How to add an eSIM on a Google Pixel and set it up for a trip

The route Google gives, and the older one

• Open Settings and tap Network and internet.
• Tap SIMs, then Add SIM, then Set up an eSIM.
• Follow the instructions on the screen. For a travel eSIM, that means pointing the camera at the QR code from the email, shown on another screen.
• When the phone asks you to set your SIM preferences, tap Get started, then Next, then Done.

Those are the steps in Google's Pixel Help for adding an eSIM as a second SIM, and Google notes that some of them only work on Android 11 and later. On older software the entry point looks different: Google's article on finding your phone's ID numbers describes tapping Add next to Mobile network and then the option "Download a SIM instead?", which leads to the same place.

If the camera will not read the code, look on the scanning screen for the option to enter the details by hand and use the SM-DP+ address and activation code from the email. Installing an eSIM without scanning the QR covers that in detail.

Before you start: EID, Wi-Fi and a lock check

Every Pixel from the 3a onwards can take an eSIM, but a phone bought through an operator may be locked to it and refuse another provider's profile. Google's Pixel Help shows the EID under Settings, About phone, SIM status; if the number is there, the chip is there. Whether the phone is unlocked is a separate check, explained in how to check if your phone is unlocked.

Do the installation at home on Wi-Fi, a day or two before you fly. The profile is downloaded from the provider's server, and a travel plan such as Snoozim's does not start counting when you install it, only when the phone first connects at the destination. If the new SIM shows up in the SIMs list, it is installed; scanning the same code again will not help and, with most travel eSIMs, will not work.

Your primary SIMs: who calls, who texts, who carries data

• In Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, make sure Mobile data is on.
• Under Your primary SIMs, set Mobile data to the travel eSIM.
• Set Calls and Texts to your usual SIM, or to Ask every time if you prefer to choose each time.

Google is explicit that only one SIM can be the default for data, so this choice decides where every megabyte goes. Your number keeps receiving calls and SMS on the other SIM, and WhatsApp carries on with your number over the eSIM's data.

Two options sit on the same screen and work differently by model. On a Pixel 8 or 8 Pro and earlier, Data during calls lets the SIM that is not set for data use data while you are on a call with it. On a Pixel 8a and later, Google ties using both SIMs for calls to Automatic data switching on the second SIM. Either way, the protection that matters abroad is the next one: with Roaming off on your usual SIM, it cannot use mobile data outside its network, whichever option is on.

Roaming is set SIM by SIM

Google describes the Roaming setting as letting your phone send data over other carriers' networks when you leave an area covered by your carrier's networks. You find it in Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, after tapping a SIM, and with more than one SIM each one keeps its own settings.

A travel eSIM always connects to networks that are not its own, so its Roaming has to be on, or it shows signal and loads nothing. Your usual SIM is the opposite case: switch its Roaming off before you leave so it cannot use data abroad by accident. On a prepaid eSIM, turning Roaming on adds no cost, because the data has been paid in advance.

Both halves are explained further in do you need data roaming on for a travel eSIM and turning off roaming on your home line.

Use this SIM, the switch you will use most

Google's way to pause a line without removing it is Settings, Network and internet, Mobile network, tap the SIM, and turn off Use this SIM. The profile stays installed and comes back when you switch it on again.

That makes it the right tool in three moments: before the trip, to keep a travel eSIM quiet until you land; during it, if your model cannot keep both lines on and you need to choose; and after it, when the travel line goes to sleep until the next trip.

The button just below it, Erase eSIM, is the one to leave alone. A deleted travel eSIM cannot be brought back from its QR code, as what happens if you delete an eSIM explains, along with the Pixel option that asks for your password before any eSIM can be erased.

Which Pixels run two eSIMs, and which have no SIM tray

• Pixel 3a and later: one physical SIM and one eSIM at the same time.
• Pixel 3a bought in Japan: it cannot have two SIMs.
• Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro and later: two eSIM profiles active at once, if the carrier allows it.
• Pixel 10, 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL sold in the US: eSIM only, with no SIM tray. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the exception.
• Pixel 4a (5G) and later: 5G works in dual SIM mode.

All of these come from Google's dual SIM help. The Pixel 10 case matters for visitors from the US: their own number is already an eSIM, so the travel eSIM will be the second eSIM, which needs the carrier's permission. If your operator does not allow two at once, switch your line off with Use this SIM while you need data and on again for calls. The full picture across brands is in how many eSIMs a phone can hold.