How do I check if my phone supports eSIM?

iPhone

1. Settings
2. General
3. About
4. Scroll down and look for EID

Android

1. Settings
2. Network and internet
3. SIMs
4. Add eSIM or Download a SIM instead

If your phone is carrier locked, eSIM will not install even on a supported model. Ask your home operator to unlock it before you fly, which usually takes a day and is free once your contract is paid up.

Why the EID is the thing to look for

The EID is the serial number of the eSIM chip soldered into the phone. If the phone has one, the hardware is there. It is a 32 digit number and it is the only check that does not depend on a marketing page, a spec sheet or a shop assistant remembering the region a handset was built for.

When the EID is there and the install still fails

Hardware support is necessary and not sufficient. Three things override it, and all three are invisible on the About screen.

• A carrier lock. The handset is tied to your home operator and refuses every eSIM profile, not only ours.
• A regional variant. Some models sold in mainland China and Hong Kong ship without eSIM even though the same model number elsewhere has it.
• An operator build. A few Pixel 4 units sold through carriers shipped with eSIM switched off in firmware.

iPhone against Android, and why the menus differ

On iPhone the check is the same on every model since the XS, because Apple ships one build. On Android the eSIM menu moves between manufacturers and between OS versions of the same manufacturer, which is why a generic instruction fails. If Settings has a search box, searching it for eSIM is faster than any path we could write down.

What we do automatically and what needs you

When you open the app we read the model and OS version from the phone and tell you whether the install will work before you pay. What we cannot see is the carrier lock, because no API exposes it. That one is on you, and it is the one worth checking a week before you fly rather than the night before.

The numbers, and where they came from

We hold install notes for 67 models across 7 brands: Apple, Google, Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Motorola and Huawei. They are written from installs that actually happened, not from published specifications, because manufacturers move the menu without announcing it and a spec sheet has never once told us where Xiaomi put it this year.

If the phone genuinely does not support it

Then nothing we sell will work on it, and the useful answer is not a longer troubleshooting list. A physical travel SIM bought at the destination airport is the honest alternative and we do not sell one. Two other routes are worth knowing. A newer phone can be borrowed or bought secondhand, and any unlocked model on our devices list will work. Or a travel router with its own SIM slot will put every device you carry on one connection, which is often better anyway for a family. We would rather tell you that on this page than sell you a plan that cannot install.