What to Know
Before we walk through the guides for email-to-text and text-to-email, it’s important to note that there may be carrier restrictions.
For instance, AT&T is eliminating this service as of June 2025 while other carriers such as Verizon still offer the feature but provide a method to turn off receiving emails via text. Additionally, some carriers may restrict automated or scheduled email-to-text options.
If you run into problems, confirm that your carrier offers the feature or simply use the alternative methods explained below.
💡 Tip: If you’re on the receiving end of texts sent to you via email, we’ll provide tips on how Clean Email can help you manage these incoming messages. From blocking senders of unwanted emails to reducing the clutter you may experience, Clean Email’s feature set has you covered.
How to Forward or Send an Email to a Text on iPhone
When you receive an email that you want to share immediately, you might forward it via text message so that your recipient sees it right away. Or perhaps you have an email that you want to send to yourself using Messages.
Here are several ways to forward or send an email to a text using your iPhone.
Forward an Email to Text
To use this first method, make sure that you have the recipient’s phone number and their carrier’s gateway domain.
📌 As an example, if the phone number is 555-123-4567 and the carrier is U.S. Cellular, the address would be 5551234567@email.uscc.net for SMS or 5551234567@mms.uscc.net for MMS. Visit the carrier’s website for the correct gateway domain.
Open the email and follow the steps below:
- Tap the Reply button (arrow) at the bottom.
- Choose Forward.
- Enter the email address in the To field and tap Return.
Send the email and it should arrive as a text message to your recipient.
💡 Tip: You can use the same process to send a new email to a text message on iPhone. Simply compose a new email, enter the gateway address, add the message body, and send.
Copy and Paste an Email to Text
If you’re unable to use the method above, you can also share the contents of an email via text message using copy and paste. This works best for text-based emails without images.
Open the email and follow these steps:
- Long-press (tap and hold) the text in the email body.
- Choose Select All and then Copy in the floating toolbar.
- Open Messages and select the conversation.
- Long-press inside the Message field and pick Paste.
You should then see the content from the email in the text message and can tap Send when ready.
Screenshot an Email to Text
Another way to share email content via text on iPhone is by capturing and sending a screenshot of the email. This method works well if the email contains images.
Open the email and follow the steps below:
- For an iPhone with Face ID, press and release the side button and volume up button simultaneously. For an iPhone with a Home button, press and release the side button and Home button simultaneously.
- When you hear the camera sound, you should see a thumbnail of the screenshot in the lower left corner.
- Do one of the following:
- Tap the thumbnail and use the Share button to send the image via text message.
- Open the screenshot in Photos and use the Share button to send it via text message.
- Open the conversation in Messages, tap the plus sign in the lower left, pick Photos, and select the screenshot.
Send the text message with the email screenshot.
Attach an Email to a Text
If you prefer to send the email in its entirety as a text message, you can save it to the Files app on iPhone and attach it to a text.
Open the email and do the following:
- Tap the three dots in the top-right corner of the message to open the actions menu.
- Choose Print.
- On the Print Options screen, tap the Share button at the top.
- Pick Save to Files.
- Select a location and tap Save.
- Open the file you just saved.
- Tap the Share button at the bottom to send the email via text message.
📌 Note that this sends the file as a PDF.
How to Forward or Send a Text to Email on iPhone
Maybe you need to do the opposite and forward or send a text message as an email on iPhone. You have a couple of ways to do this.
Forward a Text to an Email Address
To begin, make sure you have the email address for the recipient. Then, follow the steps below.
- Open the conversation in Messages.
- Long-press the text message and choose More.
- Mark any additional messages in the conversation you want to include.
- Tap the Forward button (arrow).
- Enter the email address in the To field and tap Return.
- Send the message.
💡 Tip: You can use the same process to send a new text message to an email address on iPhone. Simply compose a new text message, enter the email address, add your message, and send.
Screenshot a Text to an Email Address
Like forwarding or sending an email to text, you can take a screenshot of the text message and send it via email. This is ideal for capturing the date and time stamps if needed.
- Capture a screenshot of the text message. You can use Steps 1 and 2 in the earlier section if needed.
