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Other So how does e-SIM work if you need to return your iPhone?

martin2345uk

martin2345uk

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 6, 2013
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Essex
So I’m thinking of getting a 15+ when it appears, and rumours are suggesting it will not have a SIM slot here in Europe this year either.

My network does support e-SIM, yay, but say you set it up in the phone (no idea how easy it is) but then the phone has an issue and you need to return it to apple… how easy is it to then swap the SIM back to your old phone?

I can’t really get my head around how e-SIMs work…
 
Hmm my carrier doesn’t support esim quick transfer annoyingly!
Really hope the 15 still has SIM card tray in the UK
 
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Not sure where you are at in Europe but here in Belgium I had my phone replaced under warranty and all i had to do was get online with my company's website and within minutes I was emailed a new QR code to add to the phone. Also you should be able to do a phone transfer on iOS 17 at least but still not sure if it's carrier dependent though it shouldn't be.
 
BenGieCruz said:
Not sure where you are at in Europe but here in Belgium I had my phone replaced under warranty and all i had to do was get online with my company's website and within minutes I was emailed a new QR code to add to the phone. Also you should be able to do a phone transfer on iOS 17 at least but still not sure if it's carrier dependent though it shouldn't be.
Click to expand...
Some carriers don't, eg. mine, a subsidiary of a major carrier that does though. Go figure. What happens if future iPhones sold in Canada go strictly eSIM on us?
 
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Ridiculously my carrier won't even send the QR codes by email, they have to be done in the post! o_O

Hopefully Apple forcing people onto eSIMs will have the effect of giving carriers like these a good kick up the backside.
 
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UK has the worst process we not even ready for esim my experience on EE once you delete your QR code or replaced your phone you will need to visit the store and request your number to returned to a physical sim card and request another QR code what a pain in the backside.
 
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Germany here and the process is very convenient with my provider.
I have to „de-register“ the active eSIM via the provider’s homepage and wait for a confirmation email that arrives within 15 or 20 minutes.
Afterwards you can re-use the original QR code to activate that eSIM in a new phone. :)
 
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You can transfer e-sim between iPhones. Here in Sweden, it's easy to download e-sim. Just log in to their site and download a new e-sim. The old sim (whether it is e-sim or sim-card) gets deactivated automatically. Entire process takes only few minutes in an iPhone. In Pixel 7 pro it takes a bit longer in my experience. Operator "3" was first in Sweden with e-Sim for iPhones in 2018. Downloading to Apple watch was a bit more complicated.
 
martin2345uk said:
So I’m thinking of getting a 15+ when it appears, and rumours are suggesting it will not have a SIM slot here in Europe this year either.

My network does support e-SIM, yay, but say you set it up in the phone (no idea how easy it is) but then the phone has an issue and you need to return it to apple… how easy is it to then swap the SIM back to your old phone?

I can’t really get my head around how e-SIMs work…
Click to expand...
My recent “experience” with Vodafone U.K…
 
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At the end of the day the likely scenario is you go to the carrier store and get a QR code there to add your eSIM.

But the future is probably that you will have a carrier app and get an eSIM from there. I can do this with the AT&T app. It’s also possible to transfer iPhone to iPhone if the carrier allows it. But that means you need your old phone so it’s not going to work if you return it then buy a phone later. Also doesn’t work going from Android to iPhone or vice versa.

Also signing into the AT&T app has its own problem. I need to have my phone service working to get a text code to sign in, very chicken-and-egg problem, need to have SMS to sign in, need to sign in to get SMS. If they had Passkey support instead of SMS then I could sign in as long as I hopped onto my iCloud account and then supply the Passkey (and to sign in to iCloud I just need to have my iPad or Mac nearby to approve the sign in because that also has 2-factor but it doesn’t need SMS necessarily).
 
Can someone explain the benefit of e-sim. It seems like Apple just wanted to do away with another port.

Standard sim is absolutely easy and doesn't require any input from the cellular provider. Just pull the card out of the old and into the new.
 
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MacProFCP said:
Can someone explain the benefit of e-sim. It seems like Apple just wanted to do away with another port.

