Check that your phone supports eSIM

Two things have to be true. The phone has eSIM built in, and it isn’t locked to the carrier that sold it. Both take a minute to check in the phone’s settings.

On an iPhone

1. Open Settings, then General, then About.
2. Scroll down to EID. If the iPhone shows an EID number, it has eSIM.
3. On the same screen, find Carrier Lock. If it says No SIM restrictions, the iPhone is unlocked.

Apple says eSIM needs an iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR or a later model, and notes exceptions in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, so check your own iPhone as above.

On Android

1. Open Settings, then Network & internet or Connections.
2. Open SIMs or SIM manager.
3. If you can choose to add an eSIM there, the phone supports it.

Google says every Pixel from the Pixel 4 on works with eSIM. For the Pixel 3a, Pixel 3 and Pixel 2, it depends on the carrier the phone was bought with or the country it was bought in. The first Pixel, from 2016, doesn’t work with eSIM at all.

Samsung lists the Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra and later S models, but of the FE models only the S23 FE and later. It lists its foldables from the first Galaxy Fold on, and some Galaxy A and XCover models, several of them only in certain regions. Samsung adds that, depending on the country a phone comes from, eSIM may not be supported even when its model is listed. What your own phone’s settings show is the answer to go by.

Android doesn’t show a carrier lock in one standard place. If you bought the phone from a carrier and aren’t sure, ask them whether it’s unlocked before you buy a plan.

See the phones that support eSIM