Create two SMS forwarding destinations in Re:Text: one for work SMS (routed to Slack or Teams with filters for work senders and keywords) and one for personal SMS (routed to email or Telegram). Personal texts stay off work channels; work texts don't clog your personal inbox. Requires Re:Text Premium for multiple destinations.
If you use one iPhone for everything (as most people do), your SMS inbox is a mess. Bank codes mixed with team lunch invitations. Customer texts sitting next to your mom's photos. Verification codes for a work account buried under delivery notifications.
SMS forwarding lets you separate the streams — without carrying two phones. Work-related SMS route to your team tools; personal texts stay in personal channels. Your iPhone still receives everything, but the important stuff shows up in the right place automatically.
The two-destination approach
Slack or Teams channel
Route work-related SMS to a team channel (or a private channel for just you).
Filters:
- Work colleagues' phone numbers
- Client / customer numbers
- Work service shortcodes (Salesforce, Zendesk, PagerDuty)
- Work-related keywords (project names, ticket prefixes)
Email or Telegram
Route everything else to a personal destination for archival and multi-device access.
Options:
- Gmail with keyword filter for OTP codes
- Telegram bot for real-time notifications
- WhatsApp for cross-device access
- Personal email for family and friends
Step 1: Set up your work destination
- Open Re:Text on your iPhone. Tap + and select your team tool — Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Chat.
- Follow the destination-specific setup (webhook URL, etc.).
- Name it clearly — for example "Work — #alerts" or "Work — DMs".
- Enable Add Filter and configure filters (details below).
- Test and save.
Step 2: Configure work SMS filters
Filter by sender phone numbers
The most reliable way to identify work SMS is by sender. Add:
- Your boss's number, key colleagues, and direct reports
- Recurring client contacts
- Work vendors (delivery services for work purchases, etc.)
Filter by work service shortcodes
Business services often send SMS from shortcodes. Common ones:
Zoom,Slack,Salesforce,ZendeskPagerDuty,Opsgenie,Datadog- Your company's SMS-based 2FA
Filter by work-related keywords
Example keywords for work SMS:
Add your project codenames, team names, and industry-specific terms too.
Step 3: Set up your personal destination
- Tap + again to add a second destination.
- Pick a personal-friendly destination — Email, Telegram, or WhatsApp.
- Name it "Personal".
- Optionally add filters for personal categories (e.g. filter for verification codes only). Or leave filters off to forward everything not caught by your work destination.
- Save.
Step 4: Add schedules for work-life balance
Schedules ensure work SMS don't ping your team channel at 3am (unless that's intentional for on-call setups). To configure:
- Open your Work destination in Re:Text.
- Enable Add Schedule.
- Set active days (Mon–Fri) and hours (e.g. 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM).
- Save.
Outside these hours, work SMS won't be forwarded — they'll still appear on your iPhone but stay out of the team channel.
Advanced: three-destination setups
Some users add a third destination for specific SMS types:
- Verification codes → dedicated codes-only email or Telegram, with keyword filter (
code,OTP). - Banking & finance → private channel with sender filter for your bank shortcode.
- Deliveries → dedicated channel filtered by carriers (
UPS,FedEx,USPS).
Privacy considerations
Best practices:
- Use sender-based filters as the primary rule — keyword filters can accidentally catch personal SMS.
- Test forwarding rules by sending yourself SMS matching each filter case.
- Use a private channel (or DM to yourself) for work SMS, not a public team channel.
- Regularly review what's landing in your work channel and adjust filters if personal SMS leak through.
Frequently asked questions
Can I have two SMS forwarding rules on one iPhone?+
Yes. With Re:Text Premium, set up multiple destinations with different filters — one for work SMS to Slack or Teams, another for personal SMS to email or Telegram.
How do I filter work vs personal SMS?+
Use sender-based filtering. Add work contacts, work service shortcodes, and work-related keywords to your work destination filter. Everything else routes to personal by default.
Will my employer see my personal SMS?+
Only SMS matching your work filters will be forwarded to work destinations (like Slack or Teams). Personal SMS stay on your iPhone or route to personal destinations only.
Can I turn off work forwarding on weekends?+
Yes. Use Re:Text's Schedule feature on your work destination — set active days to Monday–Friday and active hours to your work hours. Weekend SMS won't be forwarded to team channels.
Can I use this with a dual-SIM iPhone?+
Yes. If your iPhone has separate work and personal SIMs (dual SIM), SMS forwarding still works. Both SIMs are processed through the same iPhone.
What about voice calls or iMessage?+
Re:Text forwards SMS text messages only, not voice calls or iMessage. For iMessage separation, iOS has some built-in options — see our guide on SMS forwarding vs iMessage sync.
Separate your work and personal SMS today.
Premium unlocks multiple destinations with independent filters.
Download on the App Store