iPhone 14 Pro US version Iphone 14 has a big esim related bug for the phone locked to carrier.

[noiser]

US version Iphone 14 does not have physical sim, It only has e-sim.

I bought a Iphone 14 PRO from xfinity mobile, I pay by installments, So it locked to xfinity mobile like
another carrier do.

After I actived it , It works well with xfinity network, Then I added a Uk esim to it, because I plan to travel. It gets stuck in the boot-up process, and shows "The SIM that you currently have installed in this iphone is from a carrier that is not supported under the activation policy that is currently assigned by the activation server.......... "

I knew my new Iphone 14 main e-sim locked to xfinity mobile, but I don't know the second e-sim also locked to xfinity mobile.

I know I have to remove the Uk e-sim to get it work back to xfinity mobile, but the phone gets stuck in the boot-up process, I can't go into settings to remove the wrong e-sim.

then I went to xfinity mobile website and do the eSIM download, power on the phone and connected to wifi and wait the push note to download the e-sim, It never came, the phone still stucked, this way didn't work.

then I connected the phone to PC to do the DFU RESTORE ( factory reset ), after Restore factory settings process, I the phone still stucked like before, it didn't work too!

I went to the xfinity mobile store, It just wasted time.

under this circumstance, if it's a normal physical SIM card Phone, just need to removel the physical SIM, then the phone will fully power on then you can go to the menu for settings.

But the US version Iphone 14, you can't remove a e-sim before it fully power on!

So it become a endless loop, In order to remove the esim card, you must go to the settings menu, and in order to go to the settings menu, you must remove the esim!

What am I going to do now?

The only way is return it and go back to my old phone since I am in the 14 days period.

But what will happen? If others like me are trying to add another ESIM, but out of the return period.

If you try to add the second esim out of the return period, the consequences are the phone will turned into a brick, or pay full price to unlock (have to wait untill the end of the bill cycle to unlock), I think consumers should not suffer such serious consequences.

 

[jntdroid]

I can't speak to your boot problem, which does sound like a pretty bad issue.

But related to the locked status - my understanding is that when a phone is locked to a carrier, all IMEIs on that phone are also locked to that carrier. So you could have 50 e-sim options, but if the main IMEI is locked to the carrier, they won't work outside of that carrier.

 

[Fatus_Asticus]

Your example and the fact that iCloud doesn't back up ESIM just show Apple totally half assed the ESIM only devices. Now if you reset your device and restore you can't get your ESIM back. Some carriers (most) require you to get a text message to get another ESIM. Can't get the text message because your phone isn't on the network.

Welcome to beta.

 

[drjerryk]

US version Iphone 14 does not have physical sim, It only has e-sim.

I bought a Iphone 14 PRO from xfinity mobile, I pay by installments, So it locked to xfinity mobile like
another carrier do.

After I actived it , It works well with xfinity network, Then I added a Uk esim to it, because I plan to travel. It gets stuck in the boot-up process, and shows "The SIM that you currently have installed in this iphone is from a carrier that is not supported under the activation policy that is currently assigned by the activation server.......... "

I knew my new Iphone 14 main e-sim locked to xfinity mobile, but I don't know the second e-sim also locked to xfinity mobile.

I know I have to remove the Uk e-sim to get it work back to xfinity mobile, but the phone gets stuck in the boot-up process, I can't go into settings to remove the wrong e-sim.

then I went to xfinity mobile website and do the eSIM download, power on the phone and connected to wifi and wait the push note to download the e-sim, It never came, the phone still stucked, this way didn't work.

then I connected the phone to PC to do the DFU RESTORE ( factory reset ), after Restore factory settings process, I the phone still stucked like before, it didn't work too!

I went to the xfinity mobile store, It just wasted time.

under this circumstance, if it's a normal physical SIM card Phone, just need to removel the physical SIM, then the phone will fully power on then you can go to the menu for settings.

But the US version Iphone 14, you can't remove a e-sim before it fully power on!

So it become a endless loop, In order to remove the esim card, you must go to the settings menu, and in order to go to the settings menu, you must remove the esim!

What am I going to do now?

The only way is return it and go back to my old phone since I am in the 14 days period.

