Setting up eSim

What phone do you have now? Is it eSim capable? When I went from a physical sim to an eSim, I definitely did not have to go to a carrier store to do it though I don't remember the exact steps I took.

Just wanted to add a quick note on E-SIM & resetting an iPhone (this applies to Apple Watches with cellular support as well, & possibly iPads too, but I'm not 100% sure in the latter case). If for some reason you need to reset your shiny new iPhone in the future, your E-SIM will be preserved by default unless you explicitly choose the option to delete the E-SIM from your device. Since I got my iPhone 15 Pro Max at a corporate T-Mobile store, I didn't have to go through the E-SIM setup process myself, so I can't comment on that aspect of using an E-SIM. As for the experience of preserving an E-SIM when resetting, I do have firsthand experience, as I had to reset my 15 Pro Max to revert back to iOS 17.6.1 from the iOS 18.1 developer beta before iOS 18 officially launched.

Here is an [Apple Support article about eSim](https://support.apple.com/en-us/118669) that may help.
Did you order your iPhone through your carrier, or is it unlocked? If it is from your carrier, my understanding is that it will come with your eSim already ready and you will be able to activate it just by turning the phone on. If it is unlocked that still should be quite easy.

I set up one for the first time last year when I got my 15 Pro. I had to download my carrier's app, Mint Mobile in my case, and was able to set up an eSim in that app. I think you will eed to do it through the TMobile app when you get your phone.

You are probably right though. Mint Mobile is unfortunately not a major carrier that has deals with Apple, so that may be why I had to set it up manually. However, that is a tiny price to pay for only paying $15 a month for 5 GB of data and unlimited texts.

If it doesn't come already installed...
The usual way is through your carrier's app. Naturally and unfortunately, this means you will be subject to that app's accessibility.
I have had this fail from time to time. In my case, so hopefully other carriers do this as well, I was able to log into my account on my carrier's website and down the page a ways it showed a QR code for loading the eSIM manually. This can be done through Settings > Cellular, and in there is add eSIM. This is native iOS and is accessible. Yes you'll need a computer with a functioning screen to display the QR code. If you have that and it is visible on the screen, the iPhone is good at detecting and reading it without being particularly precise at pointing it at an exact spot. So that is nice. And from there it is pretty automatic. Remember to reboot the phone after the eSIM is instaled for final activation. Otherwise you will be wondering why it continues to say SOS only.

I have AT&T, so it may be different for other carriers and circumstances, but when I switched from an iPhone SE with a physical SIM to an iPhone 15 Pro with ESIM, I first went to Settings > Cellular on my SE, and was given the option to convert to ESIM. I could then remove my physical SIM from the SE and connect to the carrier through the new ESIM. When it came time to set up my 15 Pro, Setup Assistant offered to transfer the ESIM from my SE, with no additional action needed on my part. I bought the iPhone from Apple, but selected AT&T as my carrier, so there may have been some backend provisioning that allowed for this migration, but I'm not totally sure.

That's my carrier as I have an unlocked 12, I know, old dinosaur lol. I'll probably just get it from the store because it takes people two seconds to do what it takes us five minutes. Good luck.

I second Tyler's recommendation about converting your physical sim to an eSim prior to getting your new phone. Then when you set up your new phone, you can transfer it over as part of the setup process.

Apologies, as I do not mean to derail this thread, but what exactly are the benefits of eSIM versus a traditional SIM card?
Thanks in advance.

Well, the biggest is new iPhones don't have a slot for physical SIMs anymore. So it is eSIM or bust!
And there's a benefit of not having to deal with the tiny things that are easy to lose. And you get two eSIM slots so you can have two plans if you need that: such as personal and bsuiness, local and international...

I have an older model phone, an iPhone SE3, and thus it has both a SIM card slot and eSIM functionality. Could upgrade to eSIM. Have not, as I never really knew what the difference was.
Thank you for explaining. 🙂