What is an eSIM, and what can it actually do?
What the chip can do for you depends entirely on the profile a carrier loads onto it.
Knowing what the chip is does not tell you whether your own phone will take one, or how much of the outcome your carrier still controls. Both of those decide whether an eSIM is any use to you. Below is the hardware, the profile that runs on it, and the two checks worth doing before you spend anything.
What an eSIM is, in plain terms
An eSIM is a rewritable chip built into your phone that does the job a plastic SIM card used to do. Rather than swapping cards, you download a carrier profile onto it over the internet. One phone can hold several profiles at once and switch between them from the settings menu.
Plenty of coverage calls it a digital SIM, and the shorthand holds up. An eSIM is a digital SIM card built into your device during manufacturing rather than posted out to you, and because the eSIM is a digital version of the plastic card, there is no physical card to lose.
An eSIM is an embedded SIM, which is where the name comes from. Formally the plastic card is a subscriber identity module, and eSIM technology keeps that job while changing the packaging. Older phones had a SIM card slot and a tray, and an eSIM phone may have neither.
Two words get used as if they mean the same thing, and separating them explains almost everything else. eUICC is the chip. A profile is the carrier data written onto that chip.
So eSIM names a chip standard, and the chip on its own does very little. What you can do with it arrives with the profile, which sets the network you connect to, the data you have, and whether the line carries calls and texts at all.
That is why two people with the same phone can have completely different experiences of the same feature. One is running a home contract profile with a number attached. The other is running a prepaid travel profile that moves data and nothing else.
How an eSIM gets onto your phone and onto a network
Three things have to line up before an eSIM does anything. You need a chip that accepts profiles, a carrier willing to issue one, and a route for that profile to reach the chip. Each part is controlled by a different party, which is where most of the confusion starts.
Start with the chip, the eUICC
Hardware comes first. An eUICC, short for embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card, is a small rewritable chip fixed to your phone’s board during manufacturing. Because the eSIM is built into the board, it cannot be taken out, which is the whole point of it.
GSMA, the industry body that writes the specification, describes the change as the SIM being securely downloaded into a Secure Element that is permanently embedded in the device. GSMA is careful to say the SIM’s role has not changed. Only the delivery has.
Apple frames the same property as a security benefit, noting that an eSIM “can’t be removed if your iPhone is lost or stolen”. A pickpocket cannot pull it out and drop it in a bin.
Profiles are what a carrier actually sells you
A profile is the package of network credentials a carrier writes onto that chip. It carries the identity your phone presents to a mobile network, the data allowance attached to it, and whether the line can place calls and send texts.
Two profiles on identical hardware can behave nothing alike. A home contract profile and a travel data profile sit on the same eUICC, and one of them will have a phone number while the other may not.
Both the consumer standard and the machine-to-machine version are written by GSMA. Consumer phones follow SGP.21 and SGP.22, and the newer specifications for connected devices are SGP.31 and SGP.32.
Three ways a profile reaches your phone
Most travel providers email a QR code that you scan from the phone’s cellular settings. Home carriers more often push the profile to the handset, which Apple calls eSIM Carrier Activation and surfaces as a “Carrier Cellular Plan Ready to Be Installed” notification. Some carriers use their own app instead.
Menu wording differs by manufacturer and by operating system version, so treat any single path you read as one example rather than the rule. Apple’s route is Settings, then Cellular, then Set Up Cellular or Add eSIM. Google’s Pixel path is Settings, then Network & internet, then SIMs, then Add SIM, then Set up an eSIM, and Samsung’s is Settings, then Connections, then SIM manager.
Whichever route you take, the phone has to be online while the profile downloads. Apple states plainly that the iPhone “must be connected to a Wi-Fi network or hotspot” to set one up, with a narrow exception for some eSIM-only models in some countries.
Phones are not the only devices that take an eSIM
Smartphones get the attention, and the same embedded SIM turns up across much wider hardware. Cellular iPad models, Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch, a growing number of Windows laptops and plenty of connected cars all carry one.
GSMA writes a separate pair of documents for that world, SGP.31 and SGP.32, aimed at Internet of Things hardware with no screen to scan a QR code on. Same embedded system, same secure element, with the provisioning handled by software rather than by a person.
