eSIM installed but no service: what to check, in order

The eSIM installed fine, it shows in the list of lines, and the status bar says No Service, SOS, or just keeps searching. Almost always the line is installed but switched off, or the phone has not yet had its first chance to register on a network at the destination. Both are settings, not faults, and both take a minute.

This guide is about the phone not finding a network at all. If you have bars and a carrier name but nothing loads, that is a different problem: our guide on data roaming on but no internet covers it.

Go in this order.

1. Is the line actually switched on?

An eSIM can be installed and turned off at the same time, and a profile you added days before the trip is often left off on purpose.

• iPhone: Settings, then Mobile Data (Cellular on US English, Mobile Service on iOS 18 in some regions). Tap the travel eSIM and check Turn On This Line.
• Pixel and stock Android: Settings, Network and internet, SIMs. Select the travel eSIM and turn on Use this SIM.
• Samsung: Settings, Connections, SIM manager. Each SIM has its own switch next to it.

2. Have you actually arrived?

A travel eSIM is a roaming profile. It has nothing to register on until you are inside the coverage of one of the partner networks, so No Service at home before departure is normal and is not a sign that something failed.

This also answers a question people ask the other way round: the plan starts on the first connection to a network at the destination, not at purchase and not at installation. Installing a week early costs you nothing.

3. Airplane mode, fifteen seconds

At an airport the phone often clings to the last network it saw, or to nothing at all. Turn airplane mode on for fifteen seconds, then off, and give it half a minute to settle. This is the single fix that resolves the most cases.

If it still searches, restart the phone. Between those two you have covered most of what a support agent would try first.

4. Is network selection stuck on manual?

If someone once picked an operator by hand, the phone will keep hunting for that one operator and find nothing abroad.

• iPhone: Settings, Mobile Data, tap the travel eSIM, then Network Selection. Turn Automatic back on.
• Pixel: Settings, Network and internet, SIMs, select the line, then Network, and let it choose automatically.
• Samsung: Settings, Connections, Mobile networks, Network operators, and turn on Select automatically.

If automatic gives you nothing after a few minutes, do the opposite once: turn Automatic off, wait for the list to load, and pick one of the operators your plan uses. The plan page lists them.

5. Is it the data line, with roaming on?

Two settings that live per line, not per phone. Quickly:

• Set the travel eSIM as the line used for mobile data. On iPhone that is Settings, Mobile Data, then the Mobile Data row at the bottom. On Pixel it is SIMs, then Data under your primary SIMs. On Samsung it is SIM manager, then Primary SIM.
• Turn Data Roaming on for the travel eSIM, and off for your home line. A travel eSIM is roaming by definition, so without this it will never carry data.

Both are explained properly in the data roaming guide.

6. Is the phone locked to a carrier?

Here the honest answer is that it cannot work until the lock is removed. A carrier locked phone refuses any SIM or eSIM that is not the carrier's own, and no setting on the phone gets around it.

• iPhone: Settings, General, About, and look at Carrier Lock. It should say No SIM restrictions.
• Android: the wording varies. If a foreign SIM has never worked in the phone, assume it is locked and ask the operator that sold it.

Only the operator that locked it can unlock it, usually once the contract or the instalments are finished. It is worth checking before a trip, not during one.

7. The APN, last and only if everything else is right

Most travel eSIMs configure their own access point. If the line is on, roaming is on, it is the data line, the network is found, and there is still nothing, the APN may be missing. It lives under the line's settings on iPhone, and under Access point names on Pixel and Samsung (Settings, Connections, Mobile networks on Samsung).

What goes in it depends on the eSIM, so ask before guessing. A wrong APN breaks a connection that was about to work.

Still no service

Write to support with the phone model, the iOS or Android version, and a screenshot of the line's settings page. Two things worth saying in the message: whether the phone has ever used a foreign SIM, and whether the eSIM was installed before or after you landed.

Quick answers

The eSIM says No Service but I have not left yet. Is it broken?

No. A travel profile has no network to attach to until you are at the destination. Install it at home, then expect it to come alive after you land, or after the first airplane mode cycle once you are there.

Why does it work for a minute and then drop to SOS?

Usually the phone is bouncing between two lines. Turn off Allow Mobile Data Switching on iPhone, turn data roaming off on your home line, and if it persists, pin the network by hand from the operator list.

Do I need to delete and reinstall the eSIM?

Almost never, and it is the one step that can make things worse. With Wigoo a profile installs once, so deleting it does not give you a second attempt. Work through the list above first, and ask support before removing anything.