Receive SMS abroad: read your home SIM's texts anywhere
When you travel or move overseas, your home-country number keeps receiving important SMS — bank OTPs, government notices, delivery updates, service logins — but the SIM stays behind. SMS Forwarder lets you leave that SIM in a phone plugged in at home and have every message pushed to your Telegram, so you read it on your travel phone or laptop wherever you are. No roaming charges, no SIM swapping, no carrier forwarding fees.
Why not just roam or swap SIMs?
Roaming is expensive and often disables SMS or delays it, and physically carrying your home SIM means you can't use a cheaper local SIM at the same time without a dual-SIM phone. Neither helps once you've already landed and a bank login needs a code sent to a number back home.
Leaving the SIM at home and forwarding its SMS to Telegram sidesteps all of that. The number stays fully active on its home network, and its messages travel to you over the internet — through the Telegram you already use — instantly and for free, on any local SIM or Wi-Fi you happen to be on.
It also keeps a searchable record: unlike a text that vanishes on a phone you can't reach, every forwarded message stays in the Telegram chat, so you can look up a code or notice days later.
Who this is for
- Travellers and digital nomads who need their home bank's OTP while abroad.
- Students and expats living overseas but keeping a home-country number active.
- Anyone using a cheap local SIM abroad who still must receive texts on their main number.
- People maintaining a number in another country for family, services, or accounts.
Set it up before you leave (or from anywhere)
Install SMS Forwarder on the phone that will stay home with the SIM, sign in, and bind Telegram with one tap — no server, no token. Leave that phone plugged in with a stable Wi-Fi connection, allow battery-optimization exemption and auto-start, and its SMS will reach your Telegram wherever you go.
Full setup guideFrequently asked questions
Do I need roaming or a special plan?
No. The home phone forwards over its normal internet connection (Wi-Fi or the SIM's data), and you receive in Telegram over whatever connection you have abroad. There are no roaming charges and no carrier forwarding service involved.
Does the home phone need to stay on?
Yes — leave it plugged in with the SIM inserted and a stable internet connection. The app runs as a foreground service, auto-restarts on reboot, and queues messages if the connection drops, so it keeps delivering unattended.
Will bank verification codes still arrive in time?
Yes. Codes are uploaded from a live foreground service and relayed to Telegram in seconds — fast enough for time-limited OTP. As long as the home phone has internet and the SIM has signal, the code follows you abroad.
Is my data private crossing borders?
The app reads incoming SMS only to forward them, over HTTPS. The backend is relay-and-forget: a message body lives only until delivered to your Telegram, then is deleted, leaving a metadata log. No ads, no analytics; the app and backend are open source.
Is it free?
Yes — free for personal use, no ads or in-app purchases. Download the APK from GitHub and install it on the phone staying home.