- Do one of the following:
- Tap the thumbnail and use the Share button to send the image via email.
- Open the screenshot in Photos and use the Share button to send it via email.
- Compose an email in Mail, long-press in the email body, pick Insert Photo or Video in the floating toolbar, and select the screenshot.
- Send the message.
Manage Text-to-Email Messages with Clean Email
As mentioned, if you’re the one receiving the texts via email rather than the one sending them, you can efficiently manage these incoming messages with Clean Email’s smart features.
Auto Clean: Create inbox rules to handle emails as they arrive. You can use custom rules such as from a particular recipient or over a certain size. Then, automatically apply an action like move, archive, or move those messages to Trash. It’s much faster than using the swipe-to-delete function in Gmail on iPhone!
Cleaning Suggestions: Use recommendations for cleaning up groups of emails. The suggestions are based on previous actions like archive or delete or those most common among users and can keep your inbox neat and tidy.
➡️ Try Cleaning Suggestions for free
Unsubscriber: Remove yourself from mailing lists in one spot. You can unsubscribe in bulk rather than one at a time like most email applications as well as pause subscriptions if you like.
Export or Email Text Messages from iPhone with Dates and Times
While it’s easy to save an email as a file on iPhone, it’s not quite as simple to save a text message. One way to capture a text conversation is to take a screenshot of it. However, if it’s a lengthy conversation or needed for legal purposes, numerous images can be inconvenient.
The easiest way to export text messages from iPhone to email is using your computer. If you own a Mac and sync the Messages app, you can create a PDF file of a text conversation with dates and times.
- Open Messages on Mac to the conversation.
- Select File → Print in the menu bar.
- Optionally adjust the pages you want to save to the file.
- Use the PDF drop-down menu at the bottom to choose Save to PDF.
- Name the file, pick a location, and click Save.
You can then access the file and send it as an email attachment when needed.
If you don’t have a Mac, want to export texts in a particular format, or need to send all text messages from iPhone to email, you can consider a third-party app. You’ll find tools such as iMazing, AnyTrans, Decipher TextMessage, and more that provide features for exporting and saving text messages to a file.
How to Stop Texts from Going to Email or Block Spam from Email Addresses
When you start receiving text messages and emails that are suspicious, or simply unwanted, you can use your iPhone’s built-in features along with those from Clean Email to stop the madness.
On iPhone
Filter Text Messages: Instruct the Messages app to filter texts from people not in your contacts. Go to Settings → Apps → Messages → Unknown & Spam (under Message Filtering) and turn on the toggle for Filter Unknown Senders. You’ll then see this spot on the main Messages screen.
Block Email Senders: Block emails from certain senders by long-pressing an email in your message list and picking Block Sender. You can view or edit blocked email addresses and phone numbers in the Mail settings by going to Settings → Apps → Mail → Blocked.
In Clean Email
Screener: Review emails from unknown senders in one place. You can then Block or Allow future messages from each sender with a simple tap. This is ideal for keeping messages from random, unrecognized senders out of your inbox.
Mark Spam in Bulk: Select one or more emails and mark them all as Spam with a tap. You can do this in your inbox or a folder for a quick way to rid your mailbox of junk mail from text messages.
💡 For more help managing emails on your device, see our detailed guides on how to change the default email app, find and delete unsent messages, and turn off categories in iPhone Mail.
FAQs
How to email text messages from an iPhone?
Open the Messages app, tap and hold a message, select More, then tap the forward arrow and enter an email address to send the message.
How to send a text message to an email address on iPhone?
Simply start a new text in Messages, type the recipient’s email address instead of a phone number, write your message, and tap Send.
How to forward email to text on iPhone?
Open the email, tap Forward, and enter the recipient’s carrier gateway address to deliver it as a text message.
How to copy text messages from iPhone to email?
Tap and hold the message, choose Copy, then paste it into the body of a new email in your Mail app and send it.
How to block text messages from email addresses on iPhone?
Long-press the message in the Mail app, select Block Sender, or block senders via Settings → Mail → Blocked.
How to stop text messages from going to email on iPhone?
Check your carrier settings or email-to-text gateway options; some providers let you disable this feature through their website or support.
