Is your phone carrier-locked? Check before you buy a travel eSIM

If you bought your phone through your carrier, especially on a monthly payment plan, check one setting before you buy a travel eSIM. Your phone may be carrier-locked. A locked phone usually won't work with another carrier's eSIM, and a travel eSIM is another carrier's eSIM.

This catches people at the worst moment: in the airport, eSIM installed, no signal. The check takes about a minute.

What a carrier lock is

When a carrier sells you a phone on installments or at a discount, it can lock the phone to its own network for a period. The rules differ by carrier and they change, but the usual idea is the same: the lock comes off once the phone is paid off or has been active long enough.

A lock is separate from eSIM support. Your phone can support eSIM perfectly well and still refuse a travel eSIM because it's locked.

How to check

iPhone

1. Open Settings > General > About.
2. Scroll to Carrier Lock.
3. If it says No SIM restrictions, you're fine. Anything else means the phone is locked.

Android

1. Open Settings > About phone (on Samsung, it can also be under Settings > Connections).
2. Look for SIM card status or a line about network or SIM lock.
3. Menus vary a lot by brand and Android version. If you can't find it, call your carrier and ask whether the phone is unlocked. They can tell you right away.

While you're in settings, it's worth confirming the phone supports eSIM at all. Dial *#06#. If you see a long number labeled EID, the phone has an eSIM chip.

If it's locked

Ask your carrier to unlock it. Most carriers let you request it from your online account or by phone, as long as you meet their conditions. Typically that means the phone is paid off and the account is in good standing.

Some practical points:

• Ask a few days before you fly. Unlocks are not always instant. Some go through in minutes and some take a day or two.
• Paying off the remaining balance is often what makes a phone eligible. If you're close, it can be worth doing before the trip.
• After the unlock, check Carrier Lock again on iPhone to confirm it now says No SIM restrictions. Don't take the confirmation email as proof.
• Company phones may be locked by your employer's carrier account. Ask whoever manages it.

If you can't unlock it in time

You still have options, just not a travel eSIM on that phone. You can use your carrier's own international plan for the trip, or bring an older unlocked phone just for data. Either is better than finding out at baggage claim.

Check before you buy, not after

Do this check before you buy any travel eSIM, ours or anyone else's. Once an eSIM is installed, it can't be refunded. A locked phone is the one problem we can't fix from our side.

Our compatible devices page lists the phones that support eSIM, along with the same unlock check.