How to install and activate a travel eSIM on iPhone and Android

• Your phone supports eSIM and is unlocked. Our eSIM guide lists what the phone makers say about compatibility.
• You have Wi-Fi or a hotspot: Apple tells you to connect before adding an eSIM, although some eSIM-only models in some regions can activate without it.
• The phone has the latest software it can run. Apple recommends this when an eSIM will not set up.
• You have the provider’s activation details open on another screen, a printout or a second device. If the QR code is on the same iPhone you are installing on, iOS 17.4 or later lets you touch and hold the code and tap Add eSIM.
• You know when the plan’s validity starts. Some plans start counting at installation, so check before you install a week early.

1. 1Connect to Wi-Fi or a hotspot.
2. 2If the phone is new and still in set-up, tap Use QR code on the Set Up Cellular screen and follow the instructions. Otherwise go on to step 3.
3. 3Get the QR code from your provider. Open the Camera app, scan the code and tap the Cellular Plan Detected notification. On iOS 17.4 or later, if the code is in an email or on a web page, touch and hold it and tap Add eSIM.
4. 4Tap Continue, then Add Cellular Plan. If the phone asks for a confirmation code, enter the one your provider gave you.
5. 5Open Settings and then Cellular (called Mobile Data in some regions). Check that the new line is on and choose which line carries mobile data.

Apple says one number at a time can use cellular data, and that you choose the data line under Cellular Data. The Allow Cellular Data Switching option lets the other line use data during a call.

1. 1Open Settings.
2. 2Tap Network & internet, then SIMs, then Add SIM. On a phone that already has a physical SIM the option reads Set up an eSIM.
3. 3Choose the provider if it is listed, or follow the on-screen instructions using the details your provider gave you.
4. 4When setup finishes, open Settings. If the phone asks for SIM preferences, tap Get started, then Next, then Done.
5. 5Under Your primary SIMs, choose which SIM is used for calls, texts and mobile data. Only one SIM can be the default for data at a time.

Phones from other makers use their own menus, usually under a SIM manager or Mobile network section, and their own lists of supported models. Use the maker’s instructions for your model.

• Choose the eSIM as the line for mobile data when you arrive, and keep the home SIM for calls and text-message codes.
• Your phone has a data roaming switch for each line. Follow the provider’s instructions for the eSIM line, and keep roaming off on your home line unless you know your plan covers the country, so the phone does not use the home plan abroad.
• Give the lines clear names if your phone allows it, so you do not confuse them later.
• Check whether the plan allows hotspot, and when the validity period ends.

• Deleting the eSIM before the trip is over, or before you have asked the provider whether it can be installed again. Both Apple and Google offer an option to erase an eSIM from the phone.
• Posting or forwarding the activation code. It identifies your plan.
• Scanning a code sent by someone you do not know, or a code that does not come from the provider you bought from.
• Installing on a phone you will not carry on the trip.

If your carrier supports eSIM Quick Transfer, Apple says you can transfer the SIM from your previous iPhone to your new one; both phones need iOS 18.4 or later. Apple also says that with iOS 26 or later some carriers and select smartphone manufacturers support transferring an eSIM between Android and iPhone. Whether a travel plan can move between phones is the provider’s decision, so ask before you change phones during a plan.