Is eSIM not working on your iPhone 13? Well, you have come to the right place. In this article, I’ll explain what to do if eSIM is not working on your iPhone 13 so you can fix the problem for good.
An eSIM is a digital SIM that allows you to activate a cellular plan from your carrier without having to use a physical nano-SIM. With iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13, and iPhone 13 mini, you can use Dual SIM with either two active eSIMs or a nano-SIM and an eSIM. But what if you can’t set up or use eSIM on your iPhone 13?
Learn to fix any issues you might encounter when using eSIM on your iPhone 13.
Note: information in this article applied to iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
How to fix eSIM not working on iPhone 13
1. Wait
If you’ve just activated eSIM on your iPhone 13 and you’re seeing “No Service” status in the control center, fret not! It may take a few hours before your eSIM is fully activated. Some carriers might take up to 4-5 hours to convert a physical SIM card into an eSIM. Usually, you’ll get an email or SMS when your eSIM is fully serviced by the carrier.
2. Have you tried rebooting?
If eSIM won’t activate on your iPhone 13 after waiting a few hours, try to restart your phone and see if that helps. As unexplainable as it may be, we find most iPhone 13 eSIM problems are fixed with a simple reboot. A plethora of possible discrepancies could cause your iPhone 13 eSIM problem, and chances are that if you are here looking for answers, your phone complication is a bit more complex, but it doesn’t hurt to remind you to try the good ol’ restart. It just might work.
- Press and hold on to the Side button and either of the volume buttons.
- Drag the power of slider from left to right to reboot your device.
3. Turn eSIM line On/Off:
If you’re getting No Service error on eSIM on your iPhone 13, it might be possible to fix the problem by simply turning On/Off the eSIM line.
- Go to Settings.
- Select Cellular.
- Tap the eSIM data plan.
- Turn Off the toggle switch for Turn On This Line, then wait for a few seconds before turning it back on.
4. Check your plan?
Some cellular plans have limitations and throttles. Look into your plan’s terms and see if you’ve used more data than you should. You might be capped or throttled. Also, consider the fact you may be late on your payment. Even the best of us forget about bills sometimes. Not to mention sometimes cards get declined for no apparent reason.
5. Outages and reception
Are you out in the middle of nature? Maybe you’re in a concrete building. Or you’re simply going through an area with spotty reception. There is always a chance you’re unreachable to the network, which will cause problems with your cellular connection.
Also, consider that, while rare, carrier networks can go down too, causing service outages. We like recommending DownDetector.com to check when services are down. The website collects consumer reports and lets you know if there is an outage. There’s also a live map to see if the problem is local. Go in there, type in your Carrier, and hit the search button. If the network is down, all you can do is wait.
6. Turn Airplane Mode On and Off
If you find eSIM not working on your iPhone 13 after trying the above steps, your next step is to turn Airplane Mode on and then off again. Doing this can reset the iPhone’s connection to cellular networks and may resolve the problem.
- Once your iPhone is unlocked, swipe down from the top right of the screen.
- In the upper-left corner tap the Airplane Mode icon that looks like a circle with a white airplane in the middle.
- Tap the Airplane Mode icon again to turn cellular connection back on. When Airplane Mode is on, this icon will turn orange. When it’s off, it will have a transparent background.
7. Check for carrier updates
If your wireless service provider, such as Verizon or Sprint, has released an update, your outdated phone may not be connecting properly, and this can appear to be an eSIM issue. Completing a manual carrier settings update may help.
- Go to Settings.
- Select General.
- Tap About.
- Your iPhone will automatically check for the update and a screen will appear after a few seconds if an update is available.
8. Check For An iOS Update
Apple often releases new iOS updates to fix minor bugs and roll out new features. It’s a good idea to keep your iPhone up to date anyway, but it can also fix iPhone 13 eSIM problem.
- Open Settings.
- Select General.
- Tap Software Update.
- Tap Download and Install if an iOS update is available. Move onto the next step if your iPhone is up to date.
9. Reset network settings
If you still can’t use the eSIM feature of your iPhone 13, it may mean some extraneous setting was changed along the way. It is likely related to the network, so resetting your network settings to factory defaults might fix the issue. All of your iPhone’s Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and VPN settings get restored to factory defaults when you Reset Network Settings.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap General.
- Select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Hit Reset.
- Tap on Reset Network settings.
10. Factory reset iPhone
If all else fails to fix iPhone 13 eSIM problem, go ahead and perform a factory reset. This will erase everything on your iPhone and bring all settings to factory defaults. This means your iPhone will be left like the first time you turned it on (software-wise).
This fixes pretty much any software issue you may encounter. It is the best solution to many problems, but it should be used as a last resort due to the inconveniences deleting all content entails.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap General.
- Select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
- Hit Erase all content and settings.
11. Re-install eSIM data plan:
If you can’t fix iPhone 13 eSIM problem after trying the above solutions, you may want to temporarily remove the data plan from your Dual SIM iPhone and then activate again by requesting a new QR Code for eSIM from your carrier.
12. Seek professional help
Now, If you still can’t set up or use eSIM on your iPhone 13, you probably need to have a professional personally inspect the device. When an eSIM issue occurs on your iPhone 13, Apple and your wireless carrier will often point the finger at each other. The truth is that there may be an issue with your iPhone or your account with your wireless carrier, and you won’t know until you get in touch with their customer support.
Check out Apple’s website to get support online, in-store, over the phone, or through live chat. You can find your carrier’s customer service center by typing their name and “customer support” into Google.
Fixed iPhone 13 eSIM not working problem
You’ve fixed the problem and your iPhone 13 eSIM is working again. Next time your iPhone 13 eSIM is not working, you’ll know exactly how to fix the problem. Leave a comment down below if you have any other questions.