Apple publishes its figures and we quote them. No Android maker publishes a storage limit, so this page does not print one.

How many eSIMs can one phone hold?

Two different limits get mixed up here: how many you can keep, and how many can run at once

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iPhone: 8 or more profiles stored, two active at the same time. Apple publishes both figures.
Android: two active lines on recent hardware; the storage limit is set by the maker and published by nobody.
Running out of active lines is not running out of room, and the fix is a switch, not a deletion.
A UK Number and a travel data eSIM are two profiles and coexist on one phone.
Deleting an eSIM to make space is usually permanent, so switch one off first.

Buy UK eSIM - $25 How it works →

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The short answer for an iPhone: 8 or more eSIM profiles stored, two of them active at the same time. The rest sit in Settings, switched off, costing nothing and waiting until you need them.

For Android there is no single number, and any page that gives you one is guessing. What is documented is the ceiling on active lines: Android 13 and later can run two eSIM lines at once on hardware built for it. How many dormant profiles the chip will hold is decided by the manufacturer and published by none of them.

Stored and active are not the same limit

A stored profile is one that lives on the phone. An active profile is one that is switched on and connected to a network. Almost everyone who thinks they have hit a limit has hit the second one, not the first, and the two are nowhere near each other in size.

This matters because the fix is different. If you are at the active limit, you turn one line off and another on in Settings, which takes seconds and deletes nothing. If you were genuinely out of storage you would have to delete a profile, and a deleted eSIM usually cannot be reinstalled from the same QR.

What Apple actually publishes

Apple states that a supported iPhone can store 8 or more eSIMs and have two of them active at the same time, and that you swap which ones are active in Settings. eSIM support starts with iPhone XS, XS Max and XR.

So an iPhone user collecting a plan per country is not accumulating a problem. Old travel plans that have expired can be deleted for tidiness, but they are not what stops a new one from installing.

Why this page will not give you an Android number

Android storage limits are set by the eUICC chip the manufacturer chose, and no major Android maker publishes the figure. The figures quoted around the web contradict each other, sometimes by a factor of two, and not one of them cites a source, because there is no source to cite.

What is documented is Android 13 and later supporting multiple enabled profiles, so a phone whose hardware implements it can connect to two carriers at once from a single eSIM chip. Recent flagships do; older and cheaper handsets run one eSIM line at a time. Your phone will simply tell you when it will not take another profile, and that is a more reliable answer than any number on a blog.

What this means if you are buying from us

Our UK Number and a travel data eSIM are two separate profiles, so both live on one phone at once, with the travel eSIM set as the cellular data line and the UK number kept for SMS and calls.

If you already have a work or home eSIM installed, you almost certainly do not need to remove it to add ours. On an iPhone you are two active lines out of eight-plus stored; on a recent Android you are within the same shape of limit.

Checking what your own phone is doing

1
Count what is active, not what exists
iPhone: Settings, then Cellular. Android: Settings, then Network and internet, then SIMs. Lines with a switch turned on are your active ones.
2
Switch rather than delete
Turning a line off frees an active slot and keeps the profile. Deleting frees storage you probably were not short of, and is usually irreversible.
3
Add the new profile
Install the new eSIM as normal. If the phone refuses for lack of room, that is the moment to delete an expired travel plan, not before.
4
Set which line carries data
Point cellular data at the travel eSIM and leave your usual number active for SMS and calls. Both stay installed.

Questions & answers

What is the maximum number of eSIMs that can be installed on a phone?

On a supported iPhone, Apple says 8 or more eSIM profiles can be stored, with two active at the same time. On Android the storage limit is set by the manufacturer and is not published, though recent hardware running Android 13 or later can have two eSIM lines active at once.

How many eSIMs can be active at the same time?

Two, on an iPhone that supports eSIM and on recent Android hardware. Older or cheaper Android phones run one eSIM line at a time. Other stored profiles stay on the phone, switched off, until you swap them in.

I already have two eSIMs. Do I have to delete one to add yours?

Almost certainly not. Two is usually the limit on lines running at once, not on profiles stored. Switch one off in Settings, install ours, and decide afterwards which two you want active. Deleting an eSIM is normally permanent.

How many eSIMs can a Samsung Galaxy hold?

Samsung does not publish that figure, and neither does any other Android manufacturer, so nobody can honestly tell you a number for a specific model. Recent Galaxy flagships can run two eSIM lines at once. For whether a particular handset supports eSIM at all, check the compatible devices list.

Can I keep a UK number and travel data on the same phone?

Yes. They are two separate eSIM profiles, both installed at once, with travel data set as the cellular data line and the UK number available for SMS and calls.

Does having more eSIM profiles make me harder to identify?

No. Extra profiles are storage, not privacy. Each line still registers with its own network in the normal way. What our checkout avoids is the ID document and the account, not the network.