Android eSIM Setup for Travelling Across Europe
Install a Europe eSIM on any Android phone: find the right menu whatever the skin, check the EID, and set roaming so one line survives every border.
Updated August 24, 2026
There is no single Android. The tap sequence differs between manufacturers, between skin versions, and sometimes between two phones sold under the same model name in different countries, so this guide gives the pattern rather than a script. Two things are constant: *#06# tells you whether the phone has eSIM hardware, and the search box at the top of Settings finds the eSIM screen faster than the menu tree. For a Galaxy or a Pixel, the Samsung and Pixel pages are more specific.
What does not vary is the reason for buying a regional plan. A trip across Europe crosses lines that mobile contracts care about even when passport control does not: an EU allowance works only inside the EU and only on an EU contract, a UK or Turkish or American contract has its own rules everywhere, and the fallback — a local SIM in each country — means a counter, a passport and a new number every few days. One eSIM that stays attached across the whole covered list is the point of this product. Prices are on the pricing page, and the other device guides sit under guides.
The limit you must not misread: the plan covers a fixed list of countries, and a few European places are outside it — much of the Western Balkans, Moldova and the microstates are the usual surprises. The list is on our home page and in the app before you pay. Check the itinerary against it while the booking can still change; the app sells separate plans for several of the gaps.
Everything after the install is about keeping one line working while the trip keeps moving. Roaming on for the eSIM, roaming off for your own SIM, automatic network selection left alone until it visibly fails, and a few minutes’ patience at each border before you change any settings. Anything this guide does not cover is likely on the FAQ.
Installation steps
-
Step 1
Check for an EID before anything else
Open the dialler and type *#06#. Alongside the IMEI you are looking for an EID, a long number that only appears on phones with eSIM hardware. Manufacturers ship different variants of the same model in different regions, so the number on your own screen is the only answer worth trusting.
-
Step 2
Buy the plan in the Europe eSIM app
Choose the data bundle that suits the trip — every plan covers the same list of countries. After payment, the QR code and the manual activation details are saved under your order, so a failed first attempt is not a lost purchase.
-
Step 3
Do the install at home, on Wi-Fi
Downloading an eSIM profile needs internet, and you may not have any at the point where you finally want the line. Installing early is free in every sense: the plan begins when the line first connects inside the covered area, not when you buy it.
-
Step 4
Find the eSIM screen in Settings
Every manufacturer names this differently. The pattern is Settings, then Network & internet or Connections, then SIMs, SIM manager or Mobile network, with an option in there to add or download a SIM. Rather than hunting through menus, use the search box at the top of Settings and type eSIM. That finds it on almost every skin.
-
Step 5
Add the eSIM and scan the code
The button might read Add eSIM, Download a SIM instead, Scan carrier QR code or something close. Scan the code from a laptop or another phone. With only one screen, look for the manual entry option and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order — the result is the same line.
-
Step 6
Label it and keep it switched off for now
Name the line Europe or Trip so you can tell it apart from your normal SIM at a glance, and leave calls and messages assigned to that normal SIM. Then disable the new line. Installed and switched off, it does nothing at all — which matters if you live in a covered country, because the plan's clock starts the first time the line connects to any covered network, including your own.
-
Step 7
Turn it on and make it the data SIM
When the trip starts, go back to the SIM screen, enable the Europe eSIM line, and set it as the SIM used for mobile data. Your own number stays where it is, on your own SIM.
-
Step 8
Roaming on for the eSIM, off for the home SIM
Find the data roaming switch — usually inside the settings for each line, sometimes under Mobile network — and turn it on for the Europe eSIM. This plan works by using other operators' networks in each country, so the line cannot attach without it. Then check the same switch is off for your own SIM. On a dual-SIM phone these are separate settings and it is easy to change the wrong one, so open each line and look.
Troubleshooting
Is every European country covered by this plan?
No — the plan covers a fixed list, printed on our home page and in the app before you pay, and a route should be checked against it rather than assumed. The places most often missed are the Western Balkan countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo), Moldova, and microstates like Andorra, Monaco and San Marino. The same app sells separate plans for several of them.
My phone has no eSIM option anywhere in Settings.
Run *#06# first. No EID means no eSIM hardware, and nothing in Settings fixes that — you would need a physical SIM. If an EID is there but the option is missing, the phone is probably carrier-locked, which only the operator that sold it can undo, or the skin has buried the screen where the search box will find it faster than you will.
The QR code will not scan.
Increase the brightness on the screen showing the code, hold the phone roughly 20 to 30 cm back, and get the whole square in view without glare. If the camera still refuses, use manual entry and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order. A hand-entered profile is identical.
We have crossed a border and the data has not come back.
Give it a few minutes — the phone releases the old network and registers on the next country's by itself, and that can take a little while. If nothing changes, toggle Airplane mode off and on. If it still will not attach, turn off automatic network selection for that line, choose one of the networks the phone can see, and set it back to automatic once you are moving.
Does turning data roaming on cost me anything?
Not on the travel line. It is prepaid for use in the countries the plan covers and no home operator is metering it — the switch simply tells Android the line may use a network that is not its own. Your usual SIM is the opposite case: an EU allowance stops applying outside the EU, and a non-EU contract can charge from the first megabyte, which is why its roaming switch stays off.
Can the people I am travelling with use my connection?
Yes. Tethering is included, so the phone carrying the eSIM can run a hotspot for the rest of the group. The plan is data-only — no phone number, no calls, no SMS — so keep your own SIM active for anything needing a number.