Before buying any travel eSIM, one question has to be answered: does your phone actually support it? Most phones released since 2019 do. Here are three ways to find out, fastest first.
The ten-second check that works on any phone
Open your dialler and type *#06#. You do not need to press call. If the panel that appears includes a line labelled EID, a 32-digit number, your phone has eSIM hardware. No EID means no eSIM.
This is the check to trust. Manufacturers sell the same model in different versions depending on the country, so a model name alone is never proof either way. The EID is.
Find your brand
Each page below has the full model list for that brand, where the cut-off falls, the exact settings path for that phone, and the regional catches that catch people out.
- Apple iPhone, every model from the XR and XS onwards
- Samsung Galaxy, S20 onwards, every Z Fold and Z Flip
- Google Pixel, Pixel 3 and newer, including the a-series
- OnePlus, the 11, 12, 13 and Open
- Xiaomi, recent flagships, rarely Redmi or POCO
- Motorola, the Razr line and the Edge 40 and 50 series
- Sony Xperia, mark three and above, across the 1, 5 and 10 lines
- OPPO, the Find X flagships and Find N foldables
- HONOR, the Magic flagships and Magic V foldables
- Huawei, a narrow set of flagships, plus one extra thing to check
A brand that is not listed
We have written a page for the brands we can answer for with confidence. If yours is not among them, which covers Nothing, Fairphone, realme, vivo, Nokia, TECNO, Infinix and others, the dialler check above still gives you a definitive answer in ten seconds. It does not depend on us knowing your model.
The third way: look in your settings
Every phone that supports eSIM has an option to add one, though the wording and the path differ by brand. On an iPhone it is under Settings → Cellular. On most Android phones it is under Settings → Network & internet → SIMs, or a similarly named screen. If there is an option to add or download a SIM, your phone supports eSIM. The brand pages above give the exact path for each.
Two things that are not compatibility problems
An older phone that supports eSIM is still fine. A 2019 handset with an EID works exactly like a 2026 one for a travel plan. There is no minimum specification beyond the chip being present.
A carrier lock is a separate issue. A locked phone can have eSIM hardware and still refuse to install a plan from anyone but the operator that sold it. On an iPhone, check Settings → General → About → Carrier Lock. It should read "No SIM restrictions". Unlocking is done by your operator and can take a few days, so it is worth checking ahead of a trip rather than at the airport.
If your phone does not support eSIM
No update can add it, because the eSIM chip is hardware. The practical options are a local physical SIM bought on arrival, your own operator's roaming package, or carrying an older eSIM-capable phone as a second device. If you are replacing the phone anyway, every current flagship and most current mid-range models have eSIM built in.