For travel the practical point is that an eSIM data plan bought for a phone will not usually run on a watch or a tablet. Each device needs its own profile and its own allowance.
Holding several plans, running fewer
GSMA’s consumer description is that eSIM “allows consumers to store multiple operator profiles on a device simultaneously, and switch between them remotely, though only one can be used at a time”. Handset makers go further than that baseline on current models.
Apple says “You can have two eSIMs active at the same time on supported iPhone models”. Google is more specific about who decides, allowing two eSIM profiles on a Pixel 7 or later only if “your carrier allows this feature”.
Storage is a hardware question. How many lines run at once is a carrier and model question, which is why the specification and the handset pages give different numbers.
What most eSIM explainers leave out
Five things decide whether an eSIM works for you in practice. All five are documented by Apple, Google or GSMA, and none of them are about what an eSIM is.
Carrier locking still applies to an eSIM phone
A handset sold on contract can be locked to the carrier that sold it, and the lock does not care whether the SIM is plastic or downloaded. Apple documents the requirement directly, stating that an iPhone used with another carrier abroad “cannot be locked to a carrier”.
Checking takes ten seconds on an iPhone. Open Settings, tap General, tap About, and look at Carrier Lock. “No SIM restrictions” means you are free to use another network.
Android has no single equivalent screen, so ask the carrier directly. eSIMply’s own support notes a second wrinkle, which is that a recently unlocked device can have its eSIM capability held back for a while as a security measure.
How many profiles you store, and how many you can run
Storage and active lines are two different numbers. On storage, eSIMply’s support desk puts iPhones at roughly five to ten saved profiles, and Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and other Android brands at five to seven.
Active lines are far fewer. Apple allows two active eSIMs on supported iPhone models, and Google allows two eSIM profiles on a Pixel 7 or later where the carrier permits it.
Six saved profiles on one handset is ordinary. Six of them running at once is not possible on any phone currently sold.
Data-only plans and what happens to your number
Apple draws a line between two kinds of travel eSIM. Plans bought from a carrier in the country you are visiting often “come with a local phone number”. Plans bought from a worldwide provider are frequently “data only eSIM plans”.
eSIMply sits in the second group. Its plans are data-only, which means the data runs on the travel profile while calls and texts stay on your home line.
Bank verification codes sent by SMS still arrive on the home number, so switching that line off entirely can lock you out of your own accounts. Leave it active and turn its data roaming off instead.
Moving a profile to a new phone is a carrier decision
Nothing about a profile behaves like a file you can copy. Apple’s eSIM Quick Transfer moves a line between iPhones only where “your carrier supports eSIM Quick Transfer”, and moving a number over from Android means contacting the carrier for either a pushed activation or a QR code.
Google gates its dual-profile feature on carrier permission too, and Samsung tells Galaxy owners to contact the carrier, since “some carriers may not yet support the eSIM capabilities of your Galaxy device”.
Every handset maker routes the decision back to whoever issued the profile.
Phones with no SIM tray, and why the country of sale matters
Apple treats a missing tray as the tell, stating that an iPhone with no SIM tray “supports eSIM only”. Which models those are depends on where the phone was bought.
Apple states that “iPhone 14 models or later purchased in the United States can only be activated with an eSIM”, and that iPhone 17e, 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max models without a tray are eSIM only. In China mainland Apple lists only iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone 17e and iPhone Air as supporting eSIM, while Hong Kong and Macao get certain models with two nano-SIM trays instead.
Google applies a similar regional carve-out. Google marks it “[US only]” that a Pixel 10 or later can use only an eSIM, except the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
Check whether your own phone can take an eSIM
Two facts settle whether your phone is eSIM compatible, and both are available on the handset in front of you right now. You need a model the manufacturer lists as eSIM capable, and a phone with no carrier lock on it.
Step 1. Confirm the handset is on an eSIM list
Apple’s requirement for an eSIM for travel is an iPhone XS, XS Max, XR or later. Google puts Pixel support at the Pixel 3a and later, and Samsung’s eSIM support runs across the recent Galaxy S, Z and A lines.
eSIM compatible phones reach well past those three brands. eSIMply’s list adds Motorola Razr and Edge, Xiaomi, Oppo, Sony Xperia, OnePlus, Honor, Vivo, Nothing and Fairphone models, so checking whether your device supports eSIM is worth doing even on a less common handset.
