How to Activate Your eSIM: A Complete Guide

If setting up an eSIM still sounds like something only your nerd friend and the airport kiosk guy understand, this guide is for you.

The truth is: activating your EasyGlobalSIM eSIM is easier than finding a free power outlet at the airport. And depending on how you travel, there are three smart ways to do it: before you leave, at the airport, or after you arrive on local Wi-Fi.

So instead of a boring user manual, let us introduce three travellers who do it three different ways.

Meet the three eSIM personalities

1. Anna – The Planner (activates at home on Wi-Fi)

Anna is the friend who has packing cubes, a shared Google Drive itinerary, and a backup charger for her backup charger. She hates last-minute stress.

Here is how she handles her EasyGlobalSIM eSIM:

• Two days before her flight she is at home, on solid Wi-Fi.
• She opens the email titled Your EasyGlobalSIM QR Code.
• She scans the QR code on her phone and installs the eSIM profile while still at home.
• She labels it as Indonesia EGS 46, because the QR code’s serial number was EGS 2025 000046 — this way, during her trip to Bali, she’ll immediately see that she’s using the Indonesian data line and never confuse it with her home line.
• She keeps it installed but switched off until she lands.

When her plane touches down, she disables data roaming on her home SIM, toggles on the EasyGlobalSIM eSIM, and boom – maps, messages, ride-hailing. No airport Wi-Fi hunting, no panic.

Best for: people who like calm, control, and having everything ready before they leave the house.

2. Marco – The Airport Guy (activates while waiting to board)

Marco is that traveller who arrives at the airport early, buys a coffee the size of his head, and then realises he has 90 minutes to kill.

He does not want to think about tech at home, but he also hates landing somewhere new with no data. So he activates at the airport:

• He connects to the airport Wi-Fi or uses his home data one last time.
• He opens the EasyGlobalSIM email and scans the QR code at the gate.
• The eSIM is installed before boarding, just like Anna, but with more background boarding announcements.
• He turns it on only after landing – same result, different vibe.

He steps off the plane, switches his EasyGlobalSIM eSIM to active data, and walks right past the people queuing at the physical SIM stands.

Best for: people who like to do it on the way – not at home, not after arrival, but while they are already in travel mode.

3. Siti – The Already There Remote Worker (activates on local Wi-Fi)

Siti is a digital nomad. She has already arrived in Bali, checked into her villa, and is sitting under a fan with a coconut. She uses the villa Wi-Fi to set things up.

Her flow looks like this:

• She connects to the villa or hotel Wi-Fi.
• She opens the EasyGlobalSIM email on her laptop or on her phone.
• She scans the QR code or taps the manual activation link.
• The eSIM installs in a minute or two, no airport noise, no rush.
• She keeps her home number for calls, and uses EasyGlobalSIM just for data while she works from cafes and coworking spaces.

Best for: people who already have Wi-Fi on arrival (hotel, villa, office) and want to switch to a cheaper local data plan within a few minutes.

So when should you activate your EasyGlobalSIM eSIM?

The short answer: whenever you have stable Wi-Fi and five calm minutes. The slightly longer answer depends on your travel style:

• At home (like Anna) – safest, calmest, zero rush.
• At the airport (like Marco) – great if you forgot at home but still have Wi-Fi or home roaming.
• After arrival on Wi-Fi (like Siti) – perfect if your hotel or villa has decent internet.

The only thing we do not recommend is: trying to set everything up for the first time while standing outside the airport, sweating, with luggage in one hand and no Wi-Fi in sight.

Step-by-step: how activation actually works

Now for the practical steps that make eSIM activation surprisingly simple. Whether you are Anna, Marco or Siti, the core steps are the same:

1. Check that your phone supports eSIM.
   You can usually find this under Settings → About, or by searching online for your phone model plus the keyword “eSIM.” Most devices released after 2019 support eSIM.
   
   

   But here are three extra tips we specifically recommend at EasyGlobalSIM:

   ✔ Tip #1: Use the built-in compatibility checker on our site
   Go to the EasyGlobalSIM homepage, open the FAQ, then tap Before Purchase → Is my device compatible? There you will see a section titled “Is my device compatible?” with the note: “Most modern iPhones and many Android devices support eSIM.” Tap Check Compatibility and you’ll get a full list of supported phone brands and models.

   ✔ Tip #2: Use the test QR code in our FAQ
   Inside the FAQ you will also find an expired eSIM QR code. Scan it with your phone — and if your device recognizes it and shows the prompt “Add eSIM / Install eSIM”, then your phone is definitely eSIM-compatible. This is a super-quick 5-second check. Important: Do not complete the installation. This is an old, inactive QR code meant only for testing recognition.

   ✔ Tip #3: If your phone is carrier-locked
   If your device is locked to a mobile carrier (for example under a 2-year contract), the carrier may have disabled eSIM activation from other networks. In that case, even if your phone technically supports eSIM, you may not be able to use travel eSIMs — including EasyGlobalSIM — until the device is unlocked.

2. Buy your EasyGlobalSIM plan.
   Choose your destination and bundle on EasyGlobalSIM, complete checkout, and wait for the email with your QR code. If you're a returning EasyGlobalSIM user, you'll notice that after payment you're taken straight to your Dashboard — where a popup instantly offers to view your QR code. From there, you can simply scan it, or if you're on an iPhone, just place your finger on the QR image and the eSIM installation will launch automatically. (Magic? No — just a system behaving the way it should.)
3. Best combo: Open your email on your laptop or tablet and scan the QR code with your phone from that screen.If you’re on Android and don’t have a second screen, just type the activation code directly into your phone — and you’re good to go. (More details in the FAQ.)
4. Start the installation.
   Your phone will say something like Add eSIM or Add mobile plan. Confirm, follow the prompts, and wait while the eSIM profile installs.
5. Give it a clear label.
   Give it a clear label — for example “Travel Data”, “Indonesia EGS 46”, “EasyGlobalSIM”, or anything that helps you recognize it later. Future you will thank you when you are half asleep at immigration.
6. Turn it on when you are ready to use it.
   Before you land, switch off data roaming on your home SIM. After landing, toggle on your EasyGlobalSIM eSIM for mobile data — and don’t forget to enable data roaming on the EasyGlobalSIM eSIM as well. Many countries rely on roaming for network access, so this step is essential. That is it. You are live.

What about your home number and WhatsApp?

With an eSIM, your physical SIM does not disappear. You can usually keep your home line active for calls and SMS, but use EasyGlobalSIM just for data. Many travellers:

• Keep their home number active for SMS based verifications.
• Use WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram and email over the EasyGlobalSIM data plan.
• Turn off home data roaming completely to avoid surprise bills from their carrier.

Your interactive setup guide is already waiting

If you like friendly on-screen hand-holding, the EasyGlobalSIM site includes an interactive setup assistant that behaves a bit like a patient chatty Genius Bar expert. It asks where you are right now – at home, at the airport, or already in the destination country – and then walks you through the exact screens on your phone step by step.

Think of this article as the overview, and that on-page tutorial as the movie version with live screenshots and a tiny cursor that does the tapping for you.

In one sentence

Activate your EasyGlobalSIM eSIM whenever you have calm minutes and good Wi-Fi – ideally before you travel – so that when the plane doors open, your only real problem is deciding whether to turn left for coffee or right for the beach.