How to Install a Travel eSIM on iPhone and Android

Installing an eSIM takes about ninety seconds. Getting the settings right when you land takes about thirty. Almost every "my eSIM does not work" message we receive is one of four settings, so this guide covers both halves. 🪼

Before you start

Install at home, on Wi-Fi, before you travel. Downloading an eSIM profile requires an internet connection, and hunting for working airport Wi-Fi in a country whose language you do not read is a worse place to do it.

Installing is not the same as activating. Your plan's validity starts when the eSIM first connects to a network at your destination, so installing early costs you nothing.

You will need your QR code, which arrives by email within seconds of checkout.

Installing on iPhone

Requires iOS 12.1 or later, and an iPhone XR/XS or newer.

Open Settings, then Cellular (called Mobile Data in some regions).
Tap Add eSIM, then Use QR Code.
Point the camera at the QR code in your email. If you are reading the email on the same phone, tap Enter Details Manually and paste the activation code instead.
Tap Add Cellular Plan and wait for the profile to download. This takes a few seconds.
When asked to label the plans, name the new one something obvious like Jelly or Travel. You will be choosing between them by name for the rest of the trip, and "Secondary" tells you nothing.
On the next screens, set Default Line to your home number so calls and texts stay where they belong, and leave the travel line as your data line only when you actually arrive.
Turn the new line off for now.

Installing on Android

Wording varies by manufacturer. On a Pixel:

Open Settings, then Network & internet.
Tap SIMs, then Add eSIM or Download a SIM instead.
Tap Next and scan the QR code from your email.
Tap Activate and wait for the download.
Rename the new SIM to something recognisable.
Leave the new SIM disabled until you land.

On Samsung the path is Settings, Connections, SIM manager, Add eSIM. Everything else is the same.

The four settings when you land

This is the part that matters. In your cellular or SIM settings:

Enable the travel line. It has been sitting there switched off since you installed it.
Set mobile data to the travel line. On iPhone: Cellular, then Cellular Data, then pick the travel line.
Turn data roaming OFF on your home line. This is the step that stops your home carrier from charging you. It is the single most commonly missed step and the most expensive one to miss.
Turn data roaming ON for the travel line. Yes, on. A travel eSIM connects to local partner networks, which counts as roaming from the profile's perspective. Without this it will show signal and refuse to pass data.

Keep your home line itself enabled. That is what keeps your number reachable for calls, texts, and two-factor codes.

Troubleshooting

Signal bars but no data

The classic symptom of setting 4 being off. Check data roaming is enabled on the travel line specifically, not just on the phone in general.

If roaming is on, verify the APN matches the one in your installation email. Most profiles set this automatically, but a few Android skins do not.

Then toggle airplane mode on, wait ten seconds, and turn it off. This forces a fresh network registration and fixes a genuinely large share of cases.

Nothing at all after arriving

First connection can take two or three minutes. If it is still dead after five, go into your carrier settings, turn off automatic network selection, and manually pick one of the partner networks listed in your plan details. Automatic selection occasionally latches onto a network your profile has no agreement with.

It worked yesterday and stopped today

Check your remaining data first. When a prepaid plan runs out, data simply stops rather than billing you extra, and the phone still shows full signal.

If you have data left, restart the phone. If it is still dead, the local network may have dropped the registration; manually reselecting a network usually restores it.

Slower than expected

Manually select a different partner network. Coverage quality varies a lot by operator, and the automatic choice is not always the best one available at your address. This is worth doing once at your accommodation rather than repeatedly on the move.

WhatsApp wants to re-verify my number

WhatsApp is bound to the wrong line. It should be on your home number, not the travel eSIM, which has no number for SMS. Point it back at your home number and keep that SIM enabled.

"This eSIM cannot be added"

Almost always a carrier lock. A locked phone can support eSIM and still refuse a third-party profile. Contact your home carrier and ask them to unlock the device; it is usually free but rarely instant.

The QR code will not scan

Read the email on a computer and scan from that screen, or use the manual entry option. Every provider gives you an activation code and an SM-DP+ address as a fallback for exactly this reason.

Before you delete anything

An eSIM profile cannot be re-downloaded from the same QR code once you remove it. Do not delete a travel profile until you are certain the trip is over, and do not delete your home line's eSIM by accident while tidying up. Deleting is permanent in a way that inserting and removing plastic never was.

Need a hand? Message support with your device, your destination, and what you are seeing on screen, and a person will answer.