Model names alone are not quite enough, because regional variants differ on compatibility. eSIMply keeps a device list of phones that support eSIM and flags the exceptions, including Hong Kong and Macao Galaxy and iPhone variants that do not support eSIM at all.
Step 2. Check for a carrier lock before you buy anything
On iPhone, open Settings, tap General, tap About, and read the Carrier Lock row. Anything other than “No SIM restrictions” means the phone will refuse another carrier’s profile.
Android does not expose this consistently, so the reliable move is to ask your carrier to confirm the handset is unlocked. Only the carrier that applied the lock can remove it, and “Apple can’t unlock your iPhone for use with a different carrier”.
Step 3. Find the eSIM menu on your own phone
On iPhone the path Apple documents is Settings, then Cellular, then “Set Up Cellular” or “Add eSIM”. On a Pixel, Google documents Settings, then Network & internet, then SIMs, then Add SIM, then “Set up an eSIM”.
On a Galaxy, Samsung documents Settings, then Connections, then SIM manager. If that entry exists in your device settings and the phone is unlocked, your phone supports eSIM and you are ready to install a profile.
Where people get caught out
Installing an eSIM needs an internet connection, so a plan bought after you land can be impossible to install where you are standing.
Apple states that the iPhone “must be connected to a Wi-Fi network or hotspot” to set up an eSIM, with a narrow exception for some eSIM-only models in some countries. Landing somewhere with no roaming, no local SIM and no working airport Wi-Fi leaves the QR code sitting unread in your email. Plenty of airports have captive-portal Wi-Fi that will not carry an activation.
Install at home on your own Wi-Fi a day or two before the flight, then leave the line switched off until you land. Check when the plan’s validity starts before you install, because providers differ on whether the clock begins at installation or at first connection.
A locked handset refuses another carrier’s profile outright. Apple’s wording is that an iPhone used abroad with a different carrier cannot be locked, and only the carrier that applied the lock can lift it.
Deleting a travel profile is usually final. eSIMply’s support notes that once an eSIM is removed, the same QR code will not reinstall it, so removing one to tidy up the list can end a plan you have already paid for.
Deleting a profile to free up space can end a plan you paid for
eSIMply’s support desk is direct about when removal is safe, and it comes down to two situations. Remove a profile after the data package has expired, or after you have used the data and have no intention of returning to it.
Buying a second plan for the same destination needs a fresh installation rather than a top-up of the old profile. Tidying up the list before a trip is the moment this goes wrong.
VPNs and weak connections stall installs more often than faulty codes
When a QR code refuses to install, the cause is usually the conditions rather than the code. eSIMply’s troubleshooting lists an active VPN, an unstable internet connection, and a device already holding its maximum number of eSIMs as the three common blockers.
Turn the VPN off, get onto a stable network, and clear out profiles you no longer need before scanning. eSIMply’s installation guides cover the full sequence for iOS and Android.
eSIM against a physical SIM card, on what actually differs
Rows below cover only the points where an eSIM and a traditional SIM card behave differently in practice. Signal quality, speed and coverage are missing on purpose, because both draw on the same carrier network and there is no honest difference to report.
| What changes | Physical SIM card | eSIM |
|---|---|---|
| Getting one | Posted to you, or collected in person from a store or airport kiosk | Downloaded over the internet, usually from a QR code, a carrier app or a pushed activation |
| What install needs | A SIM tray and an eject pin | A live internet connection at the moment you install |
| If the phone is stolen | Card can be pulled out and discarded by whoever has it | Cannot be removed from the handset |
| Plans held at once | One card per tray | Several profiles stored, with two active at once on supported iPhone and Pixel models |
| Moving to a new phone | Move the card across | Carrier has to permit the transfer |
| Reusing it later | Card can go back and forth indefinitely | A removed travel profile normally cannot be reinstalled from the same code |
| Newest handsets | No tray at all on US-sold iPhone 14 and later | Only option on those models |
| Signal and speed | Depends on the carrier network | Depends on the carrier network, identically |
Where eSIMply fits into this
eSIMply sells travel eSIMs, so treat this section as an interested party describing its own product. What follows is what the plans do, and the limits are stated alongside.
