It’s exciting to consider the possibility of using a SIM-less phone, and eSIM makes it possible. The functionality might still require some improvement, despite being relatively new. To move your eSIM from one phone to another on Android, you must deactivate and reactivate the profile on the new phone. Although it appears effortless, you must inform your carrier of your plans before proceeding. With the upcoming Android version, this might alter. android esim transfer

Google started dispersing Android 13 QPR2 Beta 2, giving Pixel enthusiasts a preview of what to expect in the March Feature Drop. This newest version has code that suggests significant quality-of-life enhancements for Android’s eSIM experience, along with 31 new emoji and a feature that allows you force-theme icons on your home screen.

You may soon be able to effortlessly move a current eSIM to a new smartphone or a brand-new installation of Android, according to Mishaal Rahman of Esper. Google appears to be working on a way for transforming the data on physical SIM cards into eSIMs, which would make the feature much more accessible.

Future Android versions may simply allow you to smoothly download your eSIM profile to a new phone based on a feature that Rahman discovered. The new Android 13 QPR2 Beta 2 has a new system feature named “euicc.seamless transfer enabled in non qs,” and it is obvious what this means, according to Rahman.

As I mentioned before, there’s an in-development partial screen sharing feature. You’ll be able to launch an “app selector” interface from the “Start Recording” dialog that’ll look like this.

(H/T @Nail_Sadykov) pic.twitter.com/XMPiKN9OCJ

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) January 9, 2023

Rahman has added more clarification, saying that Google will add this feature to the SIM Manager software on Pixel phones and other devices that come pre-loaded with Google Mobile Services. It is important to note, however, that we are aware of which devices will support this at the time of writing and which won’t. Many contemporary phones do run Google Mobile Service and support eSIM, however it will take some time before this capability is completely accessible. android esim transfer

In order to use an eSIM, you must install data onto a secure module within your phone that holds the same data as traditional SIMs. Without having to physically insert a card, this gives your smartphone the cryptographic keys it needs to connect to the network of your mobile service provider. Your carrier gives you a QR code to scan during setup in order to complete this process safely. At the moment, if you ever change phones or factory reset your device, you must first de-register the eSIM before re-registering it using a QR code provided by your carrier.

It’s not ideal to have to wait on hold with your carrier to set up an eSIM or migrate from a physical SIM card to an eSIM. The conversion of physical SIM cards or the migration of eSIMs from older phones was recently made easier for iPhone customers by Apple in iOS 16, and it appears Google is following suit with the code we’re seeing.

Rahman points out that the eSIM specification does not include a native feature for transferring eSIMs between devices. This suggests that Google might not be able to make this feature available to all Android devices through AOSP and would have to restrict things to Pixel phones only. Converting physical SIM profiles to eSIM would probably depend on carrier support, and transferring eSIMs could only be possible when switching from one Pixel to another or when factory resetting the same device.

To get a head start, you can actually activate an eSIM on any significant US carrier running Android right now. The process of calling your carrier and scanning a QR code isn’t as frictionless as it will eventually be thanks to this new functionality, but it’s still preferable to remembering where you put the little SIM card extraction tool.

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