Installing your eSIM

If your iPhone is on iOS 17.4 or later, open your order page on that iPhone and tap the install button. iOS takes over and does the rest.

Otherwise use the QR code: Settings → Mobile Service (called Cellular on some versions) → Add eSIM → Use QR Code, then point the camera at the code on another screen.

If the iPhone you are installing on is the one showing the code, take a screenshot of it first. When the eSIM setup asks you to scan, choose that picture from your photos instead.

Do this on wifi, before you fly. An eSIM installs once, so do not delete it afterwards.

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Settings → Network & internet → SIMs → Add eSIM, then scan the QR code on your order page. The wording differs a little between makers, but the path is close on all of them.

Most Android phones also offer to type the details in. They give one field and want the whole activation key, which you can copy from the order page.

Install on wifi, before you travel, and leave the eSIM in place once it is there.

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Settings → Connections → SIM manager → Add eSIM, then scan the QR code from your order page. Some Galaxy models word the last step "Scan QR code from service provider".

If scanning is not offered or fails, choose to enter the details instead and paste the whole activation key from the order page.

Keep the phone on wifi while it installs, and install before you leave rather than at the airport.

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Settings → Network & internet → SIMs → Add eSIM, then scan the QR code from your order page.

Pixels also accept the details by hand. Choose to enter them manually and paste the whole activation key from the order page.

Install on wifi before you travel. Once it is on the phone, leave it there.

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On your order page, under "Install it". It is drawn there in the browser, together with the one-tap link and the values for typing in by hand.

If you gave an email address at checkout, the same details were sent there as well.

If you closed the page and gave no address, find the order again with the order number.

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A phone cannot photograph its own screen, so take a screenshot of the QR code first.

Then start the eSIM setup — iPhone: Settings → Mobile Service → Add eSIM. Android: Settings → Network & internet → SIMs → Add eSIM — and when it asks you to scan, choose the screenshot from your photos. Both iOS and Android read a QR code out of a picture.

On an iPhone running iOS 17.4 or later the install button on the order page does the same thing with one tap and no screenshot.

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It is Apple’s own eSIM install link. Tapped on an iPhone running iOS 17.4 or later, it hands the plan straight to iOS, which then walks you through adding the line.

Tap it on the iPhone that will use the plan. On an older iPhone, on Android, or on a computer it does nothing.

Everyone else uses the QR code or the manual details on the same page. All three install the same eSIM.

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Every order page carries the same details as text. Most Android phones give you one field and want the whole activation key: copy it from the order page and paste it in.

Some phones ask for two separate lines instead. Those are on the page too, as the SM-DP+ address and the activation code.

On an iPhone: Settings → Mobile Service → Add eSIM → Use QR Code → Enter Details Manually, then paste the two values.

Copy and paste rather than retyping. The key is long and one wrong character fails without saying why.

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They are the two halves of what a QR code contains. The SM-DP+ address is the server your phone fetches the profile from; the activation code identifies your particular eSIM on it.

Phones that ask for two fields want them separately. Phones that ask for one want the whole activation key, which is both of them joined together.

All three forms are on your order page, each with a copy button. Treat them as private: anyone who has them can install your plan.

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Use the manual details on the same order page instead. They install exactly the same eSIM and do not need a camera.

If you are scanning from the phone that is displaying the code, that is the problem: screenshot the code and pick the picture from your photos when asked to scan.

A code that was already scanned once cannot be scanned again. If the eSIM is already on a phone, it is installed and there is nothing more to do.

Brightness helps too — turn the screen showing the code up, and hold the phones a little further apart.

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Almost always it means the eSIM has already been installed. A profile can be downloaded once, and after that the code is spent.

Check your phone’s mobile or cellular settings for a second line. If it is there, the install worked and you can move on to switching data over to it.

If nothing is there and you never installed it on another phone, write to us with your order number. That is a case we can look into on the network side.

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No. An eSIM installs once. Once the profile is downloaded to a phone, the code cannot be used again — not on that phone and not on another one.

This is how eSIM profiles work everywhere, not a rule of ours, and it is why the install details are worth keeping private until you use them.

If you need a plan on a second phone, that is a second purchase.

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No. One eSIM, one phone. The profile downloads once and belongs to the phone that took it.

Two people travelling together need two plans. You can buy both and send one of them on as a link, so the other person installs it themselves.

Sharing one plan between two phones is only possible through a personal hotspot, which every plan allows.

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No. It cannot be moved once it is installed. The profile lives on the phone that downloaded it, and deleting it there does not release it.

If you are changing phones mid-trip, the working answer is a new plan on the new phone.

Install on the phone you actually intend to travel with. It is the one decision here that cannot be undone.

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No. A deleted eSIM cannot be reinstalled, and the code that installed it will not work again.

A plan on a deleted eSIM is not refundable either, because the allowance had already been issued to your phone.

This is the one thing worth being careful about. Leave the travel line in place until the plan has ended, even if you are not using it.

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Yes. Install it at home, on wifi, days before you fly. Installing needs an internet connection, and at the airport you may not have one.

It costs you nothing to install early, because for most plans the days do not begin until the eSIM first connects to a network at your destination.

When you land you only have to switch data over to the travel line, which takes a few seconds and no internet.

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Each plan states its own install window, and the plan page shows it. It is usually around 180 days from purchase.

Inside that window the eSIM sits waiting and costs nothing. Outside it, the code can expire unused.

If you are buying a long way ahead of a trip, read that line on the plan before you pay.

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You need some internet connection, because your phone downloads the profile from a server. Wifi at home is the simplest.

Your existing mobile data works too, if you still have a working home line.

What does not work is installing with no connection at all. That is the failure people meet at the airport, and it is why we say install before you go.

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For most plans, no. The days start when the eSIM first connects to a network at your destination, which is normally after you land.

Some plans work differently, and those say so on their own page. Read that line if the dates are tight.

Installing early and leaving the line switched off is safe either way.

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Before you travel, this is often normal: many plans wait until they find a network at your destination. After you land, three steps fix most cases.

Step 1 — Wait two minutes after landing. The phone needs a moment to find a local network.

Step 2 — Turn flight mode on, then off. This makes the phone search again.

Step 3 — Check two settings. The travel eSIM is the line used for mobile data, and data roaming is on for that line. iPhone: Settings → Mobile Service → choose the eSIM → Data Roaming. Android: Settings → Network & internet → SIMs.

Still "Activating" after ten minutes at your destination? Write to us with your order number and what the screen says. That is a real fault and we chase it. We answer within one working day.

Should I delete the eSIM and install it again? No. Many eSIMs install only once; deleting it can lose the plan. Write to us first.

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