For international travel the appeal is straightforward. Choosing to use an eSIM for travel lets you buy local data instead of paying your home carrier to roam, helping you avoid roaming fees on the leg where they hurt most. You stay connected from the moment you arrive, because the profile is already sitting on the phone.
Turn data roaming off on your home line before you land, leave that line active for calls and texts, and let the travel profile carry the data. eSIMply’s help desk says the same thing about keeping your existing number reachable.
Plans are data-only, which puts them in the category Apple describes as worldwide-provider data plans rather than local-carrier plans with a number. Your home line stays on the phone for calls and SMS, and the travel profile carries the data. There is no ID check at purchase, and the QR code lands in your inbox as soon as the order goes through.
Coverage runs to more than 200 destinations, with regional bundles for travellers crossing several borders on one trip. If you already know where you are going, the destination directory shows the plan ladder for that country, and the travel data calculator is there if you are not sure how much data a trip needs. Country-level breakdowns like the Thailand guide go into carrier detail this page does not.
Questions people ask about eSIMs
Questions below are the ones that come up in the People Also Ask results for this topic and in the FAQ blocks of the pages currently ranking for it. Answers stick to what the handset makers and GSMA actually publish.
That depends on the profile rather than on eSIM itself. Apple notes that prepaid plans bought from a carrier in the country you are visiting “come with a local phone number”, while plans from worldwide providers are often “data only”.
eSIMply’s travel plans are in the data-only group. Calls and texts continue on your existing number, and voice apps such as WhatsApp or FaceTime run over the eSIM data.
Only when the carrier allows it. Apple’s eSIM Quick Transfer moves a line between iPhones where “your carrier supports eSIM Quick Transfer”, and a number coming from Android goes through the carrier rather than the handset.
Whether moving your eSIM to a new handset works at all depends on who issued it. Carrier lines can usually be moved with the carrier’s help, and prepaid travel profiles usually cannot be moved at all.
Once installed and then removed, a travel profile generally cannot be reinstalled anywhere, including as the eSIM on your old device.
Storing more than one eSIM on your phone is normal. eSIMply’s support desk puts iPhone capacity at roughly five to ten saved profiles and most Android brands at five to seven.
Running them at the same time is the tighter limit. Apple allows two active eSIMs on supported iPhone models, and Google allows two eSIM profiles on a Pixel 7 or later where the carrier permits it.
No. An eSIM works on its own, and on many current handsets it is the only option available.
Apple states that “If your iPhone model doesn’t have a SIM tray, it supports eSIM only”. Google marks the same point for US buyers of a Pixel 10 or later, other than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
If your phone does have a tray, keeping the home SIM in it alongside a travel eSIM is the usual arrangement.
Usually not, which is why installing an eSIM before you fly matters. Apple’s requirement is that the iPhone “must be connected to a Wi-Fi network or hotspot”, with a narrow exception for some eSIM-only models in some countries.
Install on your home Wi-Fi, then leave the line switched off until you land. Check when the plan’s validity clock starts before installing, because providers differ on that.
For most prepaid travel plans, no. eSIMply’s support is explicit that once an eSIM is removed, scanning the same QR code again does not reinstall it.
Carrier lines are different, because the carrier can issue a replacement profile. Treat the delete button on a travel profile as permanent and only use it once the plan is finished.
Converting your existing carrier line to an eSIM keeps the number, because the number belongs to the account rather than the chip. Apple notes that some carriers let you convert a physical SIM to an eSIM directly.
Adding a separate travel eSIM does not touch your number either. It becomes a second line on one phone, and you choose which line handles data and which one you make calls on.
People who switch to an eSIM permanently keep the number as well, since porting is handled by the carrier account behind it.
On the Apple side, support starts at iPhone XR, XS and XS Max and runs through every model since, plus cellular iPad models from 2018 onward. Google lists Pixel 3a and later, and Samsung covers the recent Galaxy S, Z Fold, Z Flip and A ranges.
