topic Re: E-Sim Swap is a nightmare in SIM cards & Porting

E-Sim Swap is a nightmare

1PaulJ — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:56:13 GMT

Hey All,

Just coming on to air my frustration and hopefully get some help from people in the same boat.

I joined EE 3 days ago from Vodafone and was assured swapping e-sims between devices was simple....it's not. Long story short I need to swap to new phones very often for my job, iPhone to android and android to android etc. The app so far fails to let me download a new qr code, it fails to confirm my identity & then will just fail to download the e-sim at all.

On Vodafone you deleted the e-sim from settings and automatically had a new qr. Does anyone have experience of being able to simply swap e-sims between phones? It's not what I was promised would happen & if it's not a simple process ill cancel within my 14 days cooling off period.

P.S setting up watch data for my Apple Watch was equally a nightmare, 40 minutes on the phone for me to be told "I don't know why it's not working, erase your watch and delete your watch app" Not sure that's the solution to a very simple problem,

Re: E-Sim Swap is a nightmare

bristolian — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 22:03:50 GMT

@1PaulJ wrote:
Long story short I need to swap to new phones very often for my job, iPhone to android and android to android etc.

Out of interest, is there any specific reason you need or want an eSIM? This scenario would be so much easier with a physical SIM.

The only risk would be physical damage to the SIM with constant swapping, but that's easily solved with a replacement.

Re: E-Sim Swap is a nightmare

Matt_124 — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 22:55:15 GMT

Download the EE App on the device that you want to switch the eSIM to, then perform a replacement through the EE App following the below:

First ensure you have NOT deleted the eSIM from your current device as you will need to receive a verification code.

EE App on new device > Profile (top right) > Settings and permissions > Manage settings > Replace my SIM/eSIM > Select number you want to transfer > Select "eSIM - Instant transfer"

You will then receive a verification code to the eSIM in your 'old' device, and once entering and confirming this you should be able to download a replacement eSIM to that device.

Once you confirm the SIM is activated and working on the 'new' device, you can then safely delete the (now deactivated) eSIM profile from the 'old' device.

Re: E-Sim Swap is a nightmare

RobTheDataHog — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 23:07:53 GMT

The specific reason would be that not all devices support physical SIMs.

Re: E-Sim Swap is a nightmare

bristolian — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 23:15:59 GMT

In the UK, to the best of my knowledge only the iPhone Air lacks physical SIM support.

Re: E-Sim Swap is a nightmare

Chris_B — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 08:40:41 GMT

@RobTheDataHog You mean just 1 device in the last 4 years is eSIM only the first being the 2020 moto razr in the UK. What you import to the UK to use is a you issue not an EE problem to help resolve when you can’t just swap over eSIMs.

Re: E-Sim Swap is a nightmare

RobTheDataHog — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 09:27:15 GMT

Ok, Chris, I suppose it doesn't matter, then, that people find eSIM swapping difficult. We should use physical SIMs.