Transferring eSIM profiles across Android devices could eventually get much easier

While eSIMs are a great way to free up physical space in the internals of a handset, there are certain disadvantages to it. For starters, if you factory reset your phone or get a new phone, you’ll have to set it up again. In some countries, this can be troublesome as you would need a new QR code which you can only get from your carrier.

The good news is that according to a tweet by Esper.io’s Mishaal Rahman, it has been spotted in the latest Android 13 beta that Google could soon allow Android users to transfer eSIM profiles from device to device.

You might soon be able to transfer an eSIM profile from an old Android phone to a new phone, or convert a profile on a physical SIM card into an eSIM profile. Support for transferring profiles is being implemented in Google's SIM Manager app the LPA on Pixel and many GMS devices.

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) January 9, 2023

What this means is that if you’re moving your SIM from one phone to another, maybe you got a new phone or want to move your number to a different phone, this feature should make the profile transfer a lot easier. That being said, as Rahman points out, there could be some limitations to this.

For example, it is unclear if all devices will support this feature, although he speculates that it should at least work between Pixel devices. He also notes that the carrier of the profile could be another limitation where they may or may not support eSIM activation. Either way, it sounds like a good feature to have so hopefully when it does roll out, we’ll start seeing more support for it.

Source: XDA Developers