Android now lets you transfer eSIMs between your phones

I don't understand how this wasn't more of a priority to begin with. If you're going to offer a digital solution for something it should at least be as convenient as the existing physical solution.
- Hah. To swap eSIM on O2 in the UK, you have to order a physical pack that gets posted to you with the QR code in. There is no way to get the code to appear on a screen you can scan with your camera, or in an app on the phone you can transfer to the phone's eSIM manager. It's so dumb.
  
  That's so dumb. When I moved over to Google Fi, I put the sim in, the phone ported the number, then I chucked the sim into the fucking trash. Whenever I get a new phone, I just need to sign in on wifi and Google does the rest.
  Granted -- I only use phones designed to work on Fi [Nexus/Pixels], but I prefer vanilla Android.
  Also I have a data only sim if I need it for anything. Right now I'm waiting on my Clockwork Pi to finally ship.
  
  That is very dumb with Verizon in the US you just type in the esim imei online and submit it and it auto downloads and activates the esim on your phone very easy.
- This is just an assumption, but I thought the whole point was to make it more difficult for people to switch carriers?
  
  Also because it's locking another aspect of the device behind software that you do not have control over, which gives carriers and phone manufacturers some new levers to exact control over how and what you do.
  Because evidently we haven't learned our lesson yet.
  Like when the SD card slots got taken away, and now not only are most phones storage non-expandable, you can't even use a proper file explorer on Android anymore.
- I mean, you can just not use it. It was a great option for me because I can just have one provider in the SIM slot (if I wanted) and keep my main one on the eSIM. It allowed me to swap to eSIM when my SIM card was acting up. I switched to eSIM over a year ago and honestly forgot I did and it's been really stable. I think it's a great option and works for me. I wasn't even thinking of needing to switch to another phone because I have no interest in swapping to another phone. I've had mine since 2020 and will keep using it until it is unfixable. But I also don't drop my phone or damage it otherwise.

Uh, I assumed that was a minimum viable product requirement.
- I've been avoiding eSIMs like a Boomer avoids anything tech because I don't understand them, and now I'm glad I did.
  SIM cards work fine; other than waste reduction, what's the point of eSIM?
  
  I still prefer a physical SIM for my main cell plan, but when travelling to other countries it is so amazing to be able to just download an eSIM and avoid roaming fees. Airalo is quite convenient, but I hear it’s getting pricey compared to other options.
  Plus with dual SIM I can disable roaming on my main SIM but still receive texts for free, but use data for cheap with the local eSIM at the same time.
  Disclaimer: I live in Canada which has some of the most expensive cell plans in the world. Roaming in the US is $13 CAD/day and $16 CAD/day in the rest of the world. That seems like blatant extortion to me, they can’t blame Canada’s large size for expensive roaming fees (right?). I think US plans are a lot better, and I assume European cell plans are generally even cheaper.
  Edit: I prefer physical SIMs for my main plan because if my main phone is dead or broken, I can just pop the physical SIM in an old phone that I bring while travelling. Until eSIMs can be somehow transferred like that, I don’t see myself using them for my main cell plan. Just remember to set a SIM PIN so that if someone steals your phone, they can’t use your SIM card to receive 2FA texts.
  Edit 2: eSIMs are generally a pain to transfer between phones. I think my cell provider lets you do it online by scanning a QR code, but I know some make you call them and read 16 digit codes over the phone. Some even charge a small fee. I dread the day where other cell phone manufacturers follow what Apple did in the US (I think?) and make eSIMs the only option.
  
  Well, on the other hand, do you just understand how simple cards work? I for sure don’t and I don’t see why I would need a chip from my provider to access it’s services, if I can get a digital key instead.
  
  I could see security being one but the only reason that I got one is lack of dual sim tray on my pixel
  
  My sim card was acting weird. I switched it to eSIM the moment I realized that was an option in my Mint app and it solved the issue. I wasn't planning on getting a new phone for a long time at least not until my current one becomes unusable and can easily get a new SIM card sent if needed. But it's just a nice option. I haven't had any 'no sim' errors since.

Okay, now do it when the phone is broken.
- The hard way I see.

- When I traveled across the world last year it took me 5 minutes to sign up for a temporary cell plan in the country I was visiting, then install the eSIM from my phone’s web browser. I didn’t have to plan ahead and wait for them to mail me a SIM card so I could juggle around SIMs while abroad. I much prefer that over a physical SIM card.
  
  I just bought up a few prepaids and popped them into my phone when I wanted to use them. Also we shared them between people. Not sure how sharing works on eSIMs
- Maybe in somewhere free like the EU or SEA. In the US, most phones bought from a carrier (and most sales are that way, some exclusively so) are locked so that no other SIM (e or physical) can be used.
  
