Does an eSIM work on a non-PTA iPhone?

Check it yourself in two minutes

You do not need to memorise a list of models. The handset will tell you, and this works on every model including the ones released after this was written.

Open Settings, then General, then About. Scroll down and look for EID.

If EID is there, the handset has eSIM hardware. If it is not, it does not, and no setting, update or workaround will add it.

On the same screen is the Model Number, something like MQ8K3ZP/A. The two letters before the slash say which country the phone was built for, and that is where the real problem lives.

1. Settings → General → About
2. Look for EID — if it is there, the hardware is there
3. Read the Model Number — MXXXXZP/A and so on
4. Note the two letters before the slash

What those two letters mean

iPhones arrive in Pakistan from everywhere, and the region decides whether there is an eSIM in the handset at all.

Treat this table as a first guess, not the answer. Apple changes something every year, and within a single code like Hong Kong's different models behave differently. Always settle it with the EID — that one does not lie.

The Chinese iPhone — the mistake people make most

Apple does not put eSIM in iPhones built for mainland China. Two real SIM trays go in its place, because that is what the rules there require.

These handsets are often cheaper, and the shopkeeper will usually tell you honestly that it "takes two SIMs" — which is true. The buyer hears two SIMs as more convenience, when for a non-PTA phone it is the opposite: two trays, both of which stop working on a local SIM after sixty days, and no eSIM route out.

If you see CH/A, the answer is settled. Our eSIM will not work on it, and neither will anybody else's.

The US iPhone 14 and later — the opposite problem

In 2022 Apple removed the SIM tray from iPhones sold in America, starting with the 14. Every US model since — 15, 16, 17 — runs on eSIM alone. There is physically nowhere to put a SIM card.

In Pakistan that has an odd consequence. Even after you register one with PTA, your old Jazz or Zong plastic SIM will not go in it; the franchise has to convert the number to an eSIM first, and not all of them do that easily.

For our purposes, though, this is the ideal handset: eSIM is the only thing it runs, and eSIM is the only thing we sell.

Carrier lock — the thing that stops everything

This is a separate problem and has nothing to do with eSIM hardware. A great many American iPhones are sold on contract with AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile, and stay locked until the instalments are finished.

A locked handset will not take another operator's SIM — plastic or eSIM. The EID will be there, About will look completely normal, and the profile will install and still find no network.

Settings will not tell you for certain. The reliable test is to put another operator's SIM in it in front of the seller before you pay. Or have the unlock status checked against the IMEI.

We cannot fix this. If the handset is carrier-locked our eSIM will fail on it exactly as any other would, and that is something to say before somebody pays us rather than after.

Which iPhones have no eSIM at all

iPhone X and anything older — 8, 7, 6s, the 2016 SE — have no eSIM hardware in any region.

eSIM started with the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR. If the handset predates 2018 the answer is no, and no region code changes that.

The two later iPhone SE models (2020 and 2022) do have eSIM. The original 2016 SE does not. The name is the same, which is why this one catches people out.

The short answer

EID present, region is not CH/A, handset is not carrier-locked — the eSIM will work.

If any one of those three is wrong it will not, and that applies to every provider's eSIM and not only to ours.

To check a specific handset, pick the model on our device pages — each one gives a straight answer.

Does an eSIM work on a non-PTA iPhone?

If it is an iPhone XS or later, not a mainland-China model, and not carrier-locked, then yes. PTA registration has nothing to do with whether an eSIM works.

There is no EID in About. What now?

No EID means no eSIM hardware. It is not a software problem, so an update or a restore will not produce one.

Can a Chinese iPhone get eSIM somehow?

No. Apple did not put the hardware in that model. The two physical SIM trays are what went there instead.

How do I put a Pakistani SIM in a US iPhone 14?

Only as an eSIM. Your franchise has to convert the number from plastic to eSIM — though that only helps if the handset is PTA registered.

How do I tell whether it is carrier-locked?

Put another operator's SIM in it. No signal means locked. Do that test in front of the seller before you pay.

Will an iPhone 11 work?

Yes, unless it is a mainland-China unit. Every model from the XS onwards has eSIM.