topic Re: Re: Activating iPhone with eSIM abroad in Apple Devices

Re: Activating iPhone with eSIM abroad

Nickynackynoo — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 06:09:03 GMT

Hi ,

New Iphones in UAE are going to be sim only so i need to convert my Physical EE SIM to ESIM.
I work in UAE and dont want to wait for my return to UK to activate.
The help articles are very unclear and talk about activating via the app which works over here.

Has anybody tried activating a EE ESIM overseas ?

Re: Re: Activating iPhone with eSIM abroad

Chris_B — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 07:13:34 GMT

@Nickynackynoo Your can’t do it abroad.

Re: Re: Activating iPhone with eSIM abroad

Michael_D — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 07:39:56 GMT

Hi @Nickynackynoo

Welcome to the community.

There is a chance that it may work when you try to activate the eSIM abroad, but it is not something that can be guaranteed as you are not using the EE network. Therefore it is not recommended to try, as if it doesn't connect correctly, it would leave you without service on that number until you are back in the UK.

It would be best to wait until the phone is back in the UK to activate an eSIM on the new phone.

Michael

Re: Re: Activating iPhone with eSIM abroad

Nickynackynoo — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 11:16:06 GMT

Hi All,

Thanks everybody for the feedback.
After further consideration, I am going to install the EE physical sim into a spare phone until I return to UK but would have been so much easier if I could have just scanned a QR code and it worked from overseas.

Any idea why it needs to be activated on UK network. Is it a security issue? Do physical SIMs have to be activated on a UK network as well ?

Best Regards

Niick

Re: Re: Activating iPhone with eSIM abroad

bristolian — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 11:52:56 GMT

@Nickynackynoo wrote:
Do physical SIMs have to be activated on a UK network as well ?

Ideally, and to eliminate risk of losing service, yes.

Being abroad means you're using a roaming network and thus need two levels of authentication before you have network coverage. It can sometimes work, but comes with no guarantees.

Re: Re: Activating iPhone with eSIM abroad

Nickynackynoo — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 02:18:41 GMT

Thanks for taking time to respond