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> the eSIM is "stuck" in your phone if it physically breaks Wait, does this happen?

• heavenlyblue 4y ago
  That's overly dramatic, of course you can re-create it on the other phone. But what's true is that you can't physically transfer it.
  • lxgr 4y ago
    I wasn't trying to be dramatic here: Without deleting an eSIM profile from a device, all implementations I know indeed disallow reinstalling the profile on another device. (The eSIM standard effectively enforces the singleton nature of an instantiated eSIM profile.) But of course most providers can re-issue eSIMs if required, just like they can mail a physical SIM replacement. But in many cases, they either charge for it, require more or less involved bureaucratic acrobatics (including sending the QR code via physical mail as proof-of-address, because they've been burned badly by eSIM swapping), or both. So the assumption that an eSIM activation (QR) code is more or less like a bearer token that you can keep in your password safe and use whenever required often does not hold true, especially when needed most (traveling internationally etc). Fortunately, my provider is pretty good about it (I can instantly self-serve reissue an eSIM in their portal free of charge), but that seems to be the exception, and I also don't know how I feel about that, security-wise. (They don't offer 2FA, as far as I know.)
• jaclaz 4y ago
  More common case. Your phone breaks (broken screen, swollen battery, whatever). With a physical SIM you can physically extract the SIM and insert it in another (spare) phone (and you can even borrow one for a few minutes). To transfer an e-SIM you need to authorize the transfer on the old phone (the one that doesn't work): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32138466 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32138466