Can You Transfer an eSIM to a New Phone?
Two answers, and which one applies depends on which eSIM you mean. Your home carrier line will usually follow you to a new phone in a few taps. A travel eSIM normally won't: it was issued to one device, its activation code works once, and copying it across isn't something the phone can do on its own. Same goes for a factory reset, which quietly takes the profile with it on plenty of phones.
Two things get called “eSIM transfer”
Search the phrase and you'll get articles about moving your normal phone number to a new handset. That's a different job from moving a prepaid travel plan you bought for a fortnight in Portugal, and the two behave nothing alike.
| Your carrier line | A travel eSIM | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your long-term number and contract | A prepaid data plan for one trip |
| Who can move it | You, or your carrier | The provider, by issuing a new profile |
| Built-in transfer | Yes, on recent iPhone, Pixel and Samsung | No |
| If you wipe the phone first | Carrier reissues the line | Often gone, especially once data is used |
The rest of this page covers both, starting with the easy one.
Moving your carrier line between iPhones
Apple calls it eSIM Quick Transfer. On iOS 16 and later, with both iPhones nearby and unlocked and a carrier that supports it, the new phone offers to bring the line over during setup, or you can start it later from Settings › Cellular › Add eSIM › Transfer From Nearby iPhone. It runs over Bluetooth, there's no QR code, and the line stops working on the old phone once it lands on the new one.
Two conditions matter more than people expect. Your carrier has to support it, and not all of them do. And you need the old phone, still set up, in your hand. Once it's wiped, traded in or gone, the Bluetooth route is closed and you're back to asking the carrier to reissue the line.
And on Android
Newer Pixel and Samsung phones do the equivalent — Pixel during its transfer flow, Samsung through Smart Switch — again where the carrier has enabled it. Support is patchier than on iOS and depends on the model as well as the network, so if the option doesn't appear during setup, don't hunt for a hidden setting. Ask the carrier to send a fresh activation for the new phone.
Worth doing this before you hand the old phone over to anyone. A trade-in counter won't wait while you sort out a line that no longer has a device to live on.
Why a travel eSIM doesn't work that way
When you install a travel eSIM, the phone uses the activation code to pull a profile down from the provider's server onto that specific phone's eSIM chip. The code is single-use: after the download it generally stops working, which is why scanning the same QR a second time fails even on the same handset. There's no copy of the profile sitting in your iCloud or Google account for a new phone to pick up.
So “transferring” a travel eSIM really means the provider issuing a new profile for the new device and retiring the old one. Whether that's possible is a question for whoever sold you the plan, and the answer usually turns on one thing: has any data been used yet?
Each profile is tied to one device at a time and can only be activated once. If you switch phones before using any data, email [email protected] with your order number and we'll check whether the profile can be reissued to the new device. Once data has been used, the plan stays with that device and a new phone needs a new plan. It's worth asking early rather than after you land.
Does a factory reset delete an eSIM?
Often, yes — and this is how most people lose a travel plan they'd already paid for. Recent iPhones, Pixels and Samsung phones ask during the reset whether to keep the eSIMs or erase them, and the wording is easy to skim past when you're halfway through wiping a phone. Older software versions don't ask at all and take the profiles with them. A reset triggered from recovery mode with the hardware buttons, the route people reach for when a phone is misbehaving, can skip the question too.
If the phone is already misbehaving, the eSIM troubleshooting guide goes through the safe fixes in order — roaming toggle, data line, manual network selection — and none of them touch the profile.
A new phone before the trip: the order to do things in
This one's entirely avoidable. If a new phone is arriving before you fly, buy the eSIM whenever you like but install it last, on the phone you're actually travelling with. An activation code in your inbox is patient; an installed profile on a phone you're about to trade in is a problem.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Bought the plan, not installed yet | Nothing. Install on the new phone on Wi-Fi before you leave. |
| Installed, no data used, still have both phones | Ask support about reissuing to the new device before you wipe the old one. |
| Installed and already used data | Assume the plan stays with the old phone. Budget for a new one. |
| Old phone already wiped or traded in | Contact support with the order number, but expect to buy again. |
Lost, stolen or broken mid-trip
Worst case for this, because you need data to sort out data. If you're on a borrowed phone or a cheap replacement, get onto hotel or café Wi-Fi first, then deal with things in this order: your home carrier line, so codes and calls reach you again, and then the travel plan.
For the travel eSIM, write to support with your order number and say what happened. Nothing on the phone end can be salvaged, so the only question is whether the plan can be reissued — and if data has been used, it usually can't. The keep-your-number guide covers getting your own number working again on a replacement handset, which is normally the more urgent half.
One small habit that helps: keep the confirmation email with the activation details, not just a screenshot of the QR code buried in a photo library on the phone you might lose.
Travelling with two phones instead
If the real question is which phone to put the eSIM on, remember an iPhone 13 or later can run two eSIMs at once, so your home line and the travel plan sit side by side and you choose which one carries data. That's covered in the dual-SIM guide, and it means an old phone stays a perfectly good backup camera rather than needing a plan of its own. If you do want a spare or a laptop online, tethering beats buying a second eSIM.
Before you buy for a new phone, two quick checks: that the model supports eSIM in the compatible devices list, and that it isn't carrier-locked. Siima shows the plan cost, the service fee and payment processing as separate lines before you pay, and there's no app to install.