Standard sim is absolutely easy and doesn't require any input from the cellular provider. Just pull the card out of the old and into the new.
Click to expand...
Get rid of a port, get rid of another hole on the phone (better waterproofing), being able to electronically add a SIM instead of needing a physical card you need to pick up at a store, being able to switch carriers basically instantly (you can store a bunch of eSIMs on the phone and switch between them, while 2 can be active at once).

In the future we might be able to switch phones and cell service even if we lost the physical phone (and thus lost any SIM inside too), just sign into a carrier app, as I said above today is not that day as my carrier has an app but I need SMS to sign into a new phone so it’s the chicken-and-egg problem.

Basically eSIM is like WiFi, wifi doesn’t need a physical card.
 
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MacProFCP said:
Can someone explain the benefit of e-sim. It seems like Apple just wanted to do away with another port.

Standard sim is absolutely easy and doesn't require any input from the cellular provider. Just pull the card out of the old and into the new.
Click to expand...
No idea. They didn't even use the space. It was way easier to switch phones with a physical sim.
 
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Coconutx said:
UK has the worst process we not even ready for esim my experience on EE once you delete your QR code or replaced your phone you will need to visit the store and request your number to returned to a physical sim card and request another QR code what a pain in the backside.
Click to expand...

Was that recently?

Screenshot 2023-08-24 at 08.16.37.png
 
kitKAC said:
There is no point in redesigning one SKU for one market, if all iPhones worldwide get the SIM tray removed, expect the space to be used.
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lol and therefore what was the point of releasing one type of phone into over market while the rest of the world gets one another one with sim. Why not just release it with a sim slot for the USA market. Esim really has no benefit to me and others and it’s just a pain in the arse when a paper clip and physically transferring a sim is easier. Frankly I get activation errors with e sim and that’s annoying
 
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1rottenapple said:
lol and therefore what was the point of releasing one type of phone into over market while the rest of the world gets one another one with sim. Why not just release it with a sim slot for the USA market. Esim really has no benefit to me and others and it’s just a pain in the arse when a paper clip and physically transferring a sim is easier. Frankly I get activation errors with e sim and that’s annoying
Click to expand...
its a great feature to be used for travel.

being able to use foreign esims when you arrive at your tourist destination.

roaming is expensive, and tourist esims generally give generous amounts of data ... sometimes with better reception.
 
dchoco said:
ts a great feature to be used for travel.
Click to expand...

That's true. Esim is great when traveling.

It's one of those features where some folks will really benefit, others will see it as an unnecessary new hassle. There's no right or wrong answer.

For me, I'm quite happy to stick with my current phone (XR) that has both an esim and a physical sim. My local number on my physical sim, and keep esim free for when I travel overseas...
Azzin said:
My recent “experience” with Vodafone U.K…
Click to expand...
Very poor indeed! Fingers crossed Vodafone come up with a better solution soon! Frankly it's crap you have to go esim -> physical sim (with old number transferred to physical sim) -> esim...
 
martin2345uk said:
Ridiculously my carrier won't even send the QR codes by email, they have to be done in the post! o_O

Hopefully Apple forcing people onto eSIMs will have the effect of giving carriers like these a good kick up the backside.
Click to expand...
Seriously? Which carrier is that?
 
jaytv111 said:
Get rid of a port, get rid of another hole on the phone (better waterproofing), being able to electronically add a SIM instead of needing a physical card you need to pick up at a store, being able to switch carriers basically instantly (you can store a bunch of eSIMs on the phone and switch between them, while 2 can be active at once).

In the future we might be able to switch phones and cell service even if we lost the physical phone (and thus lost any SIM inside too), just sign into a carrier app, as I said above today is not that day as my carrier has an app but I need SMS to sign into a new phone so it’s the chicken-and-egg problem.

Basically eSIM is like WiFi, wifi doesn’t need a physical card.
Click to expand...
Plus: up to 5 or so e-sims. Handy for business and travellers!
 
saber32au said:
Very poor indeed! Fingers crossed Vodafone come up with a better solution soon! Frankly it's crap you have to go esim -> physical sim (with old number transferred to physical sim) -> esim...
Click to expand...

It’s ridiculous.

I’m a big fan of eSIMs and think the sooner we can get rid of plastic SIMs, the better.

But until the networks can come up with a method of easily and simply activating an eSIM on the spot (either to convert an existing physical SIM, or to transfer to a new phone), then eSIMs can‘t succeed.
 
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