How to install an eSIM on iPhone and Android

Install before you fly, activate on arrival, and avoid the mistake that ruins it: installing at the destination with no internet.

Installation takes under two minutes. The mistake that ruins it is always the same one: leaving it until you land, with no internet.

Rule of thumb: install at home, on wifi, before you fly. Activate at the destination. Installing needs internet; activating does not.

Before you start

Confirm the phone supports eSIM and is unlocked (how to check).
Be on wifi.
Have the QR code on another screen — a laptop, say — or use the manual installation details.

Open Settings › Cellular (or Mobile Data).
Tap Add eSIM or Add Cellular Plan.
Scan the QR code. If you are reading it on the same iPhone, choose Enter Details Manually and use the SM-DP+ address and activation code we sent.
Give the plan a label — “Travel”, for instance — so you do not confuse it with your home line.
Under Default Line, keep your home number for calls and texts.
Under Cellular Data, select the travel eSIM.
Turn on Allow Cellular Data Switching only if you want the iPhone to fall back to your home SIM — which can generate expensive roaming. If in doubt, leave it off.

Menus vary by manufacturer, but the path is equivalent.

Open Settings › Connections › SIM manager (Samsung) or Settings › Network & internet › SIMs (Pixel, Motorola).
Tap Add eSIM or Download a SIM.
Scan the QR code, or enter the details manually.
Once downloaded, turn the line on.
Under Mobile data SIM, choose the travel eSIM.
Keep Data roaming off on your home SIM.

Turn the phone on and switch off aeroplane mode.
Turn on mobile data for the travel eSIM.
Leave data roaming on for the travel eSIM — this sounds wrong, but the eSIM operates as a visitor on the local network, and without roaming it will not connect.
Wait one to three minutes for the local carrier name to appear.

In order, and most cases are solved by the first item:

Switch aeroplane mode on for 30 seconds, then off.
Confirm data roaming is on for the travel eSIM.
Select the network manually in Settings › Network Selection, turning off automatic selection.
Restart the phone.
Check the APN was filled in — normally automatic.

If it still does not work, talk to us. If the problem is activation, the refund is full.

Deleting the eSIM by accident. Some profiles cannot be reinstalled. Do not remove the line mid-trip.
Leaving roaming on for your home SIM. That is how you get an unpleasant bill.
Installing at the destination. With no internet there is no way to download the profile.