T-Mobile eSIM Support Launches For iPhone Prepaid Lines

T-Mobile announced that it has launched the app needed to bring support for eSIM activation to the iPhone XS, XS Max, and iPhone XR. For now, the eSIM app only supports activation for prepaid lines. The carrier is justifying the prepaid-only support for eSIMs by saying that the service aims at those wanting a secondary prepaid line on their device or for travelers coming to the States.

If you are using prepaid as your primary service, you can now use the iPhone SIM card slot to add a second postpaid phone line; perhaps this will be a useful feature for people who are currently carrying one phone for business and one for personal use. To set up the eSIM requires downloading of the T-Mobile app from the Apple App Store here.

Users can choose the prepaid plan that works best for them directly within the app. The activation is done automatically with no need for the user to go to the store for activation. T-Mobile says that this new eSIM feature will let people take its network out for a test drive. That might be the perfect way for people with a new iPhone on another carrier to see if the T-Mobile network gives them the coverage they need on a daily basis.

T-Mobile warns that if you are already a T-Mobile customer and have an email associated with another T-Mobile account, you will need a different email address to use the eSIM app. Three prepaid plans work with eSIM activation including T-Mobile One with unlimited voice, text, and data for $70 for 30 days of coverage. Simply Prepaid offers unlimited voice, text, and 10GB of data for $40 with a 30-day expiration. The Tourist Plan gives 1000 minutes of talk, unlimited text, and 2GB of LTE data for $30 and expires in 21 days. T-Mobile notes that the eSIM app works on any T-Mobile or unlocked iPhone XS, XS Max, or XR running iOS 12.1.1 or later. Last month, T-Mobile was in the news for its 5G network demonstration.