Guides
Installing an eSIM on your phone, start to finish
Two minutes, one tap, and your own SIM stays exactly where it is. The order of the steps matters more than people expect.
Photo: Ramesh NG, CC BY-SA 2.0
An eSIM is not a replacement for your SIM card. It sits next to it. Your phone happily runs both, which is the whole point: your normal number keeps receiving calls and texts, while the travel plan carries your data.
The one thing worth getting right is when you install it. Install at home, on WiFi, before you leave. Activate it after you land.
On iPhone
- Buy the plan in the NoRoaming app and tap Install. The app hands the profile to iOS and your phone takes it from there.
- When asked to label the line, name it something you will recognise later. Travel works.
- Set your usual SIM as the default for calls and iMessage. Set the travel line for mobile data.
On Android
The same two taps: buy in the app, tap Install, and the phone takes the profile. Where the line is managed afterwards depends on the manufacturer — on a Pixel it is Settings → Network & internet → SIMs, on a Samsung Settings → Connections → SIM manager.
Worth checking before you buy: not every Android phone supports eSIM. Pixel from the 3a onwards and Galaxy from the S20 onwards do; plenty of mid-range models still do not.
If you would rather use the QR code
It is still there, and on the rare device where the one-tap handoff is unavailable it is the way in. Open the QR code from your email on a second screen, or save the image to your phone, then go to Settings → Mobile Service → Add eSIM and scan it or pick the saved image.
Leave data roaming switched off on the travel line until you have landed.
That last point is the one people miss. The plan starts counting from the first connection, not from the moment you bought it. If the line connects while you are still at home, you are burning days you paid for.
After you land
Turn off aeroplane mode, wait for the network, then switch on data roaming for the travel line only. Your home line stays on for calls, with its own roaming still off, so no operator can charge you by surprise.
If nothing connects after a few minutes, toggle aeroplane mode once. Network registration abroad occasionally needs the nudge.
