How to add a travel eSIM on a Google Pixel: step by step (Google’s paths)

Google’s pages word one menu two ways. Pixel Help writes “Network and Internet” and “Your primary SIMs”; the Google Store India guide writes “Network & internet” and “Primary SIM”. We quote each with its own page. Other makers: Android install hub.

Before you start: Pixel models sold in India

Google Store India lists the Pixel 10 as “Dual SIM (Single Nano SIM and eSIM)”, so an Indian Pixel 10 keeps a slot for your Indian SIM. A US Pixel 10 differs. Google’s dual-SIM page says: “Important [US only]: If you have a Pixel 10 or later, except the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, you can only use an eSIM.”

Two eSIM profiles at once on a dual SIM Pixel need more. Google says you can use them if you have “a Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro or later phone” and “Your operator allows this feature.” If your Indian number is already an eSIM, ask Jio, Airtel or Vi before you add a travel profile. The same page states: “If you bought your Pixel 3a in Japan, it can’t have two SIMs.” It also notes that some steps “work only on Android 11 and up”.

Check your model on the Pixel eSIM page, the Pixel 10 page or the full eSIM phone list.

Step by step: set up the travel eSIM

Pixel Help en-IN gives the add route in three lines, and Google Store India adds the QR screen (both read 13 Oct 2026). Install before departure, on home Wi-Fi. A phone cannot scan its own screen, so open the QR code from your order page on a laptop or a second phone.

1. “Open your device’s Settings app.”
2. “Tap Network and Internet > SIMs > Add SIM > Set up an eSIM”
3. “Follow instructions on the screen.”

On a new Pixel, Pixel Help has an onboarding route: “Go through the phone setup process.” and then “Tap Download SIM > Set up”. That is how to download a SIM instead of using the Add SIM menu.

Pixel Help prints no QR step. The QR branch is in Google Store India’s guide “Setup Your Google Pixel Phone with eSim”: “When the ‘Connect to mobile network’ screen appears, tap ‘Set up an eSIM’.” Then: “Once the ‘Scan QR code from carrier’ screen appears, use your camera to scan the QR code provided by your mobile network. Alternatively, you can upload a picture of the QR code instead, or click the troubleshooting link to type in the code your network provider gave you.”

If you type the code, use the activation code from your order page. If a screen also asks for the SM-DP+ address, it is on the order page too.

Make the eSIM your mobile data line

Choose the travel eSIM as the SIM for mobile data when you land. Google states: “Only one SIM can be the default for data.” That single setting decides whether data runs on the eSIM or on your Indian operator, so your Indian SIM must not be the data SIM abroad.

The Pixel Help route, read 13 Oct 2026:

1. “Open your Settings app.”
2. “Tap Network and Internet > SIMs”
3. “To access data with your mobile network, turn on Mobile data”
4. “Under ‘Your primary SIMs’, choose which SIM you want to use for:” and then, for data, “Tap Mobile data”. Pick the travel eSIM.

Keep your Indian SIM for calls and SMS, because our eSIM carries data only and cannot receive bank OTPs. Ask your operator whether SMS works abroad on your plan. No page can promise that every OTP will reach you. The guide to keeping your Indian SIM for OTPs covers the dual-SIM settings.

Roaming on for the eSIM, off for your Indian SIM

Keep data roaming on for the eSIM and off for your Jio, Airtel or Vi line. Pixel Help lists Roaming as a per-SIM mobile network setting: “Let your phone send data over other operators’ networks when you leave an area covered by your operator’s networks.” Each SIM has its own tab.

The route on Pixel Help (hl=en-IN, read 13 Oct 2026):

1. “Tap Network and Internet > SIMs”
2. “If your phone has more than one SIM, to change each SIM’s mobile network information, use the tabs at the top of ‘Mobile network settings’.” Open the travel eSIM’s tab.
3. “Tap a setting.” Turn Roaming on there, and check that it is off on your Indian SIM’s tab.

The same list holds Access Point Names. If your order page lists an APN for your plan, enter it on the travel eSIM’s tab. The APN settings guide says which plans need one typed.

Google’s travel page says: “To avoid roaming charges, use a prepaid eSIM from international operators and activate it when you arrive at your destination.” Install ours at home anyway. For almost every destination we sell, the plan days start at the first connection to a network abroad; the country page states the rule for each destination.

‘Set up an eSIM’ missing, or the download fails

If Set up an eSIM does not appear under Add SIM, a travel eSIM cannot go on that phone, whatever a spec sheet says. Check the model rows on the Pixel eSIM page. If the option is there but the download fails, check Wi-Fi first, then the QR code.

The QR code must be on another screen, and it may already be used. A deleted profile usually cannot be installed again from the same code, so do not erase it to retry. Delete eSIM profiles only after the trip: Google’s step is “Tap Erase eSIM” under Mobile network, and how to delete an eSIM covers it.

Do not move a travel eSIM with Android’s SIM transfer either. The network provider behind our plans says its eSIMs cannot be transferred from one device to another. If you changed phones, read moving an eSIM to a new phone and write to us with your order number.

Full refund within 30 days of purchase, as long as the eSIM has not connected to any network. If the eSIM doesn’t work and it isn’t your phone’s fault, we refund the payment whether or not it was installed.

If the eSIM is installed but not working abroad, the checklist for an eSIM with no signal lists the next checks.

FAQ