How to install an eSIM
It takes under a minute and you only need Wi-Fi. The one thing worth knowing up front: install before you travel, but do not expect it to connect until you arrive.
First, check the phone can take one
Dial *#06# on the keypad. If an EID number appears alongside the IMEI, your phone has eSIM hardware. On an iPhone you can also look under Settings › General › About. The second requirement catches more people than the first: the phone must not be locked to a carrier. A locked handset refuses any profile that is not its own operator’s, however new it is, and the operator that sold it has to unlock it — usually free once the device is paid off.
Install at home, on Wi-Fi
Do this before you leave. Installing a profile needs an internet connection, and the moment you want it working is the moment you have none — standing in an arrivals hall with no signal is the wrong time to discover a problem. Installing early costs you nothing: the plan’s validity does not start when you install it, it starts when the eSIM first connects to a network at your destination.
On iPhone
Open Settings › Cellular (or Mobile Service, depending on your region and iOS version), tap Add eSIM, then Use QR Code, and point the camera at the code we sent you. Give the new line a name you will recognise — "SimWay Japan" beats "Secondary". When iOS asks which line to use for what, keep your usual SIM as the default for calls and messages, and set the new eSIM line for mobile data. If the code will not scan, tap Enter Details Manually and paste the activation details from your order.
On Android
The wording varies a little by manufacturer, but the path is the same: Settings › Network & internet › SIMs, then the + button or "Download a SIM instead", and scan the code. On Samsung it is Settings › Connections › SIM manager › Add eSIM. Once it is installed, open the SIM settings and set mobile data to the new eSIM line while leaving calls and SMS on your normal SIM.
When you land
Turn the eSIM line on, and turn data roaming on for that line specifically. That sounds contradictory on a plan sold to avoid roaming charges, but it is just how phones label a network that is not your home one — the eSIM is a foreign profile to your handset, and without that switch it will not attach. Leave your own SIM’s data switched off so nothing slips onto real roaming rates. Give it a minute to find a network; the validity period starts from that first connection.
If it does not work
Two causes cover almost everything. Either data roaming is off for the eSIM line, or the phone is carrier-locked and quietly refused the profile. Restart the phone first — it resolves a surprising share of cases. If it still will not connect, check that the eSIM line is selected for mobile data rather than just installed, and try selecting a network manually in the settings for that line. If none of that helps, send us your order ID and we will either get it working or refund it.