Among the many new features that iOS 16 hides under the hood, there is one that may be key to the future iPhone 14: the ability to transfer virtual SIM cards (eSIM) from one phone to another using Bluetooth connectivity.
In recent months there have been rumors about the possibility that the iPhone 14 does not have the classic SIM card tray. A change that fits perfectly with Apple’s obsession with simplifying the exterior design of the device as much as possible.
Apple has many perfectly aligned elements to be able to tackle this change with guarantees of success: hundreds of operators around the world offer eSIM to its customers and the iPhone, for several years, has also allowed the use of this type of card instead of physical ones. However, one process, that of the transfer between phones, was not fully resolved. And that’s where iOS 16 comes into play.
The new version of the operating system allows easy transfer of data from an eSIM from one phone to another simply using the Bluetooth connection. And, if it works as expected, the process will be infinitely simpler than the current chaos.
The chaos of transferring an eSIM between iPhone until the arrival of iOS 16
Before iOS 16, if you had an iPhone with an eSIM card and you wanted to transfer it to a new iPhone, you had three options:
- Keep the original QR and pray that it remains valid. To set up an eSIM, your carrier usually gives you a QR code that you then scan with your iPhone. This QR, in many cases, expires after being used for the first time, so keeping it makes no sense. In specific cases, however, that same QR can be used to configure another iPhone in the future. Therefore, if your operator acts in this way and you have the original QR, you can reuse it to transfer the eSIM to the new phone.
- Contact your operator or go to a store. If the QR of your operator expires after its first use, you have to contact the operator to obtain a new QR. Some send it by email (the most convenient option), but many others require you to go to a physical store to get it, which can be quite annoying – especially if you change phones often.
- Use the old eSIM transfer system and pray your carrier supports it. The third option is that your operator supports the automated SIM transfer function that Apple implemented in iOS 13.1. The problem with this route is that the operator has to be compatible with the system. That is: you have to implement this function on your servers. And, as we all know, operators are not always the fastest implementing these types of solutions. Therefore, in many cases, this route is not available.
The new eSIM transfer feature in iOS 16 solves this situation in a much more efficient way: by transferring the eSIM data via Bluetooth between the two iPhones. With this method, it does not matter what the operators do or the systems they implement. The entire process occurs locally, between one iPhone and the other, without the mediation of network providers.
This new feature of iOS 16 makes special sense considering what was previously mentioned: that the iPhone 14 may be the first to dispense with the physical SIM card. For this process to be painless, connecting the dots like this is essential.