The days of SIM cards are numbered and although it will not happen now, their total replacement in favor of eSIMs is getting closer. Even though Samsung beat Google by creating a feature to make this task easier, the Mountain View company has rather discreetly implemented its own. eSIM transfer tool for Android.
To give a little more context, when Samsung launched this feature with One UI 5.1, it only worked between the brand’s Galaxy devices, but not on any other. Well, the range has opened with Android and Google has finally implemented what was announced at MWC 2023, or in other words, the possibility of change your eSIM from one Android phone to another.
The tool appears during the phone setup process
As specialist journalist Mishaal Rahman details in Android Police, the discovery came from a reader who, in the process of configuring a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, saw that a pop-up with the ability to transfer your eSIM simply by scanning a QR code, but not from another Samsung mobile but from an LG V60 Thinq. The journalist therefore tried the same thing with Samung’s new flagship product with a Google Pixel 8 Pro and vice versa.
Samsung’s role in this development is notable. As we mentioned in the intro, the eSIM transfer tool originally appeared in One UI 5.1 and only worked between Galaxy devices and on Reddit, user FragmentedChicken spotted a change subtle in this tool with One UI 6.1: it no longer appeared that ‘for Galaxy‘, suggesting wider use. This is confirmation that I was right.
Rahman is in fact wet by specifying that this opening in the Samsung tool could mean a possible switch to Google’s eSIM transfer tool for Android promised at the Barcelona event. No release date has been announced, but it is possible that it will be active on the Pixel 8. However, when this feature was discovered, it was thought that it would initially only work with other Pixel.
Unfortunately, this feature seems limited to some people. Thus, Android Police specifies that this function is only operational in profiles connected to the teleco TMobile. However, we hope that the presence and activation of this useful eSIM transfer tool to any Android device Expand to more devices and carriers.
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