There have been lots of advancements in smartphones, manufacturers have been trying effortlessly to ensure they satisfy as many customers as they can. One of these advancements can be seen in the SIM card technology with the introduction of the eSIM technology.
An eSIM is a digital SIM that allows you to activate a cellular plan from your carrier without having to use a physical nano-SIM. The eSIM comes with lots of added advantages as it lets you enable a more seamless device setup experience, without the need to insert or replace a physical SIM card
Several smartphones support the eSIM, including the iPhone 13 series. With iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13, and iPhone 13 mini, you can use Dual SIM with either two active eSIMs or a nano-SIM and an eSIM. iPhone 12 models, iPhone 11 models, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, feature Dual SIM with a nano-SIM and an eSIM.
You can use one number for business and another number for personal calls, add a local data plan when you travel outside of the country or region and have separate voice and data plans using Dual eSIM.
How to activate a cellular plan with eSIM on the iPhone 13
Right before you can activate the cellular plan with eSIM on your iPhone 13, you will need to ensure you meet up with these requirements:
- A wireless carrier that supports eSIM.
- To use two different carriers, your iPhone must be unlocked. Otherwise, both plans must be from the same carrier. If a CDMA carrier provides your first SIM, your second SIM won’t support CDMA.
Now, to enable eSIM on your iPhone 13, you need to:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap either Cellular or Mobile Data.
- Tap Add Cellular Plan.
- Tap Enter Details Manually, at the bottom of your iPhone screen.
As mentioned earlier, you may store multiple eSIMs in your iPhone, but you can only use one at a time. But if you have multiple eSIMs entered on your phone, you can easily switch between two or more eSIMs. For that:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap either Cellular or Mobile Data.
- And then tap the plan you want to use.
- Finally, tap Turn On This Line.
Label for easy identification
Once the second plan is activated, label your plans for easy identification. For instance, you may label one plan a Personal/Home and the other plan Business or any custom labels.
You’ll use these labels when you choose which phone number to use for making or receiving calls and messages, to designate a number for cellular data, and to assign a number to your contacts.
Labels are changeable and in the future, if you need to change the assigned labels, then you can go to Settings, tap either Cellular or Mobile Data, and then tap the number whose label you want to change. Then tap Cellular Plan Label and select a new label or enter a custom label.
Another thing you can do is to select a number to use as the default when you call or push a text message to anyone, not in your Contacts. With iOS 13 or later, you can also select which cellular plans you want to use for iMessage and FaceTime. Fortunately, iOS 13 and later OSes allow you to choose either or both numbers.
On this screen, choose a number to be your default, or you can choose which number is to be used only for cellular data. Your other number will be your default. Allow Cellular Data Switching option enables your iPhone 13 to use cellular data from both plans, depending on coverage and availability.
If you can’t set up an eSIM
- Make sure that carriers or carriers support eSIM.
- Open Control Center: Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen. Then make sure that your carrier appears in the status bar. If not, try turning Airplane Mode on and off.
- Go to Settings > General > About and look for any numbers under EID. If there are no numbers, contact Apple Support.
- If you still can’t set up your eSIM, contact your carrier.
You can install multiple eSIM profiles on an iPhone that supports eSIM. If your iPhone is unlocked, you can subscribe to several cellular plans. eSIM on iPhone is not offered in mainland China. In Hong Kong and Macao, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone SE (2nd and 3rd generation), and iPhone XS feature eSIM.
With iOS 13 and later, both of your phone numbers can make and receive voice and FaceTime calls and send and receive messages using iMessage, SMS, and MMS. Your iPhone can use one cellular data network at a time.
If you want to use 5G with Dual SIM on iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, or iPhone 12 Pro Max, make sure that you have iOS 14.5 or later.
