Install help

Getting your eSIM onto your phone

It takes about two minutes, and it should be done at home on wifi rather than at the airport. Installing an eSIM does not start it: your plan only begins counting down when data first flows abroad, so there is nothing to gain by leaving it until you land — and quite a lot to lose.

Before you start

Will my phone take an eSIM?

Broadly, if you bought the phone new after 2018, probably yes:

iPhone — XS, XS Max and XR onwards, including every iPhone SE from the 2020 model.
Google Pixel — Pixel 3 and newer.
Samsung Galaxy — S20 and newer, Note 20, and the Z Flip and Z Fold ranges.

Regional and carrier-specific variants are the wrinkle: a handful of models sold in some markets ship without eSIM hardware even though the same phone supports it elsewhere. The reliable check takes five seconds — dial *#06# on the phone. If an EID appears alongside the IMEI, the phone has an eSIM.

It also has to be carrier-unlocked

A phone still locked to the network that sold it will refuse any travel eSIM, ours included, and no setting on the phone changes that. Only your own carrier can unlock it, so if you are unsure, ask them before you buy — not the night before you fly.

You usually get one install, not unlimited installs

An eSIM profile can normally only be downloaded once. Once it is on the phone, deleting it generally destroys it for good — there is no second download waiting, and the QR code you were sent will not work again. So do not remove it to “start fresh” when something looks wrong, and do not delete it before changing phones. Work through the troubleshooting below first; it is reversible and deleting is not.

On iPhone

Menu names have shifted across iOS versions, so where the wording on your phone differs, the alternative is noted with the step.

Get on wifi, and stay on it.
The profile downloads over the internet, not over mobile data. Do this at home rather than at the gate — a phone that cannot reach wifi cannot install an eSIM.
Open Settings, then Mobile Service, then Add eSIM.
Depending on your region and iOS version the same menu is called Cellular or Mobile Data, and the button may read Add Data Plan or Add Cellular Plan.
Choose Use QR Code and scan the code from a second screen.
A phone cannot photograph its own screen, so open your activation page on a laptop, a tablet, or a travel companion's phone first.
No second screen? Tap Enter Details Manually instead.
Type the SM-DP+ address and activation code shown on your activation page. Both are long and case-sensitive, so paste them if you can.
Label the plan after where you are going.
"Japan" beats "Secondary". You will be switching between the two lines mid-trip and the labels are all you get to go on.
Keep your own number as the default line.
iOS asks this immediately after installing. Calls, texts and iMessage should stay on your usual number — only data needs to move.
When you land, point Mobile Data at the travel line.
Settings, Mobile Service, Mobile Data, then pick the travel plan. Your plan starts counting when data first flows abroad, not when you install it, so there is no cost to setting this up early and switching over on arrival.

On Android

Pixel and Samsung put the same settings in different places, so both paths are given. Other Android phones follow one or the other closely.

Get on wifi, and stay on it.
Same reason as on iPhone: the profile arrives over the internet. Install before you fly, while a failed download is a minor annoyance rather than a stranded evening.
Open your SIM settings.
Pixel: Settings, Network & internet, SIMs. Samsung: Settings, Connections, SIM manager. Other Android phones put it in much the same place under Connections or Network.
Start the download.
On a Pixel, tap the + beside SIMs. On a Samsung, tap Add eSIM. Some builds word it as Add mobile plan or offer a link reading "Download a SIM instead?".
Scan the QR code from a second screen.
Again, not from the phone you are installing on. Open the activation page on any other device and point the travel phone at it.
No second screen? Look for Enter it manually.
It is sometimes tucked behind a "Need help?" link. Then enter the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your activation page.
Confirm the download and name the plan.
It takes a few seconds. Name it after the destination so you can tell the two lines apart at a glance.
When you land, set mobile data to the travel line.
Back on the same SIM settings screen, choose the travel eSIM under Mobile data. Leave calls and texts on your own number.

It is not working

Four problems account for nearly everything people write to us about. Work down each list in order — the fixes are ranked by how often they turn out to be the answer, not by how clever they are.

I have landed and I have no signal at all

Almost always a switch rather than a fault. Installing an eSIM does not turn the line on, and roaming is off by default on every line — abroad, that means the eSIM has nothing it is allowed to connect to.

Check the travel line is actually switched on in your SIM settings.
Turn data roaming ON for the travel line specifically. Overseas, every network your eSIM can reach is a roaming network.
Point mobile data at the travel line rather than your home number.
Turn flight mode on for thirty seconds and back off. If that does nothing, restart the phone — some handsets only re-register on a restart.
Give it two or three minutes. The first attachment to a foreign network is rarely instant, especially in an arrivals hall with a few hundred other phones doing the same thing.
Still nothing: turn off automatic network selection and pick an operator by hand from the coverage list on your destination's page.

The QR code will not scan

Usually because the code is being displayed on the same phone that is trying to scan it. A phone cannot photograph its own screen, and no amount of retrying changes that.

Open your activation page on a laptop, tablet or someone else's phone, then scan it from the phone you are installing on.
Turn the second screen's brightness up and hold the phone roughly a hand's length away.
Wipe the camera lens. A smeared lens defeats more QR scans than anything else on this list.
Skip the camera entirely. Every install screen has a manual option — enter the SM-DP+ address and activation code printed on the same activation page.

The eSIM installed fine, but nothing loads

The profile is on the phone, but the phone is still routing data through the wrong line — or through something that is blocking it before it leaves the handset.

Confirm mobile data is set to the travel line, not your home number. Installing a line does not select it.
Confirm data roaming is on for that line. It is a per-line setting and it defaults to off, so setting it once on your home line does nothing for the eSIM.
Turn off any VPN and reload. A VPN pointed at a home server can stop traffic dead on a new network.
Turn off Low Data Mode on iPhone, or Data Saver on Android, at least while you test.
Do not type an APN unless we have given you one. Travel eSIMs configure themselves, and a leftover APN from another network will silently block data.
Restart the phone after changing any of the above, then give it a minute before judging it.

It says my data is used up and I have barely used it

Check the figure on your account first — that is read from the network rather than from your phone's own counter. If the data really has gone, background traffic is almost always where it went.

Photo and cloud backups are the single biggest drain. They resume the moment a phone gets data and will happily upload a fortnight of holiday photos over roaming.
Set app updates and system updates to wifi-only. Both will otherwise run on any connection they are given.
Personal hotspot burns data faster than anything else, because a laptop behind it does not browse the way a phone does.
On an unlimited plan, "used up" usually means the day's full-speed allowance is spent rather than the plan. Speed drops until the next day; it does not stop.
Add more data from your account, or set up an auto top-up so it cannot happen again mid-trip — you cannot buy data when you have no data.

Where your details live

Your QR code, SM-DP+ address and activation code are on the activation page linked from your order — the same link that was emailed to you.
Your ICCID, what you paid, and a link to each activation page are on your receipts page.
How much data is left, read live from the network, is on your account.
If it turns out your phone cannot use the plan and you have never connected with it, the refund policy covers you for 60 days.