Install an eSIM on a Google Pixel
Download a travel eSIM on a Pixel before departure, choose which line carries data, and clear out the dormant profiles left over from earlier trips.
Updated August 24, 2026
Three things to know before you start
It connects only at your destination
Install at home, but expect “No Service” or “Activating…” until you land — that is normal. The plan wakes up when the line first finds a network at your destination.
Your QR code works exactly once
Seeing “invalid QR” after a scan almost always means the eSIM is already on your phone. Don’t rescan — open your SIM list and just switch the line on.
No internet after landing? Check Data Roaming
Turn the travel line on, set it as your mobile data line, and switch Data Roaming ON for it. This one toggle causes most “it doesn’t work” messages.
Installation steps
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Step 1
Choose the plan for your destination
Plans are per destination and live in the app. Payment does not start the clock: validity begins the first time the line registers on a network where you are going. Installing days ahead of the flight has no downside and takes the job off your arrival day.
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Step 2
Install over Wi-Fi at home
The download needs a live internet connection. Doing it on airport Wi-Fi is possible but unpleasant, and doing it after landing is a chicken-and-egg problem. Install early; the profile sits inactive until you turn the line on.
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Step 3
Open Settings, Network and internet, SIMs
Pixel keeps this under Settings, then Network and internet, then SIMs. If a physical SIM is already in the phone you will see a plus beside SIMs; tap that. On a Pixel with no physical SIM at all, the screen offers the same thing more directly.
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Step 4
Pick Download a SIM instead
Settings Network & internet SIMs
Android's setup flow tends to push you towards a physical SIM first. The option you want is Download a SIM instead, or Download eSIM depending on your Android version. Older Pixel releases word it as Download a SIM instead? with a question mark, which is the same thing.
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Step 5
Scan the QR code, or enter the details by hand
Point the camera at the code on a laptop or second phone and let it read. With only one screen, use the manual entry option on the scan screen and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order. Both routes install the same profile.
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Step 6
Name the SIM before you move on
Android will ask what to call the new line. Use the destination and the month, not Travel. Two trips later you will have several profiles listed on the SIMs screen, and the only thing distinguishing them is the name you typed in this moment.
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Step 7
On landing, turn the line on and give it mobile data
SIMs Japan · May
Open the SIMs screen, select the travel line, switch it on, and set it as the SIM used for mobile data. Leave your usual line enabled for calls and texts. The travel plan carries data only and issues no number anywhere, so calls have to stay on the SIM that has one.
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Step 8
Roaming on for the travel SIM, off for your own
SIMs Japan · May Roaming
Inside the travel line's settings, turn Roaming on. On Pixel this is a per-SIM switch, which is exactly what you want: it lets that line attach to a visited network without touching your home line. Then open your home SIM and confirm its roaming switch is off, because that one really is metered by your operator.
If you own a Pixel you probably update it the week the update lands, which means the menu names on your phone may already have drifted from any guide written six months ago. The structure holds even when the wording moves: Network and internet, SIMs, download rather than insert, then two per-line switches once you have landed. Everything genuinely variable about a trip is on the catalogue side — which network the phone finds on arrival, whether the destination has an unlimited option, how long the plan stays valid — and that belongs on the destinations pages, where it can be kept current.
Be clear about what the line is. It carries data and nothing else; no number is issued for any destination, so calls and texts stay on the SIM you already have and messaging apps run over the data. Tethering is included, so the laptop is covered by the same plan. If this is your first digital SIM, what is an eSIM explains the mechanics and pricing shows how plans are structured.
The habit that makes the second and third trip easy is naming and pruning. Pixels keep every downloaded profile until you erase it, so the SIMs screen fills up quietly, and identically named entries force you to switch lines on one by one to work out which is which. Name each at install time. Erase them when the plan is spent and only then — erasing is effectively permanent, and a redeemed QR code will not install again.
A plan covering several countries behaves no differently from a single-destination one: one download, and the line keeps working across each border while the phone re-registers on the other side by itself. Where a plan supports top-ups, data goes onto the profile already installed; where it does not, buying again means installing again, and the app says which before you pay. Other handsets are covered in the iPhone, Samsung and general Android guides.
Troubleshooting
There is no option to download a SIM.
Dial *#06# and check whether an EID is listed. An EID means the hardware is present, and a missing download option then points at a carrier lock or an out-of-date Android build; update the phone and ask your operator about the lock. Pixels have carried eSIM broadly since the Pixel 3, but a small number of regional releases went out without it.
The camera will not read the QR code.
Turn the brightness up on whatever is showing the code, hold the phone back far enough for the whole square to sit in the frame, and keep reflections off it. If it still fails, use manual entry and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order. The profile you get is identical.
I have landed and the line shows no service.
Confirm three things in order: the line is switched on, mobile data is assigned to it, and roaming is enabled for it. Then turn Airplane mode on for thirty seconds and off again to force a fresh search. If it is still empty, open the line's settings, turn off automatic network selection, choose an available network from the scan, wait for registration, then put selection back on automatic. Which networks are available depends on where you are, and no guide can promise a specific one.
Can I share the connection with a laptop or a tablet?
Yes, hotspot and tethering are included on the travel line. Turn it on under Network and internet, then Hotspot and tethering. Watch the consumption though: a laptop that starts a system update or a cloud sync over the hotspot can spend an allowance in an afternoon.
How do I delete an old travel profile?
On the SIMs screen, open the profile and choose Erase SIM. Only do this when the plan is finished. The action is not reversible, and an activation code that has been used once will not install again, so erasing a profile with data still on it loses the data with it.
Can I keep several travel profiles installed at the same time?
Yes. A Pixel holds more than one downloaded profile, though the ceiling depends on model and Android version, and we would rather not print a number that ages badly. Only one or two can be active at a time. When you run out of room, erase a profile from a trip that has ended.
The QR code says invalid, already used, or the install fails on a second try.
An activation code is single-use, so this error almost always means the first scan already worked and the eSIM is on the phone. Do not keep rescanning. Open the phone's SIM list (the cellular or SIM manager screen) or My eSIMs in the Simtegre app: if the line is listed, the install is done — turn the line on, give it mobile data and enable Data Roaming instead of installing again.
Do I have to scan the QR code at all?
No. In the Simtegre app, open My eSIMs, tap your plan and tap Install — the profile installs on the same phone with no camera involved. The QR route exists for installing from a second screen; both end in the identical profile, and the steps after the install are the same either way.