SMS Forwarder — Help & support
Setup, how forwarding works, Phone health, FAQ, and troubleshooting. Same content as the in-app help.
1. What does Dostum SMS do?
Dostum SMS forwards every text message your phone receives to your email inbox, automatically and reliably.
You install it on an Android phone, enter the email where you want messages to land, and from then on every SMS to that phone arrives in your inbox within a few seconds. No web dashboards, no manual setup, no SMTP credentials.
Useful for:
- Old phones with cheap SIMs you keep for OTPs and bank codes
- Receiving SMS while travelling without carrying a second phone
- Routing SMS from a business SIM into a shared team inbox
- Backing up SMS to email so you never lose verification codes
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 forwarded SMS will land. Open the Forwarding screen, type the email, tap Save. Use any email — Gmail, Outlook, your work email. We don't keep the mail server credentials.
Step 3 — Allow SMS permission
The app needs to read incoming SMS so it can forward them. Android shows a system dialog — tap Allow. We use the SMS only to forward 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 forwarding stops working after a few hours.
Step 5 — Send a test
Tap Send Test in the Forwarding screen. Within a minute you'll get an email at your destination. If it doesn't arrive, check your spam folder first.
3. How forwarding works
When an SMS arrives:
- Your phone wakes up the app.
- The app reads the message.
- The app sends it to our 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 format: [Category] Phone Name — from Sender
Examples:
[OTP] Office Phone — from BANKBKT(a verification code)[Tx] Bangkok eSIM — from +66123456(a transaction notification)[Promo] UK Travel — from VODAFONE(marketing)
4. Destination email — how to change it
Settings → Destination email (or open Forwarding directly). Type the new email, tap Save. The change applies immediately — the next SMS will go to the new address. Forwarding to multiple emails is a Premium feature, not yet available.
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 every forwarded email's subject.
If you have multiple phones forwarding to the same inbox, rename them so you can tell which message came from which phone. Try names like "Office Phone", "Bangkok eSIM", "Travel SIM UK", or "Backup 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 forwarding 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 when 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 forward?
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 SMS-forwarder app. 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 forward 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 forwarded message — Gmail's spam filter is wary of new senders. Mark one as "Not spam" and future ones land in inbox.
Will it forward 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 SMS forwarder 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. Dostum 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, forwarding 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, category, delivery status) is kept for your dashboard 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. The entire SMS-forwarder category is Android-only. Sorry — we'd build it if Apple let us.
Can I forward to multiple email addresses?
Not yet. This is on the roadmap as a Premium feature. For now, set up a forwarding rule on your destination Gmail account that re-forwards to other addresses you want.
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 forwarded, and when one didn't
8. Privacy at a glance
- We never read your SMS body except to forward it. Our employees cannot access the message content.
- We never sell or share your data. Ever. Not to advertisers, not to data brokers, not to AI training datasets.
- 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 dashboard / history works.
- Our SMTP relay is owned and operated by us. We never hand your messages to a third-party email provider.
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 unpairs 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 on the new phone, sign in with your account. The new phone takes over forwarding automatically — your old phone's pairing is revoked. Your destination email and other settings carry over from your account.
Delete your account
Email support@dostumamigo.com and we'll delete it for you. A self-serve delete-account button is on the roadmap.
10. Troubleshooting checklist (in order)
If forwarding 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 forwarding | Stored in Google's private database; no public API. No SMS forwarder can do this without violating Play Store rules. |
| Sending replies from email back to the phone | Requires the app to be Android's default messaging app — invasive change to your phone. On the roadmap as Premium. |
| Multi-device per account | Premium tier. The free version forwards from one phone per account. |
| Telegram / WhatsApp delivery | Premium roadmap. Email-only for now keeps the app simple and reliable. |
| iOS support | Apple doesn't allow third-party apps to read SMS. |
| Custom SMTP servers | Defeats the zero-config simplicity. We send through our own relay. |