What is an eSIM?
An eSIM is a SIM card built into your phone: it does everything the little plastic one does, except it arrives as a download rather than in the post. Because it is already there, a new plan takes minutes instead of days.
It is already inside your phone, so there is nothing to order, nothing to fiddle into a tray, and nothing to drop on the floor. Switching phones is a download rather than a hunt for the little pin.
Phones that support it
No QR code to scan off another screen, no settings to type in. You tap install in the app, your phone adds the line, and that is the setup finished.
The Simp appNothing arrives in the post.
Simp is eSIM only. Not eSIM as an option, or eSIM if you ask for it. There is no plastic to send you, no envelope to wait in for, and no shop to go to.
- An envelope to wait in for
- A trip to the shop, or a click and collect
- A bit of plastic to lose down the back of the sofa
What happens when you buy one.
All of it on the phone you are already holding.
You pick a planOnline, in a couple of minutes. There is no stock to check and no shop to get to, because there is no object involved.
Your eSIM is issuedIt appears in the app straight away. This is the part that used to be a warehouse, an envelope and two working days.
You install itOne tap in the app. Your phone adds it as a line and asks you to name it, which is the whole of the setup.
It worksYour Simp number is live, and you have not taken anything out of your phone to get there.
The parts nobody mentions.
Two of them, and both are easier to hear now than to find out later.
Most phones from the last few years do, and plenty of older ones do not. It takes about ten seconds to check, and it is worth doing before you buy rather than after.
You cannot pop an eSIM out and push it into the next handset. You reinstall it from the app instead, which is quicker than finding the little pin, but it is a different habit.
Questions about eSIMs.
Is an eSIM as good as a normal SIM?
It is the same thing doing the same job. Same network, same signal, same calls and texts. The only difference is that it arrived as a download.
What if I lose my phone?
Nothing is stuck inside it. Your eSIM is reissued to your new phone from the app, which is more than can be said for a piece of plastic in a lost handset.
Does going eSIM mean a new number?
No. A number is not tied to the SIM it started on, so yours moves onto an eSIM the same way it would move onto a plastic one, with a transfer code (PAC) from your old provider.
How switching worksIs this the same as a travel eSIM?
No. A travel eSIM is a data-only one you buy per trip and throw away after. This is your actual plan, with your number on it, and roaming already included rather than bought again at the airport.
Travel eSIMs and roaming comparedCheck your phone first.
It takes about ten seconds, and there is a list of models if you would rather look yours up by name.
Does my phone support eSIM?
Unlimited UK data, calls and texts, an AI number of your own, and roaming included. No envelope, no waiting.
See the plans