the thread, and new ones go there too.
- **Ignore.** The texts aren't imported, now or later. Tap **Undo** right
  away if you change your mind.

A group is separate from the people in it. Ignore your family group text, and
texts from your dad still come in when he texts you on his own.

Changed your mind later? Open **Text forwarding** in Settings. Your ignored
numbers and groups are listed there, each with **Add to AveryIQ**.

Texts you don't add or ignore are deleted after 30 days.

## Texts with your teammates in them

When a client texts you and a teammate together, it goes into the client's
thread, or the group's when there's more than one client. Your teammate is
never added as a person. When your teammate also forwards their texts, the
same text comes in once, not twice. A teammate's reply shows up as theirs,
because your iPhone got it too.

For this to work, each teammate adds their mobile number under **More**,
then **Settings**, then **Account**.

Texts between just you and your teammates aren't imported.

## What it doesn't do

- **Texts you send aren't included.** Send from a card or a person's thread,
  and AveryIQ keeps a copy. In a group with a teammate who forwards texts,
  your texts come in through their iPhone.
- **One-word texts may not come through.** A text like "Yes" or "Thanks" has
  no space. Avery still checks in with you before following up.
- **Photos don't come through.** Only the words of a text do.
- **It's iPhone only.**

A [team number](https://averyiq.com/help/your-number-or-a-team-number) gets every text, both
ways, without any of these limits.