But what will happen? If others like me are trying to add another ESIM, but out of the return period.

If you try to add the second esim out of the return period, the consequences are the phone will turned into a brick, or pay full price to unlock (have to wait untill the end of the bill cycle to unlock), I think consumers should not suffer such serious consequ

 

[drjerryk]

Does anyone know if the esim can be restored from an encrypted computer backup?

 

[Bajanmonkey]

Your example and the fact that iCloud doesn't back up ESIM just show Apple totally half assed the ESIM only devices. Now if you reset your device and restore you can't get your ESIM back. Some carriers (most) require you to get a text message to get another ESIM. Can't get the text message because your phone isn't on the network.

Welcome to beta.

Well, that's not quite correct. The ESIM does not get wiped unless you choose that option during the reset. You can keep it. I have done this myself.

 

[abecker]

Your example and the fact that iCloud doesn't back up ESIM just show Apple totally half assed the ESIM only devices. Now if you reset your device and restore you can't get your ESIM back. Some carriers (most) require you to get a text message to get another ESIM. Can't get the text message because your phone isn't on the network.

Welcome to beta.

I'd never buy an iPhone again if that was the case. Apple facilitating the transfer with carriers is fine (and obviously helpful) but outright backing them up to iCloud? That's a no from me dawg.

If there was ever a breach or large scale hack then everyone's SIMs could be duplicated. Wouldn't need to do SIM swap attacks on folks accounts, you'd just need to find a way to compromise their iCloud.

 

[russell_314]

But related to the locked status - my understanding is that when a phone is locked to a carrier, all IMEIs on that phone are also locked to that carrier.

Yes, this is correct. Even with phones that take two physical SIMs, both of those SIM slots are carrier locked. The whole phone is carrier locked. It makes no sense to have one SIM locked, and the other one unlocked. That’s basically an unlocked phone with a single SIM 😂

 

[ChoiMinji]

best solution for me is to stay away from esim only phones and spend a little extra for the unlocked version

 

[russell_314]

I'd never buy an iPhone again if that was the case. Apple facilitating the transfer with carriers is fine (and obviously helpful) but outright backing them up to iCloud? That's a no from me dawg.

If there was ever a breach or large scale hack then everyone's SIMs could be duplicated. Wouldn't need to do SIM swap attacks on folks accounts, you'd just need to find a way to compromise their iCloud.

If you’re concerned that someone is going to attack the entire iCloud infrastructure to duplicate your eSIM that means you’re important enough to be a target of a large nation state. Perhaps get iPhones from outside the USA with a physical SIM but I’m sure your swapping out phones frequently anyway.

 

[russell_314]

best solution for me is to stay away from esim only phones and spend a little extra for the unlocked version

It depends on what country are in, but iPhone 14 models sold in the USA are all eSIM only. If they’re unlocked, that just means the eSIM is unlocked. I purchased my iPhone 14 from the Apple store unlocked and had no problems switching from my iPhone 13. Well that’s not exactly true because the transfer failed the first time, but the second time it worked. That’s more of them iOS 16 disaster rather than an eSIM issue.

 

[lovelybai]

I am on the same boat and returned the iPhone. Xfinity rejected the return, they did not return the phone and charged me full price. Talking to their customer service is useless. After complaining on BBB and one month's investigation, I finally got my refund back last week. And they shipped the brick back to me today, it is still a brick...

 

[russell_314]

I am on the same boat and returned the iPhone. Xfinity rejected the return, they did not return the phone and charged me full price. Talking to their customer service is useless. After complaining on BBB and one month's investigation, I finally got my refund back last week. And they shipped the brick back to me today, it is still a brick...

Have you tried going to the Apple Store? This is why I like buying my phones from Apple and getting AppleCare so if anything goes wrong with it, they will fix it.

 

[lovelybai]

Have you tried going to the Apple Store? This is why I like buying my phones from Apple and getting AppleCare so if anything goes wrong with it, they will fix it.

I went there before I returned the phone. Apple Genius tried to DFU restore but that didn't fix the problem. They will not exchange either because this is a carrier lock issue. I didn't argue with them then because I was planning to return the phone.

 

[jay968]

This is another great example of how this eSIM only idea from Apple is about the worst decision they've ever made!