Install
Install on Android, whichever Android you have.
iPhone has one install flow because Apple ships one operating system. Android does not work like that. Google publishes the base, and then every manufacturer reskins the settings app, renames the SIM screens and buries them at a different depth. Then the names move again at the next OS update on the same handset. We are not going to pretend this away with a single generic path that is wrong for most readers.
So here is the rule that always works, before any specific path. Open Settings, tap the search box at the top, and type eSIM. If nothing comes back, try SIM manager. The search index in Android finds the right screen no matter what the manufacturer decided to call it this year. Every path below is just a shortcut to what that search returns.
Where the eSIM screen lives, by manufacturer
| Phone | Add an eSIM | Turn roaming on |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung, One UI | Settings, Connections, SIM manager, Add eSIM | SIM manager, the line, Mobile networks, Data roaming |
| Google Pixel | Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, then the plus | Network and internet, SIMs, the line, Roaming |
| Xiaomi, HyperOS | Settings, SIM cards and mobile networks, Add eSIM | SIM cards and mobile networks, the line, Data roaming |
| OnePlus and Oppo | Settings, Mobile network, Add eSIM or Add SIM | Mobile network, the line, Data roaming |
| Motorola | Settings, Network and internet, SIMs | Network and internet, SIMs, the line, Roaming |
Paths verified on One UI 6, Android 14 on Pixel, HyperOS 1, OxygenOS 14 and Motorola Android 14. On any other build, search Settings for eSIM.
The six steps
- Check the phone takes an eSIM. Dial the code your manufacturer uses, or open Settings and search for eSIM. If the search returns nothing, the handset has no eSIM chip and no software update will add one.
- Buy on wifi before you fly. The profile is issued to your account in seconds. If provisioning fails you are refunded automatically inside 60 seconds, without a ticket.
- Open the install link. On Android 13 and later most devices accept an install link, so tapping Install eSIM in the Orbislo app hands the profile to the system installer. On older builds, use the QR code from your order instead.
- Or add it by hand. Go to your manufacturer's eSIM screen from the table below, choose Add eSIM, then Enter activation code manually, and paste the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order.
- Choose which SIM carries mobile data. Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, then set Mobile data to the Orbislo line while leaving Calls and SMS on your home line. On Samsung this is SIM manager, Preferred SIM card.
- Turn on Roaming for the Orbislo line. Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, tap the Orbislo line, turn Roaming on. On Samsung it is SIM manager, the line, Mobile networks, Data roaming. This is the answer roughly 60 percent of the time when someone lands with no service.
13
Android version where install by link became normal
5
Distinct settings paths across the major skins
60%
Of no service reports are the roaming toggle
60 s
Automatic refund if provisioning fails
Roaming on, and why that is not a mistake
It looks like the wrong thing to do. You are in Bangkok, on a Thai network, and the phone wants permission to roam. The mechanism is simple once you see it. Your Orbislo profile is not a Thai consumer profile. It attaches to AIS or True under a wholesale agreement, and Android treats any attachment by a profile issued elsewhere as a roaming attachment. The classification is about the issuer, not about where you are standing.
Switching it on cannot cost you anything on the Orbislo line. The balance is prepaid and sits in your wallet, and no home carrier is involved to raise an invoice. The charge people are worried about lives on their home SIM, which is a separate line with a separate switch, and you should leave that one exactly where it is.
Two lines, and the switch that costs people money
Almost every eSIM capable Android runs two lines at once, so you keep your own number while Orbislo carries the data. Leave the home SIM installed, set it as the Calls and SMS line, and point Mobile data at Orbislo. Your bank code still arrives on your usual number, assuming your home carrier delivers texts abroad, and none of your browsing touches the expensive line.
Then find automatic data switching and turn it off. Samsung, Pixel and OnePlus all have a version of it under the SIM screens, sometimes called Auto switch data or Switch mobile data automatically. It exists so the phone can borrow the other line when the primary one is weak. At home that is useful. Abroad it is how a traveller ends up with a bill from their home carrier for eleven minutes of borrowed data in a metro tunnel.
The APN, the one place Android is worse than iPhone
We would rather say this than have you find it out at 1 am. On iPhone the access point name is never something you touch. On Android it usually is not either, because the value is carried in the profile, but on a minority of builds, mostly older Xiaomi handsets and some carrier locked devices, you have to type it in. The screen is Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, the Orbislo line, Access Point Names, then the plus. The value is printed in your order and shown in the app, and Ori will read it back to you with no connection at all.
Storage slots, which matter more on Android
An iPhone holds 8 or more stored profiles. Several popular Android handsets hold between 1 and 5, and a few older models simply overwrite the profile that is already there when you add another one. If your provider issues a new disposable eSIM for every trip, that limit arrives quickly and it arrives as a failed install in an airport. The Orbislo Passport is a single permanent profile that is updated over the air when you cross a border, so it takes one slot and keeps it. The full mechanism is on the Passport page.
Before you buy, it is worth checking which carriers we put you on where you are going, because that is what actually determines whether the phone attaches quickly on landing. That is on the coverage page, with the measured speed and the sample size next to each network rather than a green tick.