If you get a message you want or need to share, you can copy or forward it right along!
We've all been there. You get an iMessage—or SMS/MMS—from one person that you really want to, or absolutely have to, send it on to someone else. Luckily, the Messages app gives you two ways to do just that. You can either forward the message to one or multiple contacts, or copy the contents and paste into an entirely new message. Copying is also a great way to get a message into another app, like Mail, Notes, or Safari.
How to copy an iMessage (or SMS) on iPhone and iPad
Copying is handy for a time when you only need to move the text from an individual message to the clip board and paste it somewhere else. That can be in a new or existing message or into a completely different app. This is the option you want to use if you need to use the content in a way other than forwarding it in another iMessage or SMS.
- Launch the Messages app on your iPhone or iPad and find the message you'd like to copy.
- Tap and hold on the message you wish to copy.
Tap Copy.
Tap and hold the message field in the conversation that you'd like to paste in.
Tap Paste.
How to forward messages on iPhone and iPad
You can forward any iMessage — or SMS or MMS — to anyone else in your contacts.
- Launch Messages from your Home screen.
- Tap and hold the message you'd like to forward.
- Tap More....
- Tap on the forward button in the lower right hand corner.
A new message will populate, pre-filled with your forwarded text. Just fill out the rest and send it on its way!
Keep in mind you can forward more than one message at a time. Just tap all the ones you want to forward before you tap the actual forward button!
Reader comments
How to copy and forward iMessages on iPhone and iPad
I think it's better explained as:
How to copy a long iPhone text thread in order to paste and send elsewhere:
If you open the Message, you can hold your finger on one of the Message Segments until a pop-up shows up. Then click "More...". Then you can tap on each circle to the left of each message segment you desire to copy. Then at the bottom of the screen you will see a curved arrow, click on it. All your message segments will now be integrated on another page which will pop up. Then you can hold your finger for a couple of seconds on that text, choose "Select All", then choose "Copy". Since the texts are now copied, they can be pasted anywhere else you want. To paste, hold your finger for a couple of seconds where you want to paste them (in a text message or email, for example), and choose "paste".
Note: The messages appear one after the other without indicating whom they were sent by. To make it easier for the reader to follow, insert a "return" (new line) between each segment.
Thank you! I was trying to figure out how to do this and the iMessages Help menu didn't have the answer. I had 3 images with one bit of text in between 2 of the segments to forward to someone and the new page you mentioned was populated with all of that in one segment. I didn't have to do anything more except populate the "To" section and hit send. Now, I wish I could've done it from my Mac instead of having to pick up m iPhone, but maybe you know how to do that, too? :-)