Dostum SMS Help & Support

1. What does Dostum SMS do?

Dostum SMS syncs every text message your phone receives to your own email inbox, automatically and reliably.

You install it on an Android phone you own, choose the email inbox where you want your texts to land, and from then on every SMS arrives in that inbox within seconds. No web setup, no SMTP credentials, no manual steps.

Useful for:

Reading your texts on a laptop or tablet while your phone is on the charger
A second phone you keep at home that you still want to read over email
Keeping a personal email archive of your text history
Travelling with a separate phone but checking messages from your main email

2. First-time setup (5 steps, ~2 minutes)

Step 1 — Sign up or sign in

Open the app, tap Sign up with your email and a password. We'll email you a confirmation link — click it once, then sign in. If you already have an account: Sign in.

Step 2 — Save your destination email

This is the inbox where each text will be synced. Open the Sync screen, type the email, tap Save. Use any email you control — Gmail, Outlook, your own domain. We don't keep the mail server credentials.

Step 3 — Allow SMS permission

The app needs to receive incoming SMS so it can sync them to your email. Android shows a system dialog — tap Allow. We use the SMS only to deliver it to your destination email. We never send SMS, never store the body permanently, and never sell or share with anyone.

Step 4 — Check Phone health

Tap Settings → Phone health. Walk through the steps shown there. Different Android phones have different battery savers. On Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei, Samsung, Realme, OnePlus, and ZTE phones, the standard "battery optimisation off" toggle isn't enough. Skipping Phone health is the #1 reason sync stops working after a few hours.

Step 5 — Send a test

Tap Send Test in the Sync screen. Within a minute you'll get an email at your destination. If it doesn't arrive, check your spam folder first.

3. How sync works (in plain English)

When an SMS arrives:

Your phone wakes up the app.
The app reads the message that just arrived.
The app sends it to our delivery server.
Our server emails your destination address through our SMTP relay.
The email arrives in your inbox.

Whole journey: usually under 5 seconds.

Email subject template: Dostum SMS — message from <sender>

Examples:

Dostum SMS — message from +44 7700 900xxx
Dostum SMS — message from POSTAL-SVC
Dostum SMS — message from PARCEL-CO

4. Destination email — how to change it

Settings → Destination email (or open the Sync screen directly). Type the new email, tap Save. The change applies immediately — the next SMS will go to the new address. Syncing to additional email inboxes is planned for personal multi-mailbox setups.

5. Phone name — what's it for and how to change it

When you first set up the phone, Dostum gives it a default name like Samsung SM-S908B (A3F1) — manufacturer + model + a short unique code. This name appears in your account's device list.

If you have more than one of your own devices syncing to the same inbox (for example a primary phone and a second phone you also own), rename them so you can tell which device synced each message. Try names like "Home Phone", "Spare Phone", "Travel SIM", or "Old Phone".

To rename: Settings → This phone → Save.

6. Phone health — the most important screen

Open Settings → Phone health. Each card on that screen represents one toggle on your phone that needs to be configured for sync to keep working.

The first card is universal — Android's standard battery-optimisation exemption.

The cards below are specific to your phone manufacturer. They typically include:

Allow auto-launch / autostart — without this, your phone refuses to wake the app for incoming SMS
Allow background activity — separate toggle that controls whether the app can run while the screen is off
Lock the app in Recents — prevents the OS from killing the app under memory pressure

Each card has an "Open settings" button that takes you straight to the right page on your phone. Some manufacturers don't expose direct links — in that case the card shows the path you need to follow manually.

You can revisit this screen anytime. It's safe to re-check.

7. Common questions

Why didn't a particular SMS sync?

Three common causes, in order of likelihood:

The message arrived as a chat (RCS), not classic SMS. Modern Android phones use Google Messages "chat features" between Android-to-Android. Chats are stored separately by Google and can't be read by any app reading classic SMS. If the sender uses an iPhone, a feature phone, a carrier service, or has Google Messages chat features turned off, the message arrives as classic SMS and we sync it normally.
Battery saver killed the app. Open Settings → Phone health and walk through every step. On Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Huawei phones especially, the standard battery toggle is not enough.
Email went to spam. Especially the very first synced message — Gmail's spam filter is wary of new senders. Mark one as "Not spam" and future ones land in inbox.

Will it sync RCS chats?

No. RCS messages travel over data through Google's servers, not the cellular SMS network. They're stored in Google Messages' private database and can't be read by any third-party app using standard Android APIs. Same limitation applies to every classic-SMS app on the Play Store.

