Get your eSIM working on iPhone
Installing the eSIM is only half the job — the iPhone also has to be told to use it. These three settings are what almost every “my eSIM doesn't work” turns out to be. It takes about a minute.
First: is it already installed?
Go to Settings → Cellular and look under SIMs. If you see a second line that is not your usual carrier, it is already installed — don't scan the QR again. iOS asks you to name the line when you install it, so it may be called Business, Travel, Personal, or the operator's name (Orange, Simlessly…). In the screenshots below it is called Negocios.
If you try to install it a second time the iPhone says “Unable to activate eSIM”. That does not mean the eSIM is broken — it means the code was already used, because it is already on your phone.
1 Use the eSIM for data
Settings → Cellular → tap Cellular Data (the row near the top, separate from the list of SIMs) and choose your travel eSIM.
2 Turn off automatic switching
On the same screen, pick the eSIM (it gets a blue tick) and turn Allow Cellular Data Switching off — otherwise the iPhone can quietly send your data back through your home line, which is the expensive one.
3 Turn ON data roaming — on the eSIM line
Go back, tap the eSIM line itself, and switch Data Roaming on. This is the one that catches everybody.
Wait — won't roaming cost me a fortune?
No, and this is worth being precise about, because turning it off is the natural thing to do. There are two separate roaming switches, one per line.
Your travel eSIM: roaming ON. It costs nothing extra. A travel eSIM is a roaming profile by design — roaming is how it works. The plan is prepaid, so there is no bill to run up: when the data is gone it simply stops. With roaming off, the eSIM connects to nothing.
Your home line: roaming OFF. That is the one your own carrier charges for.
Turning roaming off on both lines is the mistake — it is the safe-looking move that leaves you with no internet.
Then check it works
Turn airplane mode on for ten seconds and off again, then open a website with Wi-Fi off. If it still doesn't load, restart the iPhone — that alone fixes most of what's left.
Keep your usual SIM in the phone
Leave your normal line active (just with data roaming off) so calls, SMS and the codes from your bank and WhatsApp still arrive. The travel eSIM is data-only and has no phone number.
Still not working?
Write to us with your order reference, your iPhone model, and a screenshot of Settings → Cellular. Those three things usually mean one reply instead of five.
fpolliop@gmail.com