How to install an eSIM in about five minutes

Installing an eSIM is quicker than buying a coffee, but only if you know which menu it lives in. Here is the whole process, twice, once for iPhone and once for Android.

Before you start

• Be on Wi-Fi. The QR code has to be downloaded, and you do not have mobile data yet.
• Charge past twenty percent. An install that dies halfway is a support ticket nobody enjoys.
• Have the QR code on a second screen, or printed. You cannot scan a code that is on the screen you are scanning with.

On an iPhone

1. Open Settings, then Mobile Service (older versions call it Cellular or Mobile Data).
2. Tap Add eSIM, then Use QR Code.
3. Point the camera at the code we sent you and wait for the plan to appear.
4. Label it something you will recognise later. Datainfinite works.
5. When asked which line to use for data, pick the new one. Leave calls and messages on your existing number.
6. Turn on Data Roaming for the new line. This is the step people miss.

On Android

The wording moves around between manufacturers, but the path is the same shape.

1. Open Settings, then Network and internet or Connections.
2. Tap SIMs, SIM manager or the plus icon beside your current SIM.
3. Choose Download a SIM instead or Add eSIM.
4. Scan the QR code and confirm.
5. Set the new eSIM as your mobile data line and enable roaming on it.

The two settings almost everyone misses

First, data roaming. An eSIM connects to a local partner network, which your phone treats as roaming even while you are standing in the country it belongs to. With roaming switched off for that line, you will see signal bars and no internet.

Second, the default data line. If your old SIM is still set as the data line, your phone will keep trying to use it, and you will either get nothing or a roaming bill you did not want.

If it says searching, or sits on E

Give it two minutes. The first attachment to a new network is the slowest one. If it is still stuck after that, switch flight mode on and off, which forces a fresh scan. If it is still stuck after that, message us and we will sort it, at any hour.