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iPhone 12 Pro Transfer AT&T eSIM 11 pro > 12 pro possible?

A

ac360

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 2, 2018
70
53
I currently have an iPhone 11 Pro Max on AT&T /w eSIM. I plan to upgrade to an iPhone 12 Pro Max later through the iPhone Upgrade Program.

I assume the new phone will already have a physical SIM inside. During the activation process, can I take the physical SIM out and activate the new phone using its eSIM?

Last year, I upgraded from Xs Max to 11 Pro Max. I was only able to active the 11 with the physical SIM inside the phone. Later, I had to visit an AT&T store, pay $5, and transfer my number to eSIM using a QR code card. It would be nice to skip a visit to the AT&T store this year...

Anyone with luck to activate the iPhone 12 (Pro) on AT&T using eSIM? Thanks.
 
I just activated mine using eSim from 11 Pro Max, but not an IUP phone, so that may be a wrinkle. With iOS 14 on At&t you can just transfer the eSim to new phone during initial setup.
 
Lobwedgephil said:
I just activated mine using eSim from 11 Pro Max, but not an IUP phone, so that may be a wrinkle. With iOS 14 on At&t you can just transfer the eSim to new phone during initial setup.
Click to expand...

Did you purchase a SIM-free iPhone 12 (Pro)? If not, did you take out the physical SIM in the 12 before starting the activation and initial setup?
 
Yeah, thats why I said IUP may be a wrinkle for you. I purchased Sim Free version. so no SIM card in phone to start.
 
Thanks. Hmm, that explains it. Somehow, the IUP iPhone activation seems to require the physical SIM in the phone...
 
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Was anyone on the IUP able to transfer eSIM without activating the new device using a physical SIM?
 
I was using the eSIM on my 11 Pro for my AT&T service, and I was not able to transfer the eSIM. iOS 14 does support transferring eSIM, but when I tried, I got the message that my carrier doesn't support transferring. So then I tried scanning my original QR code, and I got a message that the activation code was expired. I have AT&T Prepaid, so maybe transferring works with AT&T postpaid plans.

Luckily, I had a spare SIM that had never been activated, so I logged into the AT&T website and typed in the ICCID to quickly move my service back to a physical SIM. I guess I'll have go to back to the store and potentially pay $5 to move back to an eSIM, which is annoying.
 
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Last year when I upgraded from iPhone 10S to 11 using the iPhone Upgrade Program on AT&T, I made the mistake of activating my new phone with the physical SIM that came with it, thereby deactivating my old eSIM. I had to visit an AT&T store to get a new eSIM. This year, I carefully planned to avoid this trip to the AT&T store by removing the physical SIM card that came with my iPhone 12 Pro before starting activation. Unfortunately, even after removing the SIM card, the new phone was still able to activate and disabled my old eSIM. Again, I tried transferring the eSIM but it failed to transfer at the last step because activating the new phone deactivated the eSIM. I don't know of any way to avoid deactivating the old eSIM so I guess I'll have to make a trip to the AT&T store every year until Apple starts to send new phones with eSIMs.

EDIT: I have AT&T postpaid.
 
starsaffron said:
Last year when I upgraded from iPhone 10S to 11 using the iPhone Upgrade Program on AT&T, I made the mistake of activating my new phone with the physical SIM that came with it, thereby deactivating my old eSIM. I had to visit an AT&T store to get a new eSIM. This year, I carefully planned to avoid this trip to the AT&T store by removing the physical SIM card that came with my iPhone 12 Pro before starting activation. Unfortunately, even after removing the SIM card, the new phone was still able to activate and disabled my old eSIM. Again, I tried transferring the eSIM but it failed to transfer at the last step because activating the new phone deactivated the eSIM. I don't know of any way to avoid deactivating the old eSIM so I guess I'll have to make a trip to the AT&T store every year until Apple starts to send new phones with eSIMs.

EDIT: I have AT&T postpaid.
Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing. I’m in the exact situation.

AT&T at least should offer what Verizon does: upon user request by phone or online chat, provide a QR code via email and change to eSIM at no charge. Instead, AT&T still requires a store visit and charges a $5 fee, which seems nothing but tactics to discourage customers from adopting eSIM.
 
ATT will mail you an eSIM card upon request for no fee. You will have to call them to activate though.
 
Can anyone confirm if the AT&T eSIM QR cards are available at Apple Stores? I tried asking an employee and they had no idea what I was talking about.

Prepaid here. I ordered the 12 (AT&T variant, to save $30) and was not able to transfer my 11 eSIM. Tried deleting the plan on my 11. I was then able to re-add the plan on the 11 by scanning the QR code, but it would say expired whenever I scanned the same QR on the 12.

Originally wanted eSIM so I can use local sims when I travel. Not a huge deal for me anymore since companies such as Airalo are offering fairly competitive travel data plans over eSIM. In this case I may just keep AT&T on physical.
 
ac360 said:
Anyone with luck to activate the iPhone 12 (Pro) on AT&T using eSIM? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Update: Just got off the line (dial 611) with a live agent. I gave them my EID (Settings, General, About) and they were able to activate the eSIM for me over the phone. I lost service during the call. Restarted. In my Settings it showed a new service is ready to activate.
 
PLin said:
I guess I'll have go to back to the store and potentially pay $5 to move back to an eSIM, which is annoying.
Click to expand...
If you prefer to save a trip try calling 611. They can activate eSIM over the phone. You just have to give them your EID. Worked for me on prepaid.

Currently I don’t see a field to update your EID on the website. Only IMEI and ICCID.
 
cwsm said:
Update: Just got off the line (dial 611) with a live agent. I gave them my EID (Settings, General, About) and they were able to activate the eSIM for me over the phone. I lost service during the call. Restarted. In my Settings it showed a new service is ready to activate.
Click to expand...
Good luck. The process you mention was the same for me, but in the end, I still needed the esim card to activate. I reset network setting, did a hard reboot, etc, and the only thing that worked for me was the QR code on the esim card that I had to pick up from ATT. ATT also confirmed that when I upgrade to the 12 PM, I will need a new QR code. I called 611 and they are FedExing to me a new esim card in preparation for the 12 PM.

edited: I’m post-paid.
 
beach bum said:
Good luck. The process you mention was the same for me, but in the end, I still needed the esim card to activate. I reset network setting, did a hard reboot, etc, and the only thing that worked for me was the QR code on the esim card that I had to pick up from ATT. ATT also confirmed that when I upgrade to the 12 PM, I will need a new QR code. I called 611 and they are FedExing to me a new esim card in preparation for the 12 PM.

edited: I’m post-paid.
Click to expand...
I have done the same but I had to call about 4 times to get somebody that knew what they were doing. Their customer service is horrible.
 
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Almost one year later, and it’s time for iPhone 13 Pro Max. ;)
 
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