How to Install an eSIM on Android

Android's eSIM support is excellent and its menu naming is chaos. Google calls the screen "SIMs", Samsung calls it "SIM manager", others say "SIM cards" or "Mobile network", and the option to add an eSIM hides behind a different label on almost every brand. Once you find it, the process is the same everywhere.

If you have a Samsung or a Pixel, our Samsung and Pixel pages give the exact taps. This guide covers the general case and explains what each step is for.

Check the phone first

Dial *#06#. If an EID is listed alongside the IMEI, your phone has eSIM hardware. If only an IMEI appears, it does not, and no amount of menu-hunting will change that.

Then confirm the phone is carrier-unlocked. A locked handset will download a profile and then refuse to connect — the most confusing failure mode there is, because everything appears to have worked. If you bought the phone on a contract or on instalments, check with that carrier.

Finally, get on Wi-Fi. The profile has to come down over the internet.

Finding the right menu

On stock Android the path is Settings → Network & internet → SIMs. Then look for a +, Add SIM or Add eSIM. If the phone starts walking you through activating a physical SIM, look at the bottom of that screen for Download a SIM instead? — that is the eSIM path, and it is the option people miss most often.

Manufacturer variations: Samsung uses Settings → Connections → SIM manager → Add eSIM. Xiaomi and OPPO usually put it under Settings → SIM cards & mobile networks. Motorola follows stock Android closely. If you cannot find it at all, search your Settings app for "eSIM" — every recent Android build has a settings search.

Installing the profile

With the scanner open, point the camera at the QR code from your delivery email — ideally displayed on a laptop or printed out. Confirm the download when prompted and wait one to three minutes. Keep the screen on and stay on Wi-Fi; interrupting a profile download is one of the few ways to genuinely damage one.

If the QR code is only on the phone you are installing to, tap Need help? at the scanner screen and then Enter it manually. Paste the whole activation code from your delivery page, LPA:1$ prefix included. Some phones instead ask for an SM-DP+ address and an activation code as two separate fields; in that case split the string at the dollar signs — for LPA:1$rsp.example.com$K2-4RT-9QW, the address is rsp.example.com and the code is K2-4RT-9QW.

Telling Android what to use the eSIM for

A downloaded profile does nothing until you assign it. Go back to Settings → Network & internet → SIMs and tap the new eSIM.

Turn Use SIM on. Turn Mobile data on for this SIM — on many phones there is a single chooser on the SIMs screen that decides which line carries data, and it needs to point here. Leave Calls and SMS pointed at your original SIM so your usual number keeps working.

Then turn Roaming on for the eSIM, and accept the warning Android shows. This is not optional and it is not a trap. A travel eSIM connects through partner networks rather than a home network, so Android reports it as roaming; with the toggle off you get full signal and no data whatsoever. It costs nothing extra, because the plan is prepaid.

Immediately afterwards, open your original SIM's settings and turn its roaming off. That is the line that can generate a real bill.

APN settings

The Access Point Name tells the phone how to reach the network's data service. It usually configures itself. If the eSIM shows signal but nothing loads and roaming is definitely on, add it manually: Settings → Network & internet → SIMs → the eSIM → Access Point Names → +. Put the APN from your delivery page in both the Name and APN fields, leave everything else alone, save from the three-dot menu, then select the new entry so its radio button fills. Toggle airplane mode and try again.

When it will not connect

Work through these in order. Airplane mode on for thirty seconds, then off — this forces a fresh registration and resolves the majority of cases. Restart the phone. Confirm the eSIM line is on and is the data line. Confirm roaming is on for it.

If it still shows no service, go to the eSIM's settings, turn Automatically select network off, and choose the operator named on your delivery page from the list that appears. Give it thirty seconds. If it attaches, you can turn automatic selection back on.

Dropping or slow connections are often the network-type setting: under Preferred network type, choose an LTE or 5G option rather than one that includes 2G.

The rule that matters most

Never use Erase SIM or Delete to troubleshoot. An eSIM profile can be downloaded exactly once. Erasing it destroys it permanently — it cannot be reinstalled and it cannot be replaced. Every problem above is solvable with the profile still on the phone.

If none of this works, contact us with your order number, your phone model, and what the screen shows. We will get you connected.