Apple eSIM compatibility

Where the eSIM screen lives on Apple

Two screens do all the work. The first one adds the profile. On Apple it is Settings, Cellular, Add eSIM. The sheet that opens is Apple's own, and it is called Add Cellular Plan.

The second one shows the device identifier, which is the only proof that a handset really takes an eSIM. On Apple it is Settings, General, About, where the EID sits under the IMEI. No EID means no eSIM, whatever a compatibility list says.

Storage, active lines, and the difference people miss

Two numbers get mixed up constantly. Storage is how many profiles the device keeps. Active is how many of them run at the same time. Storage is the one that fails, because it fills quietly and then refuses an install at an airport.

The Apple models below hold between 5 and 8 stored profiles. The Orbislo Passport is one permanent profile, updated over the air for the next country, so it takes one slot and keeps it.

21 of the 21 Apple models below keep 2 profiles active at the same time. That is what lets you hold your own number for calls and texts while Orbislo carries the data.

• Home SIM: calls and texts, so bank codes still arrive on your usual number.
• Orbislo line: mobile data, with roaming switched on.
• Automatic data switching: off, or the phone borrows the expensive line in a tunnel.

Carrier locks and market variants

A carrier lock is the one thing that stops an eSIM ready Apple from taking a travel profile. The hardware is there, and the operator that sold the handset has switched the feature off.

Ask that operator to unlock it, which is usually free once the contract is paid, then restart and try again. If the eSIM screen is missing from Settings altogether, the unit shipped without the feature and unlocking will not bring it back.

We recorded a market or carrier caveat on 4 of the 21 models below: iPhone Air, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14, iPhone XR. Each one is written out on its own model page rather than hidden in a footnote.

The install that fails on Apple, and the fix

One toggle accounts for about 60 percent of the no service reports we see. An Orbislo profile is issued outside the country you are standing in, so the phone treats every attachment as roaming. Leave it off and the phone finds a network and then refuses to use it.

If the profile will not download at all, the order refunds automatically inside 60 seconds, with no ticket. Install again from the same order, because the profile is reissued to your account rather than lost.

On Apple the sequence is Settings, Cellular, tap the Orbislo line, turn on Data Roaming. Then Settings, Cellular, Cellular Data, choose Orbislo, and turn off Allow Cellular Data Switching.

• No service on the Orbislo line: roaming is off on that line.
• Connected but nothing loads: mobile data still points at your home line.
• Works, then stops after an hour: automatic data switching moved you back.
• Still searching: airplane mode on for 20 seconds, off, then restart.

Watches, tablets and the rest of the Apple line

Tethering is included on every Orbislo plan at no extra charge, so one profile on the phone can carry a laptop, a tablet and a watch behind it. We have not tested a single Apple watch, so this page does not claim one works.

2 of the devices below are tablets, and a tablet is a different answer from a phone. It takes the same profile and the same plan, but nobody rings a tablet, so there is no second number to keep alive. Install the travel profile as the only line.

What the plan does, whichever Apple you carry

The device decides whether the profile installs. It does not decide what the plan does. Data never expires, tethering is included, and every account carries 100 MB of free rescue data a month in 200 countries.

Coverage is 145 destinations, built from 75,333 traveller samples across 157 partner networks. 66 of those destinations are 4G only on the networks we buy from, so a 5G handset shows LTE there. That is the network, not your phone.

Where we lose

We lose on raw destination count. Airalo's global plan reaches 169 destinations and ours reaches 145. If you are going somewhere we do not cover, buy from them. We would rather write that here than have you find out in an arrivals hall.

Apple eSIM questions