Regional variants are the catch. eSIMply’s eSIM device list flags the exceptions, including Hong Kong and Macao models that ship without eSIM.
In one specific way, yes. Apple’s reasoning is that an eSIM “can’t be removed if your iPhone is lost or stolen”, so a stolen handset cannot be stripped of its line and resold as clean.
On the network side there is no difference worth claiming. Both present the same kind of credentials to the same carrier network, and the profile sits in a secure element either way.
Price tracks the destination, the data allowance and the validity window rather than the technology. A few days of light use in a well-served market costs a fraction of a month of heavy use somewhere with thin coverage.
The eSIM card in your phone costs nothing to use. You are paying for the carrier profile you load onto it, and what an eSIM depends on for price is the plan, so you can compare ladders per country in the destination directory before you get an eSIM at all.
Delivery and permanence. A traditional SIM card arrives as a physical card you slide into a tray, and an eSIM is a chip already soldered in place that receives a profile over the internet.
Day to day that removes the ritual of swapping a physical SIM card at an airport kiosk and then keeping the old one safe. Working without a physical SIM card also means there is nothing to lose, and nothing for a thief to pull out.
Your current SIM card can often be converted rather than replaced. Apple notes that some carriers let you turn an existing line into an eSIM without issuing a new SIM card at all.
eSIM benefits come down to three things. An eSIM allows several plans to sit on one phone at once, it cannot be removed if the handset is stolen, and it arrives in minutes instead of by post. Those three cover most of the connectivity argument for travel.
Three drawbacks are worth knowing before you buy. A carrier-locked phone cannot use one, a removed travel profile usually cannot be reinstalled, and support quality varies more than it does with a shop-bought card. Those are the real cons of eSIM, and for most trips the benefits of an eSIM still outweigh them.
Most other eSIM uses are neutral rather than better. Signal, speed and coverage come from the carrier network, and they do not change because the SIM is digital.
Buy an eSIM data plan for where you are going, then download your eSIM from the email or app the provider sends. eSIM activation happens in the phone’s own settings, so on most phones you install the eSIM by opening the device settings and choosing to scan the QR code you were sent.
Apple’s path is Settings, then Cellular, then Set Up Cellular or Add eSIM. Google’s Pixel route is Settings, then Network & internet, then SIMs, then Add SIM, and Samsung uses Settings, then Connections, then SIM manager.
Activate your eSIM on Wi-Fi at home rather than at the airport, then switch the line on when you arrive at your destination. Install your eSIM early enough to test it, and expect 4G LTE or 5G where the local network carries it. eSIMply’s installation guides walk through both platforms step by step.
Where these facts come from
Facts on this page come from the organisations that own them, and each one is linked inline where it is used. Nothing here is based on our own testing rig, and no speed figures are quoted.
- Specification and terminology: GSMA for the definition of eSIM and the Secure Element, and the GSMA specification index for the SGP.21, SGP.22, SGP.31 and SGP.32 documents.
- iPhone and iPad behaviour: Apple’s own support pages covering eSIM while travelling internationally, which models have a SIM tray, and carrier locking and unlocking.
- Android behaviour: Google’s Pixel dual SIM documentation for Pixel, and Samsung’s Galaxy SIM support page for Galaxy. Menu wording differs by manufacturer and operating system version, which is why both are cited separately rather than merged into one path.
- Reader questions: the People Also Ask results for this topic, plus the question sets published by the pages currently ranking for it.
Two disclosures. eSIMply sells its own travel eSIM, so the section describing it is a vendor describing its own product, and the plan links on this page are commercial links that can earn us a commission.
Where sources disagree, we say so on the page instead of picking the tidier version. GSMA’s consumer description and Apple’s handset documentation differ on how many profiles can be active at once, and both readings appear above.
Jamie has worked in telecommunications for more than 8 years across mobile, SMS, eSIM, apps, and adjacent technology. He now writes for eSIMply as the tech content writer, analysing the top eSIM providers and breaking down what travellers actually need to know.
While we do our best to ensure accuracy, prices and plan availability are subject to change. Last updated by Jamie Cole.
