[Answered] Does iCloud Backup eSIM?

You may not know this, but starting with the iPhone X, Apple has included a physical SIM card port as well as two internal eSIM (Embedded-SIM) cards. Thanks to eSIM, you can activate a cellular plan from your carrier without a physical SIM card.

After all, eSIM is configured on the iPhone, so you might be thinking - does iCloud backup eSIM? Without further ado, keep read this guide to get the answer.

Does iCloud backup eSIM?

Does iCloud backup save eSIM? The answer is No. No iPhone backup includes eSIM, no matter whether you are using iTunes or iCloud. If you are still wondering why, it is because your iPhone stores the eSIM on a chip. In other words, iCloud doesn’t store the eSIM, so that it’s not related to iCloud backup in any manner.

What does iCloud backup on your iPhone?

Does iCloud backup everything? Now is exactly the time to figure out what iCloud backup on your iPhone. The iCloud backups include nearly all data and settings stored on your iOS devices, which can also explain why iCloud doesn’t backup eSIM, like what we mentioned above.

According to Apple Supports, iCloud backup includes:
• App data, device settings, home screen and app organization,
• iMessage, photos, videos, purchases history from Apple services,
• ringtones, and visual voicemail password.

What happen to eSIM when factory reset iPhone?

If you concern whether iCloud backup eSIM because you want to reset iPhone without losing eSIM or use a new iPhone, you may also need to know what happen to eSIM when factory reset iPhone.

In short, you can stop worrying because your eSIM stays safe. When you restore your iPhone to factory settings, you'll be given the option to delete or keep the eSIM. If you do not erase the eSIM in this step, it will not be deleted from your iPhone after the reset. Let’s go through the whole iPhone reset task to see how.

Step 1. Go to Settings on your iPhone > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Tap Erase All Content and Settings.

Step 2. In the next screen, tap Continue to confirm that certain items will be removed > Enter your passcode to continue.

Step 3. A confirmation window will prompt, asking you whether want to erase iPhone. From here, you can choose Erase Data and eSIMs or Erase Data and Keep eSIMs.

How to transfer eSIM to new iPhone

Since iCloud doesn’t backup eSIM, here comes a question - how do you transfer eSIM from old iPhone to new iPhone? You can get solutions in this part. The followings are also workable if you wonder how to activate eSIM on iPhone.

Transfer eSIM to new iPhone via carrier activation
If your carrier assigns you an eSIM, you can activate eSIM on your new iPhone automatically during setup.

Step 1. Set up your new iPhone 14, when prompted, connect iPhone 14 to a Wi-Fi network.

Step 2. Wait for the iPhone 14 activation process to complete > When you see Cellular Setup Complete window, tap Continue to finish the setup process and eSIM has been added on your iPhone.

Once it down, the eSIM on your current iPhone will no longer work, and the eSIM on new iPhone will be ready to use.

Transfer eSIM to new iPhone after setup from Settings
You are allowed to transfer eSIM after setup. Or, if you have more than one eSIM, you can add them to new iPhone in the Settings app with the steps below.

Step 1. On your iPhone 14, go to the Settings app > Locate and choose Cellular > Tap Set Up Cellular. If you are setting up additional lines, you may see Add eSIM.

Step 2. Follow the instructions to activate your eSIM.

Bonus: How to transfer contacts to new iPhone

At one time, you only had to insert the physical SIM card into the new iPhone and the contacts were already transferred to it. But now that you're using eSIM on new iPhone, you may lose some contacts.

If it is the case, you can try FoneTool to help you transfer selective contacts to new iPhone from your old iPhone. Free download FoneTool to your computer, and follow the steps below to transfer selective contacts, photos, etc. to new iPhone.

Step 1. Connect your old iPhone to computer > Launch FoneTool, locate and choose Phone Transfer > Mouse over to iPhone to PC and click Start Transfer.

Step 2. Uncheck other icons and check Contacts > Select the contacts you want to transfer > Click OK to confirm > Finally, click Start Transfer to make it. You can also select other types of files at this step.

Step 3. Unplug old iPhone and plug in new iPhone to computer > In FoneTool, choose PC to iPhone instead from Phone Transfer page.

Step 4. Drag and drop the contacts you just transferred to PC to the box, or tap Add to add contacts > Finally, click Start Transfer to get contacts added to your new iPhone 14.

In addition, you can transfer data from old iPhone to new iPhone within one click with the transfer function iPhone to iPhone from FoneTool.

Summary

Does iCloud backup eSIM on iPhone? Hope you have gotten a satisfied answer after reading this guide. Feel free to utilize eSIM on your iPhone, even if eSIM is not backed up, it won’t be lost. If this guide helps you, please share it with others.