Before you fly: the eSIM checklist, in the order you do it
Almost every eSIM problem starts the night before the trip, not at the airport. The good news is that the whole list takes about ten minutes at home, with wifi and no hurry. Here it is in order, from the week before to the moment you land.
See eSIMs for your destinationTwo weeks before: check the phone, not the plan
- Model by model, with the menu to look at on iPhone and on Android: eSIM compatibility list.
- On iPhone: Settings, Mobile Data (or Cellular), and look for Add eSIM. If the option is not there, the phone does not do eSIM.
- On Android the route is usually Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, and then Add eSIM or a plus sign. The exact wording changes between manufacturers and versions, so look for anything that mentions SIM or eSIM.
- Locked to an operator: if you bought the phone outright it is almost certainly free. If it came with a contract, ask your operator to confirm before you buy anything.
This is the only step that can stop you buying, so do it first. Two things have to be true: the phone has to support eSIM, and it must not be locked to an operator. A phone bought on a contract can still be locked years later, and the only one who can unlock it is the operator that sold it — that call takes days, which is why this goes first and not the night before.
One eSIM for 33 European countries
Several countries on one trip? Same eSIM, same data, no swapping lines at the border.
Choose your data
For one to two weeks of maps, messaging and the odd video.
Buy up to 180 days before you fly: the plan only starts when the eSIM connects at your destination.
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Will it work on my phone?
On iPhone: Settings → General → About, and scroll to EID. If there is an EID, your phone takes eSIMs. Every iPhone from the XS (2018) onwards does.
On Android: Settings → About phone → Status, and look for EID. If there is an EID, your phone takes eSIMs. Most Galaxy S20, Pixel 3 and later do.
It also has to be carrier-unlocked. If you bought it outright or your contract is over, it almost certainly is.
And if it turns out yours cannot use it, write to us and you get every cent back.
Discount code
How it works
- 1Choose and payCard, Apple Pay or Google Pay. No account.
- 2Install it at homeThe QR arrives by email. Scan it on wifi in a minute.
- 3Connect when you landTurn on data roaming for the eSIM and you are online.
A few days before: buy it, and keep the email
Buying takes a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay and an email address. There is no account to create. What arrives in that email is a QR code and the instructions — and that email is the piece you should not lose, because it is what identifies your eSIM later if you want to add more data.
Buy for the trip you are actually taking. A single-country plan stops giving you data the moment you cross the border; a Europe plan keeps working across all the countries it lists, with nothing to change on the phone.
The night before: install it at home, on wifi
This is the part people get wrong out of caution. Installing does not start the plan. The days start counting when the phone connects to a network at your destination, so installing it early costs you nothing and saves you from doing it on airport wifi with a queue behind you.
Scan the QR from the confirmation email and follow the phone’s own wizard; the step-by-step install guide has the exact menus for iPhone and Android. Give the new line a name you will recognise — ‘Trip’ works better than the default.
One warning worth reading twice: do not delete it. An eSIM installs on one phone and stays there. If you remove the profile it cannot be installed again, and any data left on it is gone.
Still the night before: leave the settings ready
- Turn on data roaming for the new line. It sounds wrong, but it is what makes the eSIM connect abroad, and it does not cost anything extra because the plan is already a local one. On iPhone it is under Mobile Data, the new line, Data Roaming; on Android, inside the SIM you just added.
- Decide which line carries data. In Mobile Data (iPhone) or SIMs (Android) set the eSIM as the line for mobile data, and leave your usual line switched on for calls and bank codes.
- Turn off data roaming on your usual line if you do not want it charging you abroad. Your number keeps working for calls and SMS.
- The eSIM is data only. It gives you no phone number, so it makes no calls and sends no SMS — but WhatsApp, Telegram and iMessage carry on with your usual number, because those go with the account, not with the connection.
Last thing at home: download what you will need offline
- Offline maps of the city or the region. This is the single most useful download, and the one people forget.
- Boarding passes in the wallet app, plus a screenshot. Airport wifi at six in the morning is not a plan.
- Hotel address, booking references and the transfer confirmation, saved as screenshots.
- The purchase email. Star it, or save the QR to your photos, so it survives an inbox you cannot load.
When you land, in this order
Off the plane, turn off aeroplane mode and give it a minute. The phone has to find a local network, and that first connection is what starts your plan. If nothing comes through, go down this list without skipping: check that data roaming is on for the eSIM line, then check that the eSIM is the one selected for mobile data, then restart the phone, and only then try selecting a network by hand in the network settings.
Nine times out of ten it is the first one. If it still will not connect, the help page goes through the same steps with the exact menus, and you can write to us with the email you bought with.
If I install the eSIM the day before, do I lose a day of my plan?
No. Installing does not start the plan. It starts counting when the phone connects to a network at your destination, so you can install it at home with wifi as early as you like.
Can I install it once I have landed?
You can, but you need internet to do it, and that means airport wifi. It is the same five minutes either way, so it is easier at home the night before.
What if I delete it by mistake?
It cannot be reinstalled, and any data left on it is lost. An eSIM lives on the phone you installed it on and cannot be moved to another one, so leave the profile alone even when you get home.
Do I have to keep the purchase email?
Yes, keep it. It is what identifies your eSIM if you want to add more data later. Topping up goes into the profile already on your phone, so there is no second QR code to scan.
Get your eSIM before you fly: the QR arrives by email in minutes and the plan only starts when you connect at your destination.
See eSIMs for your destination