Your phone will not scan the eSIM QR code: what is going on

Not a link, an activation code

Most QR codes you scan open a web page. An eSIM code holds something else: under the GSMA specification, a QR code for an eSIM carries the activation code prefixed with LPA:, followed by the address of the provider's server and an ID for your profile. Only the part of the phone that manages eSIMs knows what to do with that.

That explains the two most common complaints. A scanner app or a visual search tool reads the code and shows you a string of text starting with LPA:, and nothing installs. Or the camera shows nothing at all, because it was not looking for that kind of code. Neither means the code is broken. An iPhone's Camera app does recognise it: Apple says a Cellular Plan Detected notification appears, and you tap it to continue.

Scan from the phone's settings

• iPhone: Settings, Cellular (Mobile Data in some regions), Add eSIM, then Use QR Code.
• Samsung Galaxy: Settings, Connections, SIM manager, Add eSIM, then Scan QR code. Some models call the menu SIM card manager and the option Add mobile plan.
• Google Pixel: Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, Add SIM, then Set up an eSIM, and follow the steps to the scanner.

Each of these screens opens a scanner made for exactly this job, so it recognises an eSIM code where a general scanner app does not. Use it rather than a separate app, which also keeps your code away from software that has no reason to see it.

When the camera really cannot read it

If even the settings scanner does not react, the camera is not getting a clean image. Show the code full screen on the other device, turn that screen's brightness up and hold the phone straight on so there is no reflection across the code. A code shown tiny in an email preview, cut off at the edge or photographed at an angle often fails; a printout that is creased across the middle can too. Wipe the camera lens before blaming anything else.

For the Camera app route, two settings matter. On a Galaxy, Samsung's advice when codes will not scan is to open Camera, tap the settings icon and turn on Scan QR codes. On an iPhone, Apple also offers a Code Scanner in Control Center: if the Scan Code button is missing, touch and hold the background of Control Center, tap Add a Control and add Scan Code from the gallery.

The code is on the phone you are installing it on

A phone cannot point its camera at its own screen, and this is the case where people end up trying screenshots and gallery tools. Samsung's Bixby Vision can read a QR code saved as an image, but Samsung describes it handing the result to the browser, which is not where an eSIM code needs to go.

There are better ways round it. On iOS 17.4 or later, Apple lets you touch and hold the QR code in Mail or the browser and tap Add eSIM. On any phone you can type the details by hand instead of scanning. Both are explained step by step in our guide to installing an eSIM without scanning the QR code. The easiest fix of all is still to open the email on a laptop or tablet.

It scans, then an error appears

Once the phone reads the code, scanning is no longer the problem. What happens next depends on the connection and on the provider's server: Apple says the iPhone has to be connected to Wi-Fi or a hotspot to set up an eSIM, and the profile is downloaded at that moment. Read the error carefully, because each message points to a different cause, and take a screenshot.

Do not scan the same code over and over. eSIM servers limit the number of download attempts, and a code that already installed the eSIM will be refused the second time. Check Settings for a new line first; if there is none, write to the seller with the screenshot. For a Snoozim eSIM, use the help page: if the fault is on the service side, we fix it or replace the eSIM. Keep the code to yourself meanwhile, as our note on keeping the QR code private explains.