What is an eSIM?
It’s the same thing as a SIM card — minus the card. A chip already soldered into your phone, which you activate by scanning a QR code, from your couch, the night before you leave.
eSIM stands for embedded SIM: a miniature chip already built into your phone’s motherboard, impossible to remove. Instead of inserting a piece of plastic, you download a carrier profile onto it — a small secure file that holds your line.
In practice: you buy a data plan for Japan from Paris, scan the QR code that arrives by email, and your phone carries two lines at once — your home number for calls and texts, the Japan line for data.
Ordered, delivered, inserted with a paperclip. Only one at a time, and your carrier’s card has to come out first.
Delivered by email in under a minute, activated with a single scan, whenever you like. Up to eight profiles stored.
Agora reserves a data line with the local carrier.
An encrypted file holding your network credentials, encoded into a QR code.
Scanning installs the profile onto the soldered chip — about thirty seconds over Wi-Fi.
The moment you land, the nearest tower recognizes the line and data starts on its own.
The fastest test: dial *#06#. If an EID number shows up, eSIM is available.
XS, XR, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and SE (2nd generation onward). US iPhones since the 14 don’t even have a SIM tray anymore.
S20 through S25 series, Z Fold and Z Flip, Note 20. Watch out for units sold in China and Hong Kong — often without eSIM.
Pixel 3 onward, Xiaomi 12 onward, Oppo Find X3, Honor Magic 4 — over 320 models verified in our database.
Cellular, then “Add eSIM.” Your phone turns on the camera.
The one you received by email after checkout. Display it on another screen or print it out.
“Japan”, for example — so you can tell it apart from your main line in the list.
Data on the new line, calls and texts on your own. Turn on data roaming.
Install the eSIM before you leave, over Wi-Fi — downloading the profile needs an internet connection. The plan itself only starts on first connection to the local network, so you don’t lose a single day of validity.
No line at the counter, no passport photocopy, no clerk explaining a plan in a language you don’t speak.
Your bank’s texts still land. Data runs on the local line, calls on your own — you choose per line.
The plan is prepaid. When the data runs out, the connection just stops — it doesn’t start costing nine euros a megabyte.
A three-stop tour of Asia: three profiles installed ahead of time, switched from one to another in settings.
Based on 10GB of data. Outside the EU, your home carrier bills roaming by the megabyte, and the total climbs fast. Daily passes are easier to read, but you pay for every day — even the one you don’t leave the hotel.
180+ destinations, ready in under a minute.