Install an eSIM on iPhone: Setup and Cleanup
Add a travel eSIM to an iPhone over Wi-Fi before you fly, label it so you can identify it a year later, and remove the profiles you have finished with.
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
Buy the plan for the destination you are flying to
Plans are sold per destination, so pick the one matching your trip in the app. Nothing starts running yet: validity begins when the line first connects to a network where you are going, not when payment clears. Installing early costs nothing.
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Step 2
Do the install while you still have Wi-Fi
Adding an eSIM needs an internet connection, and the arrivals hall is the worst place to look for one. Five minutes at home, days before departure, is the whole trick. The profile sits dormant until you switch it on.
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Step 3
Open Settings and find the cellular menu
Settings Cellular Add eSIM
Tap Settings, then the cellular entry. Apple has renamed this more than once: depending on iOS version and region it reads Cellular, Mobile Data or Mobile Service. Same screen. Tap Add eSIM — older releases call the button Add Cellular Plan or Add Data Plan.
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Step 4
Choose Use QR Code, not Transfer From Nearby iPhone
Add eSIM Use QR Code
Transfer moves an existing line between handsets, which is not what you want. Pick the QR option and scan the code from a laptop or second phone. On a single device, tap Enter Details Manually and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order (two long strings in your order email) — the result is identical. On iOS 17.4 or newer there is an even shorter path: long-press the QR image in the email itself and tap Add eSIM.
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Step 5
Label the line while iOS is asking you to
New eSIM Custom Label
iOS offers Travel, Business, Secondary and a Custom Label. Take the custom one and name it for the destination and the month. This looks pedantic on the first trip and pays for itself on the fourth, when three lines called Travel are indistinguishable.
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Step 6
Leave it switched off, and keep your usual SIM in charge
Set your home SIM as the default for calls and messages, and turn the new line off until you land. iOS will ask which line to use for iMessage and FaceTime; keep those on the number you actually have, because the travel plan is data-only and has no number of its own.
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Step 7
On arrival, switch the line on and give it the data
Settings Cellular Cellular Data
After landing, open the cellular menu, select the new line and turn it on, then set it as the line that carries data under Cellular Data. Your home SIM stays active for calls and texts; it just stops paying for data.
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Step 8
Data Roaming on for this line — and off on your home SIM
Cellular Japan · May Data Roaming
Open the travel line and switch Data Roaming on. The toggle is how iOS grants a line permission to register on a network it does not own; without it the line shows no service. Then open your home SIM and confirm Data Roaming is off there. Both halves matter.
Most install guides assume this is your first eSIM and your last. This one assumes the opposite: you travel often, you will do this again in a few months for somewhere else, and by then the phone will be carrying the leftovers. The tap sequence below is the same wherever you go. What changes from trip to trip is which network the phone finds on arrival, whether an unlimited option exists for that destination, and how long the plan runs — all of which live on the destinations pages. A guide promising a specific network in a specific country would be wrong more often than right.
Two properties of the line surprise people used to physical SIMs. It is data-only: no number is issued anywhere, for any destination, so calls and texts stay on your existing SIM and messaging apps run over the data. And tethering is included, so the laptop shares the connection without a second plan. If eSIM is new to you, what is an eSIM is the shorter read.
The part nobody warns you about is accumulation. Every trip leaves a profile behind, and iPhones hold several at once, so within a couple of years the cellular screen is a stack of dormant lines you cannot identify. That is why labelling is a step here rather than an afterthought. Cleaning up happens in the same place: open the cellular menu, tap the line you have finished with, and remove it. Do that only when the plan is certainly spent — deletion is irreversible and a used code will not install again.
A plan covering several countries installs and behaves exactly like a single-destination one: one profile, and the line keeps working as you cross borders, the phone re-registering by itself each time. Where a plan supports top-ups, data is added to the profile already installed; where it does not, buying again means installing again. If you also carry an Android device, the Samsung, Pixel and general Android versions cover the same ground with the right menu names, and the rest is on the FAQ.
Troubleshooting
The QR code will not scan. What do I do?
Raise the brightness on the screen showing the code, hold the iPhone about 20 to 30 cm back, and get the whole square in frame without glare. If it still refuses, use Enter Details Manually with the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order. Manual entry produces the same profile.
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.
There is no Add eSIM option, or I get "eSIM Cannot Be Added".
Open Settings, General, About, and look for an EID. If one is listed, the hardware is fine and the blocker is almost always a carrier lock, which only your home operator can remove. No EID at all means the phone predates eSIM support and needs a physical SIM.
I have landed and the eSIM shows no service.
Check in order that the line is on, selected under Cellular Data, and has Data Roaming enabled. Then toggle Airplane Mode for thirty seconds to force a fresh search. If it is still blank, open Network Selection, turn Automatic off, pick any available network, let it register, then set Automatic back on. Which network the phone lands on depends on the agreements in force where you are, so no guide can name it in advance.
Does turning Data Roaming on mean roaming charges?
Not on this line. The plan is prepaid for use at the destination, so no home operator is in the loop to bill you — the toggle is a permission, not a payment setting. It does cost you on your primary SIM, which is why the second half of that step is to keep it off there.
How many eSIMs can an iPhone hold at once?
More than one, and the exact ceiling depends on model and iOS version, so we would rather not quote a number that goes stale. You can keep several installed but only one or two active. When the phone says there is no room, delete a profile from a trip that is over.
I deleted a plan by mistake. Can I reinstall it from the same QR code?
Usually not. Deleting a profile is close to irreversible, and most activation codes are single-use — once redeemed, the same QR will not install again. If the plan still had data on it, contact support before buying a replacement. If it was already spent, there is nothing to recover and deleting it was the right call.
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.