ResenderForward SMS to Gmail from an Android phone
Install Resender on the phone that holds the SIM, sign in with Google once, and every new SMS arrives in your Gmail inbox a few seconds after the phone receives it. The email is sent from your own Gmail address: no sign-up, no server of ours, nothing to configure.
Three steps
- Install Resender from Google Play on the Android phone with the SIM card. It can be your everyday phone or a spare one in a drawer, as long as it stays on and online.
- Open Sending method and tap Google. Google's own sign-in screen opens; choose the Gmail account to send from. Resender asks for a single permission: to send mail from that address. Your Gmail address becomes the first recipient at the same time.
- That's it. A new install starts with Forward everything switched on, so from now on every incoming SMS is emailed to you. Send yourself a test SMS and watch it arrive.
What it looks like in Gmail
Each SMS is one email from your own address to the recipients you chose. The subject starts with [SMS] and the sender in brackets — the number, or the name a company sends under — followed by the text of the message; for a rule on message text, the brackets hold the word the rule matched. The body repeats the text. Because the email comes from your own address, it lands in the inbox like any mail you send yourself, and the usual tools work: star it, label it, search it years later.
Want forwarded SMS out of the way? In Gmail, create a filter on the subject (for example, the name of a sender you forward) and let it apply a label and skip the inbox. Want them loud? Use the same filter to mark them important or to trigger a notification on your watch.
Only some senders, or only one SIM
Add a rule for a sender or for a word in the message text: the first matching rule decides where the SMS goes, and the last row, Forward the rest, takes whatever no rule took. A rule set to Do not forward keeps that sender out of your inbox. On a dual-SIM phone, each rule listens on the SIMs you choose. Every rule can send to all recipients, to the ones you select, or to none.
If the emails stop coming
It is almost always the phone's battery manager stopping Resender in the background. Open the app: the main screen shows a red line when something is wrong, with a button that opens the right setting. The battery guides for each phone brand have the exact path.
Questions
Does Resender read my Gmail?
No. The Google sign-in asks for one permission: to send mail from your address. Resender cannot read, search or delete anything in your mailbox.
Why does the email come from my own address?
Because it is sent through your Gmail account, straight from the phone. There is no Resender server and no third-party address: the message is yours from the first byte. A copy sits in Sent, as with any email you send.
Can I send to a different Gmail address, or to several?
Yes. The address you signed in with is the first recipient; add any others under Recipients. Each rule can send to all of them, to the ones you select, or to none.
Do I need an app password for Gmail?
Not normally: the Google sign-in is the simple way. An app password works too — tap Sign in with an app password under the tiles — but Google issues one only when two-step verification is on for the account.
My Google Workspace account at work refuses the sign-in.
A Workspace administrator can block third-party apps from the company's accounts. Ask them to allow Resender, or sign in with a personal Gmail address and add the work address as a recipient.