Install a Bali eSIM on iPhone: Step by Step
Set up your Bali eSIM on iPhone before you fly: QR install over Wi-Fi, the iOS menus that keep moving, and the one toggle to flip on landing at Denpasar.
Updated August 24, 2026
Three things to know before you start
It connects only at your destination
Install at home, but expect “No Service” or “Activating…” until you land — that is normal. The plan wakes up when the line first finds a network at your destination.
Your QR code works exactly once
Seeing “invalid QR” after a scan almost always means the eSIM is already on your phone. Don’t rescan — open your SIM list and just switch the line on.
No internet after landing? Check Data Roaming
Turn the travel line on, set it as your mobile data line, and switch Data Roaming ON for it. This one toggle causes most “it doesn’t work” messages.
Installation steps
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Step 1
Choose your plan in the Bali eSIM app
Pick the plan that matches how long you will be in Indonesia — the plan covers the whole country, so one purchase carries you from Bali to Lombok and back. Once payment clears, your QR code and manual activation details sit under your order and stay there.
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Step 2
Install while you are still on Wi-Fi
The install needs an internet connection, and the arrivals hall at Denpasar is the last place you want to be looking for one. Five quiet minutes at home is the whole trick to landing connected.
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Step 3
Open Settings and find the cellular menu
Settings Cellular Add eSIM
Tap Settings, then the cellular entry. Apple has renamed it more than once — depending on your iOS version and region it reads Cellular, Mobile Data or Mobile Service. All three open the same screen.
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Step 4
Tap Add eSIM, then Use QR Code
Add eSIM Use QR Code
Current iOS labels the button Add eSIM; older releases say Add Cellular Plan or Add Data Plan. Pick the QR code option — not Transfer From Nearby iPhone, which moves an existing line between handsets — and scan the code from a laptop or second phone. On a single device, tap Enter Details Manually instead and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code across (two long strings in your order email). On iOS 17.4 or newer there is an even shorter path: long-press the QR image in the email itself and tap Add eSIM.
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Step 5
Label the line, then leave it switched off
New eSIM Custom Label
Call it Bali or Travel so the next screens are unambiguous, and leave your usual SIM as the default for calls. Then disable the line: your plan's clock starts when the eSIM first attaches to a network in Indonesia, not when you pay.
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Step 6
Switch it on when the wheels touch down
Settings Cellular Cellular Data
After landing at Denpasar — or Jakarta or Lombok, if that is where you touch down first — open the cellular menu, select the Bali eSIM line and turn it on. Then set it as the line that carries data under Cellular Data.
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Step 7
Turn Data Roaming on for the Bali eSIM line only
Cellular Bali Data Roaming
Open the Bali eSIM line and switch Data Roaming on. That toggle is how iOS grants a line permission to use a visited network — it is not a billing switch. Check it stays off on your home SIM, where it genuinely would cost you.
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Step 8
If nothing connects, pick a network by hand
Cellular Network Selection
In the eSIM line's Network Selection, turn Automatic off. Indonesia's big names are Telkomsel, Indosat — often shown as IOH or IM3 — and XL Axiata. The eSIM registers on its partner network, so try them in turn: the right one accepts, the others refuse.
Nobody should buy a Bali eSIM expecting network magic. In the busy south — Canggu, Seminyak, Uluwatu, Sanur — and around Ubud, your iPhone will hold a solid 4G signal on any of the big Indonesian networks, and no SIM of any kind adds towers to a quiet stretch of the east coast. What an eSIM actually fixes is money and time: the roaming rate your home operator charges for two weeks of maps, messages and uploads, and the first hour of the trip spent at an airport counter handing over your passport for a local SIM registration.
A prepaid data eSIM removes both. You buy a plan in the Bali eSIM app, install a digital line alongside the SIM you already use, and land at Denpasar with data working before the seatbelt queue clears. One honest point matters here: the plan is an Indonesia plan, so the same eSIM keeps working in Jakarta, on Lombok and out on the Gilis — there is no Bali-only network to be loyal to. Current plans are on our pricing page, and what is an eSIM is the shorter read if this is your first digital SIM.
This is the iPhone-only version: install on Wi-Fi before you leave, then two toggles once you land — the eSIM set as your data line, and Data Roaming turned on for that line alone. Covers iPhone XS, XR and every model since, and it calls out where Apple has renamed a menu between iOS versions rather than assuming one screen fits every phone. On Android instead? Try Samsung, Pixel or the general Android guide.
Do the install a day or two before you fly, while you still have good Wi-Fi and no jet lag. Nothing starts counting until the eSIM first touches an Indonesian network, so installing early costs you nothing — and it turns arrival into a single toggle instead of a task. The rest of what we get asked is on the FAQ.
Troubleshooting
The QR code will not scan. What now?
Turn up the brightness on the screen showing the code, hold the iPhone roughly 20–30 cm back, and get the whole square in frame with no glare. If it still will not read, tap Enter Details Manually and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order — manual entry produces exactly the same line.
The QR code says invalid, already used, or the install fails on a second try.
An activation code is single-use, so this error almost always means the first scan already worked and the eSIM is on the phone. Do not keep rescanning. Open the phone's SIM list (the cellular or SIM manager screen) or My eSIMs in the Bali eSIM app: if the line is listed, the install is done — turn the line on, give it mobile data and enable Data Roaming instead of installing again.
There is no Add eSIM option, or I get "eSIM Cannot Be Added".
Open Settings, General, About and look for an EID. If it is listed, the hardware supports eSIM and the problem is a carrier lock — ask your home operator to unlock the handset before you travel. If there is no EID, the phone predates eSIM and needs a physical SIM.
I have landed in Bali and the eSIM shows no service.
Check in order that the line is switched on, selected under Cellular Data, and has Data Roaming enabled. Then toggle Airplane Mode to force a fresh search. If it is still blank, turn off automatic network selection and work through Telkomsel, Indosat and XL Axiata by hand until one registers.
Does turning Data Roaming on mean roaming charges?
Not for this line. Your Bali eSIM plan is prepaid for use on Indonesian networks, so no home operator is in the loop to bill you — the toggle only tells iOS the line may register on a network it does not own. Do keep Data Roaming off on your primary SIM, which your usual carrier meters.
Will the same eSIM work on Lombok, the Gilis or in Jakarta?
Yes. It is an Indonesia-wide plan, not a Bali-only one, so the fast boat to Gili Trawangan, a surf week on Lombok or a stopover in Jakarta all run on the eSIM you already installed. Expect the signal to drop mid-crossing on the boat and return near the pier — that is the network, and it is the same for every SIM.
Do I have to scan the QR code at all?
No. In the Bali eSIM app, open My eSIMs, tap your plan and tap Install — the profile installs on the same phone with no camera involved. The QR route exists for installing from a second screen; both end in the identical profile, and the steps after the install are the same either way.