HEY.com Email Forwarding Still Not Working? Here’s Why

Email forwarding is one of those features most people assume will work the same everywhere. You set a destination address, turn it on, and expect copies of your emails to arrive reliably.

If you’re using HEY, that expectation doesn’t always hold. Many users find that email forwarding either doesn’t work at all, works inconsistently, or behaves very differently from what they’re used to with other providers.

This post explains why that happens, what HEY actually supports, and what your options are if forwarding is important to you.

HEY’s approach to email forwarding is intentionally limited

HEY does support email forwarding, but it’s not designed as a flexible automation feature. It’s primarily intended for:

• Temporarily forwarding all mail elsewhere
• Transitioning away from HEY
• Basic, whole-account forwarding

If you’re expecting rule-based forwarding — such as forwarding only certain senders, subjects, or types of email — HEY doesn’t offer that functionality.

That difference in intent is at the root of most forwarding frustrations.

Common reasons forwarding appears “not to work”

In practice, forwarding issues usually come down to one of a few causes.

HEY does not forward spam

If HEY classifies a message as spam, it will not be forwarded. From HEY’s perspective, this is a feature rather than a bug — forwarding spam just spreads unwanted email.

From a user’s point of view, it can feel like forwarding is broken when certain emails never reach the destination inbox.

There are no conditional forwarding rules

HEY does not support conditional forwarding. You can’t forward:

• Only emails from specific senders
• Only emails with attachments
• Only emails matching certain subjects

It’s all or nothing. If you’re coming from providers like Gmail or Fastmail, this can feel like a significant limitation.

Forwarding is not designed for long-term parallel inboxes

Some people try to use HEY as a primary inbox while forwarding copies elsewhere for archiving or backup. That setup isn’t what HEY’s forwarding feature is built for, and results can be inconsistent depending on message type and filtering.

What HEY forwarding does support

To be clear, forwarding in HEY does work — within narrow boundaries.

You can:

• Forward all incoming mail from your HEY account to another address
• Forward mail out of HEY if you’re moving away
• Forward mail into HEY from other providers (such as Gmail or iCloud) after verification

What you can’t do is treat forwarding as a programmable workflow.

Why this feels different from other email providers

HEY is built around a specific philosophy: fewer interruptions, less automation, and more deliberate email handling.

That philosophy works well for features like screening, reply-later, and inbox organisation. But it also means HEY avoids adding background automation that encourages invisible complexity.

Email forwarding exists, but it isn’t treated as a core feature.

Practical workarounds if you need more control

If forwarding matters to you, there are a couple of realistic options.

Use an intermediary inbox

Some users forward everything from HEY to another email provider and then apply filtering rules there. This adds complexity, but it restores flexibility.

Update important senders directly

Instead of relying on forwarding, change key accounts and services to send email directly to the address you actually want to use long-term.

This avoids forwarding entirely and reduces failure points.

Final thoughts

If HEY.com email forwarding feels unreliable, it’s usually not broken — it’s just limited by design.

HEY prioritises a focused inbox experience over advanced automation. For some users, that trade-off is worthwhile. For others, especially those who depend on forwarding rules, it can be frustrating.

Understanding that distinction helps set expectations and makes it easier to decide whether HEY’s approach fits how you actually use email.