If you need RCS support, ask the sender to turn off "chat features" in Google Messages, or send from an iPhone (which always falls back to classic SMS for non-iMessage Android contacts).

Will it work while my SIM is roaming?

Yes, as long as your carrier delivers SMS to you while roaming. Most do — SMS roaming is included free in EU plans, for example. If your carrier blocks incoming SMS while roaming on your specific plan, no app can fix that. To test: dial your carrier's free balance check (e.g., *100# on giffgaff). The reply SMS proves the SIM is receiving messages.

Will it stop working when my phone reboots?

No. The sync service starts automatically after every reboot. We use a foreground service so Android knows the app is busy and shouldn't kill it. If you've completed all the Phone health steps for your phone manufacturer, sync should keep working indefinitely.

How long is my SMS body stored on the server?

24 hours, then automatically deleted. We need to keep the body briefly for retry on email delivery failure. After 24 hours, the body is automatically purged from our database, but the row metadata (sender, timestamp, delivery status) is kept for your history view. For failed messages we keep the body for 7 days for support investigation, then purge.

Does this app work on iPhone?

No. iOS doesn't allow third-party apps to read SMS. This category of app is Android-only. Sorry — we'd build it if Apple let us.

Can I sync to multiple email addresses?

Not yet. This is on the roadmap as a future feature for personal multi-mailbox use.

How do I contact support?

Email support@dostumamigo.com. Tell us:

Your phone make + model
The Android version
A short description of what's happening
(Optional but ideal) when the last SMS synced, and when one didn't

8. Privacy at a glance

We do not sell your data, share it with advertisers, or use it for analytics. Text message bodies are delivered only to the email address you configure on this phone — your email provider is the one third party that ever sees the message contents.
Message bodies are stored only long enough to deliver them — purged after 24 hours on success, or 7 days if delivery failed. Row metadata stays so your history view works.
We do not request the READ_SMS permission and do not query Android's stored SMS history. We see only messages that arrive while sync is active.

Full privacy policy: /apps/sms-forwarder/privacy/

9. Account management

Forgot your password?

Tap Forgot password on the sign-in screen. We email you a reset link. Click it, choose a new password, sign in.

Sign out

Settings → Sign out. This disconnects the phone from your account so the next sign-in (yours or someone else's on this phone) gets a fresh, clean state.

Sign in from a new phone

Install Dostum SMS on the new phone, sign in with your account. The new phone takes over syncing automatically — your old phone's connection is revoked. Your destination email and other settings carry over from your account.

Delete your account

See /apps/sms-forwarder/delete-account/ for the self-serve account deletion flow, or email support@dostumamigo.com and we'll delete it for you.

10. Troubleshooting checklist (in order)

If sync stops working, check these in this exact order — most common cause first:

Open the app once a day. On aggressive battery savers (Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei) the app needs to be opened occasionally to stay whitelisted.
Check Settings → Phone health. Walk through every step for your phone manufacturer. Confirm green check marks where applicable.
Check the destination email. Settings → Destination email. Make sure it's spelled correctly and you have access.
Check spam folder. First-ever email from a new sender often lands there.
Send a test SMS to yourself by dialling your carrier's balance code (e.g., *100#). If the reply arrives in your messaging app, classic SMS is working.
Sign out and sign in again. Sometimes refreshes a stale session.
Reinstall the app. Wipes cached state. Won't lose your account or destination email.
Email support. Include your phone make + model + a screenshot of Phone health.

11. What's deliberately missing — and why

We're honest about limitations rather than overpromising:

Feature	Why not
RCS / chat-message sync	Stored in Google's private database; no public API. No classic-SMS app can read RCS without violating Play Store rules.
Sending replies from email back to the phone	Not supported. This would require the app to be Android's default messaging app, which Dostum SMS deliberately does not request.
Syncing from more than one of your own devices to the same account	One device per account at sign-in. Adding a second of your own devices is planned as a future feature for personal multi-device setups.
Additional destinations beyond email	Not planned for the current product. Email-only keeps the app simple and stays inside Google Play's personal-use cross-device-sync category.
iOS support	Apple doesn't allow third-party apps to read SMS.
Custom SMTP servers	Defeats the zero-config simplicity. We deliver via our own relay to the email inbox you specified.

Last updated: 22 May 2026

Dostum SMS — Help & support