  That's your problem as a consumer accepting that. This thread makes me depressed, with the amount of people happy to allow shitty US consumer hostile practices to become more common globally.
- Maybe it's just bad luck, but the last time I tried to swap a physical SIM, I inserted the removal tool in the hole, and then the mechanism somehow broke. So I cannot swap my SIM from my current phone to any other phone, unless I have eSim. Unfortunately, my current phone does not have eSim.
- It's just to give more control to the carriers. They say it's a feature for travel but realistically how many people and how many countries does that actually apply to? Some places require ID to buy a SIM card, many places don't even offer plans travelers would want to use (who wants to pay $80 for 1 month of unlimited data instead of $5 for 1GB for a week?), and there's also the question of how many travelers are there vs locals? Are the travelers the majority of users? The majority of profit? Why don't the travelers' local phone companies have travel plans to gouge the travelers themselves?
  Anyway all this is to say this is just carrier lock in, it's the return of CDMA.

How do these eSIMs work from a user's perspective? I've only ever had phones with physical sim slots
- Effectively, imagine there's a SIM card soldered to the motherboard of the phone, you can then download an eSIM to it and the phone behaves as if it's a physical SIM.
  In reality it's generally built into the modem and I believe they can typically hold multiple eSIMs. What I'm not clear on is if inactive eSIMs actually live in the hardware eSIM or if they get swapped in by the OS
  
  Depends on the phone. The newest ones let you use multiple ones simultaneously, one for calls/texts and one for data, for example. Slightly older ones only let you use one at a time, but they let you activate and deactivate multiple downloaded eSIMs.
- on T-Mobile USA: I preordered my iPhone 15; the QR eSIM and automated SIM transfer system was completely down and I had to spend 30 minutes to an hour on the phone with customer service to swap over my physical SIM to an eSIM I could type (IIRC) into my new phone.
  
  How frustrating
- Yeah same, I want to know how you move phones if one breaks, or any number of similar situations where you can't run an app or access another device
  
  Its a shitty replacement. If I couldnswap phones like a sim card i wouldn't care. But they charge for a phone swap no thanks.
  
  That's my big concern as well.
  
  You call support and have them issue a new one.
- Exactly the same as a normal one. It just works and you don't really need to do anything with it. Everything seems the same just no little card in the side of your device.
  
  Until this article I thought you could swap eSIMs between phones, exactly like normal ones
  
  What if I need to change the SIM?
- @AdmiralShat @FragmentedChicken phones that support esims have actual sim chips inside, and esims basically flash the carrier data onto that chip.
- The same way Verizon phones used to work: less well.
  
  Exactly back to phones working on only one carrier. I know not yet but give it awhile.
- They're functionally the same as normal SIM, instead it is stored in a secure location of the storage (which can survive factory reset). In a way, it makes it a bit more secure as a thief can't just yank out the SIM card to avoid being tracked (although it doesn't defeat a faraday bag) or take it out to use it in another phone.
  
  The major function of a normal SIM is the ability to take it out of one device and put it into another one, effectively disconnecting my identity towards the network provider, from the handset. With eSIM, that doesn't exist, and if my phone breaks, it's unclear what happens.
  To me, that's not secure, that's unsafe and insecure.
- Generally you go to some site your carrier has, enter the IMEI or some number from your phone's settings, then scan a QR code. It's not bad... depending on your carrier.
  
  And pay a fee.
- When I got my Pixel 8 Pro it asked me if I want to convert the physical SIM from my Xiaomi 9 SE (and disable the old SIM). I didn't have to take off the case and move the SIM, so I liked it.
- With Google Fi
  
  Yep, same here. Wouldn't want to use eSIMs at all if they were any more hassle than this. But their process to me is good enough to outweigh the physical SIM swapping process.

This thread made me wonder how often y'all change phones. It sounds like four times a day.
- No. Once every few years. However, the gap in service is absolute disaster in modern society. Without a phone, you can't use public transport, can't pay for parking, can't get a taxi/uber/competitor, etc. etc.
  Any "progress" that makes the turnaround time longer when your phone breaks is a horrible and unacceptable downside.
- For me it's about every 1 to 2 years, but I'm an app developer part-time so I use it to make money which justifies the high cost of ownership. I keep the trail of older phones for testing on different models.
  For my wife, it's more like 4 years, and we prefer to get last year's model especially with today's update commitments.

*Google

Nice. That is always the most tedious and annoying part of switching phones every single time for me.

but some carriers don't

I tried to transfer my eSIM from my old S21 to my new S24 the other day. It failed miserably. My carrier charges me $10 for a new eSIM (which i think is way too much for a digital service). Transferring eSIMs sounds like a good idea if it works, but might not be endorsed by carriers that earn large profits from the service.
- The $10 is so ridiculous not because it costs them virtually nothing as a digital service, but because they charge you for access to something you're already paying them for.
  
  I agree. Because of this, I actually changed carrier to one that was cheaper, had better coverage and free eSIM.

I had a physical sim stuck in a phone whose screen broke (but could use screen mirroring to operate). I tried to convert the sim to an eSIM. No dice.
Called my carrier and asked if they could convert it to an eSIM. Nada.
I ended up just going to my local brick and mortar and got a new physical SIM altogether.
I don't trust eSIMs.

Looking for a new, non-shot phone. Can anyone ID the one on the left?
- It's the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Apart from the flat bezels, you can see that the other phone reads "Transfer SIM to Galaxy S24 Ultra"
  
  Thank you, good detective work
- With the edges and the s pen I would guess it's the S23 Ultra maybe the Ultra the year before.
  
  Brilliant, thank you