I tried switching an eSIM from my Android phone, and it was still a nightmare

I’m no longer surprised when something disappears from a new phone. I watched removable batteries and headphone jacks disappear, and I didn’t really blink because they’d already been replaced by quicker charging and more reliable Bluetooth headphones.

Now, though, the SIM tray has become an endangered species, and I’m worried about growing pains. It still exists on Samsung’s Galaxy series and all of Motorola’s latest launches, but Apple and Google have started leaving it behind. As a reviewer, it’s starting to cause me all kinds of headaches, and something needs to change.

Here’s what it’s like to move an eSIM in 2025 and why it feels like I may as well get a computer science degree.

I won’t lie — I try to spend as much time as I can with a physical SIM in my phone. As I mentioned, it was easy enough to pop a card out of my Galaxy S25 Ultra and into my Motorola Razr Ultra. When I switch phones as often as I do, I want things to be as easy as possible. Unfortunately, moving eSIMs around just isn’t there yet — at least not in practice.

On paper, it should all be a breeze. Verizon says it has a simple pathway in the My Verizon app, and the Android setup process prompts me to set up cellular early in the process, too. However, as a reviewer, I don’t always add cellular during the first days of my testing period, which means I often lose the fastest route. Worse still, this only works effectively for Android-to-Android transfers, and it still fails about half the time.

Moving from Android to iPhone (or vice versa) works even less often. Both sides would love to keep me in their walled gardens, which means they’ll only give me one-way instructions. And honestly, I think Apple has the advantage of ditching the SIM tray first, as it means its process is a little more refined. I know I can usually get where I need to go without looping in my friendly neighborhood Verizon agent, but I can never be totally sure.

If I’m trying to switch from iPhone to Android, though, I’ve concluded that I need to schedule an appointment at a Verizon store. Yes, I can do it online, and yes, I can do it over the phone if I have an hour to sit on hold, but it’s just easier to walk into the store and put myself in front of someone until they get the job done. It’s not just me, either — this Reddit thread is packed with people debating the graduate degrees they’d need to do the same.

Oh, and the craziest part of all this? You can’t really move one eSIM profile back and forth — you’re actually just creating a new one and deleting the old one every time. So, whatever you do, don’t reset your phone with an active eSIM on it, or that bad boy is gone.

Perhaps the most frustrating part about moving an eSIM on Android, especially when doing so cross-platform, is that iOS makes the process incredibly simple. I recently swapped one of my SIMs from the iPhone 16 I’d been using to test the iOS 26 beta to the iPhone 17 Pro that I’m currently reviewing, and it took no more than a series of taps. Apple asked if I wanted to move my service, and I said yes — that’s it.

Now, I don’t want to be frustrated by simplicity. Really, I’m just kind of jealous of how easy it is to move from one iPhone to another. And honestly, all I want is for there to be a similarly simple method for Android. I know that Android phones ask if I want to move my service when I set them up, but I find that I run into failures pretty often when switching from Google to Samsung to Motorola. With an iPhone? I’ve never had it come up short.

Heck, even downloading a travel eSIM on an iPhone is a breeze. Last year, when I went to Amsterdam to run a marathon, I managed to set up my Holafly service line while sleep-deprived on a layover at London’s Heathrow Airport. I didn’t have to scan a QR code or enter a long string of digits; I just pressed a button in my email and waited for iOS to prompt me. Did I activate my service too early and have to spend a few of my last hours without data? Yes, but that was a me issue, not an eSIM one.

If you ask me, it should always be this easy. I shouldn’t have to talk to a representative, download an app, or jump through hoops. If eSIM really is the future (and it clearly is), it needs to be as easy to swap as a physical SIM.