How to Install a Bali eSIM on Google Pixel
Add a Bali eSIM to your Pixel before you fly: the exact Settings path, why to install on Wi-Fi first, and the network names to look for after landing.
Updated August 24, 2026
The reason to land in Bali with an eSIM already installed has nothing to do with signal strength in Seminyak. Indonesian networks cover the busy parts of the island well, and your Pixel will hold 4G from the airport taxi rank to the Ubud rice terraces. What actually costs you is your own operator’s roaming rate applied to two weeks of maps, messages and ride-hailing, and the first hour of a holiday spent at a SIM counter with your passport out while the registration form gets filled in.
That hour lands differently depending on the trip. On a ten-day holiday it is the difference between watching the sunset from a beach bar and watching it from a queue. For someone settling into Canggu for a month of remote work, the eSIM earns its keep later too: a hotspot that carries the morning call when the café Wi-Fi dips, and a plan that follows you to Lombok and the Gilis because it covers all of Indonesia, not just one island. Buy in the Bali eSIM app, install before you leave home, and arrival is one toggle. Plans are on pricing, with background on what an eSIM is.
Pixels make this easy because they run close to stock Android: Settings, Network & internet, SIMs, then Download a SIM instead, largely unchanged across recent releases. This guide walks that path, then covers the two settings that matter on arrival — selecting the eSIM for mobile data, and enabling Roaming for that line alone while your home SIM keeps its own roaming firmly off. Other handsets are covered in our guide index.
One expectation to set honestly: an eSIM buys you a fair price and a skipped queue, not coverage no one else has. It runs on the same big Indonesian networks as any local SIM, which means excellent signal in the south and around Ubud, and thinner service on remote coasts and between islands. If a spot is dead for locals, it is dead for you too. Everything else we get asked is on the FAQ.
Installation steps
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Step 1
Buy the plan you need in the Bali eSIM app
Pick a plan sized to the length of your stay. It covers all of Indonesia — Bali, Lombok, the Gilis, Java — on one purchase. The QR code and manual activation details appear under your order straight after payment and remain there if you need to install again.
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Step 2
Do the install at home, on Wi-Fi
Downloading an eSIM profile needs a working connection. Handling it before you leave means the only thing left on arrival at Denpasar is a switch — and the first hour of the trip goes on the beach road, not the arrivals hall.
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Step 3
Open Settings, then Network & internet
Pixels run close to stock Android, so the path is short and stable across recent releases. If your build shows something different, the search box at the top of Settings finds it when you type SIM.
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Step 4
Tap SIMs, or the + beside it
With a physical SIM already in use the entry reads SIMs, with a plus icon next to it. On a phone with no SIM at all you may instead see an invitation to add one. Either route lands in the same place.
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Step 5
Choose Download a SIM instead, then scan
Android first offers to look for a carrier plan; ignore that and pick Download a SIM instead — Google's wording for the option that accepts a provider's QR code. Hold the Pixel over the code on another screen, or tap Need help for manual entry and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from the app.
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Step 6
Name the line, then leave it disabled
The Pixel downloads the profile and asks you to confirm. Label it Bali so the dual-SIM screens read clearly, keep your home SIM as the default for calls, and switch the new line off — validity starts on its first connection to a network in Indonesia, not at purchase.
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Step 7
On arrival, enable it and make it your data SIM
After landing, open Settings, Network & internet, SIMs, select the Bali eSIM and switch it on. Then set Mobile data to that line. Calls and SMS stay on your usual number without interfering.
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Step 8
Enable Roaming for the Bali eSIM line only
With the Bali eSIM line open, turn Roaming on. The toggle sits per SIM on a Pixel, which is exactly what you want: it lets this line register on a visited network and adds nothing to a prepaid local plan. Your home SIM keeps its roaming off.
Troubleshooting
Which Pixels can take an eSIM?
Pixel 3 and everything after it, broadly speaking, with regional exceptions — a small number of variants sold in particular markets shipped without it. Rather than trust a list, dial *#06# on your own handset: if an EID is shown alongside the IMEI, your Pixel has the hardware.
I cannot find Download a SIM instead.
Check you are in Settings, Network & internet, SIMs rather than a carrier app. If the option is genuinely absent and *#06# does show an EID, the Pixel is likely carrier-locked — operator units sometimes restrict which eSIMs they accept. Your home operator can unlock it, far more easily before you fly than from a villa in Ubud.
I have landed but the eSIM has no signal.
Check three things in order: the line is enabled under SIMs, it is selected for mobile data, and Roaming is on for it. Then toggle Airplane mode. If it is still blank, open the line's network settings, switch off automatic selection and try Telkomsel, Indosat — often listed as IOH or IM3 — and XL Axiata by hand until one registers.
Does switching Roaming on create a charge?
No. That switch is how Android permits a line to attach to a network other than its own, and your Bali eSIM plan is prepaid for exactly that use on Indonesian networks, with no home operator in the chain to bill you. Just confirm roaming stays off on your primary SIM.
Will it work on the boat to the Gilis, or once I get to Lombok?
On Lombok and the Gilis, yes — the plan covers all of Indonesia, so nothing changes when you island-hop. On the boat itself, expect the signal to fade mid-strait and return as you approach the pier; that is where the towers are, and every network and every SIM behaves the same way out there.