Other Experiences with transferring to iPhone 14 models with eSIM

[russell_314]

Okay I didn't see a mega thread asking for people to list their experiences transferring to the new iPhone 14 models with eSIM. This could be on one of the eSIM only models in the USA or if you live somewhere where you have an iPhone 14 with physical SIM capability but chose to use the eSIM.

It's not for debating whether eSIM is good or bad but for the people who purchased an iPhone 14 model to write about how well, badly or otherwise the experience was and maybe list possible fixes in the future because the iPhone 15 is likely going to also be eSIM only.

Before someone says there's a million threads talking about eSIM yes I agree but this one is only for people who did it to say what happened and discuss why.


I will put my experience in a reply to this so not to make things confusing.

 

[russell_314]

Okay my experience with transferring from an eSIM on my 13 PM to an eSIM 14 PM. I think the worst I've had switching iPhones. I don't know if this is due to eSIM or iOS 16.

I decided to to the direct transfer and it seemed like it was going okay then it said something about cellular transfer failed or something to the effect that the eSIM didn't transfer but I can do it in setting later. After that it still kept going all the way up till I put my last bank card in Apple Pay. Then it popped up transfer failed and I needed to wipe and reset. There was no option to say no. The wipe and reset didn't take as long as I thought it would and for a brief moment I thought about doing it from iCloud but no I went direct transfer again.

So round two. The cellular service transferred after I had to click okay on the old phone a few times agreeing that it would no longer have service. I put my cards in Apple Pay and it kept going with a timer saying something like 15 min remaining. I decided it's best I don't mess with it and left them both alone for about 20 minutes. I came back and the 14 was on a black screen. The screen wouldn't turn on. I could feel like it was responding to some touch but no display. I waited about 5 minutes and decided to force restart with volume up, volume down, and holding the side button. It started with a message saying it was locked out for one minute. Maybe from me hitting the wrong passcode IDK. After the minute I was able to log in and it was downloading apps. All was well from then.

Sorry I should have taken pictures to get the specific messages correct but I was just impatient to get my iPhone working.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

From 13 Pro Max to 14 Pro Max on At&t took me about 15 seconds to transfer. Quickest and easiest I have ever experienced.

 

[russell_314]

From 13 Pro Max to 14 Pro Max on At&t took me about 15 seconds to transfer. Quickest and easiest I have ever experienced.

15 seconds? Did you transfer the eSIM after everything else? It prompted me to do it when I did the regular transfer process.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

15 seconds? Did you transfer the eSIM after everything else? It prompted me to do it when I did the regular transfer process.

Yes, it was during the regular transfer process, took very little time for the actual cellular plan to be transferred. Transferring data, etc took much longer, but you are asking about eSim, which took no time for me or my wife's phone.

 

[russell_314]

Yes, it was during the regular transfer process, took very little time for the actual cellular plan to be transferred. Transferring data, etc took much longer, but you are asking about eSim, which took no time for me or my wife's phone.

OK that makes sense. I guess I’m counting the whole process because you really can’t tell what exactly transferred over till you go into the phone and see the cell signal. I think the second time it took about 15 seconds for me to get the message saying it went through, so pretty seamless.