I found this page on the web explaining the process of doing an eSIM swap between phones...
Step 1: Check Compatibility
Before transferring, ensure that your old and new phones support eSIM functionality. Most modern smartphones offer eSIM support, but it's always a good idea to double-check.
Step 2: Back-Up Data
Back up all your essential data on the old phone to prevent data loss during the transfer. This includes contacts, photos, messages, and any other essential information.
Step 3: Deactivate eSIM on Old Phone
Open the settings on your old phone and navigate to the eSIM section. Select the option to deactivate the eSIM. This will release the eSIM from your old device and make it available for transfer.
Step 4: Obtain QR Code or Activation Details
Contact your new carrier or service provider to obtain a QR code or activation details for the eSIM transfer. This code contains the necessary information to activate the eSIM on your new device.
Step 5: Activate eSIM on New Phone
Access the eSIM settings on your new phone and choose the 'Add new eSIM' option. Use the QR code or activation details provided by your carrier to activate the eSIM on the new device.
Step 6: Test and Confirm
After the eSIM activation, test the connectivity to ensure that calls, messages, and data services function correctly on the new device. This step is crucial to confirm the successful transfer.
[ Source: https://esimcard.com/blog/transfer-esim ... o-another/ ]
That seems a good explanation but I have a few questions...
1 - Is it accurate for all providers or do some providers (Vodafone, EE or maybe specific MVNOs such as GiffGaff or Lyca Mobile) have different procedures?
2 - It says de-activate eSIM on old phone first (step 3) then contact your carrier to get QR code or activation details after that (step 4). The web page I linked has an FAQ further down the page that addresses the how-long-will-it-take? question with the answer - "The eSIM transfer process is typically quick and can be completed within a few minutes, provided you have all the necessary information". I'm having a bit of trouble reconciling the step-by-step instructions with the "a few minutes" time taken but I do note the "provided you have all the necessary information" bit in the FAQ answer so...
2.1 - Is it possible to do step 4 before step 3 i.e. get an activation code before de-activating the old device where presumably the activation code wouldn't work unless you first de-activate your eSIM on the old phone before attempting to use it. That would be one way to have all the info beforehand to give a very small window of time between de-activating the eSIM on the old phone and being up and running on the new one.
2.2 - If 2.1 doesn't work and a provider won't issue an activation code until it sees that the eSIM is not active on any other device - i.e. that it has already been deactivated on the old phone - then does pretty much everyone process the issuing of new activation codes using online systems with no humans in the loop so that once the old phone is de-activated the new code will take a matter of seconds or a minute to get (presumably by logging into your provider account and pressing a get-eSIM-activation-code button somewhere on the web site) thus satisfying that "a few minutes" FAQ answer?
And finally, if anyone does have any general observations based on their personal experiences of doing an eSIM swap from an old phone to a new one (keeping the same provider, contract and phone number) I would be very interested to hear those observations.
I'm just a little nervous because over the past year or three I've been keeping half an eye on the eSIM world and have seen a few anecdotal reports of the process not being as smooth as this web page implies hence this post. (Maybe those negative experiences I have seen have were early teething troubles with eSIMs or all down to user misunderstanding or outlier cases where a service provider's eSIM management system had some sort of temporary glitch.)
- Julian