What you need to know
- Pixel users continue to report buggy eSIM experiences for Google's Pixel 9 and 10 series devices.
- Users claim their device will say "something went wrong" or it simply won't recognize, nor activate their eSIM, despite it working fine in a different device.
- Google has been made aware of this issue and is reportedly working on a fix for a future update.
The bad streak of issues impacting Google's Pixel users continues with reports discussing wonky, broken eSIMs.
Per usual, reports kicked off on the Google Pixel subreddit earlier this week, with the original poster stating their Pixel 9 Pro XL's eSIM just gave out (via Android Authority). The user states that they've rolled back to avoid the April security update due to "encountering/reading about the critical eSIM bug that caused the device to fail to recognize digital SIMs." They add that their Pixel will not reconnect or activate their eSIM because of this issue.
A user with a Pixel 9 Pro encountered this same problem: "just can't manage to install an eSIM, it keeps giving me an error." There was a Pixel 9 Pro XL-related thread started on the Pixel Community Forum, reiterating many of the issues others have expressed on Reddit. The thread's creator says they checked their eSIM with a Samsung Galaxy device and found no such issues with their eSIM.
The user was encouraged to check with their cellular provider; however, doing so offered no such relief. The issue persisted, pushing them to further believe that the root of the problem lies within the device. Android Authority discovered that this problem is affecting some Pixel 10 users, as well.
Back on Reddit, one user with the April security patch reported no such issues. The original poster in the thread said that some users who performed a "clean flash" of the April and May patches had this problem, and that there's still a chance that the more conventional OTA update could still cause the eSIM issue. It's been reported that Google is aware of the eSIM issue, but hasn't yet confirmed when a fix will arrive.
Recent history
The bulk of these reports concern Google's April security patch, which had a different struggle for other Pixel users. Around mid-April, reports surfaced about a severe battery drain issue. What made matters worse was that many devices saw their batteries drop quickly while idle. As you'd imagine, this was a major pain point for many Pixel users with a Pixel 6 up to the Pixel 10.
Google vowed to have a fix for this severe battery drain in a future patch. Some users are waiting to see if the eSIM issue has been resolved in the May security update, but many have yet to receive it. Based on Google's changelog, no such fix for this eSIM problem was mentioned, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Hopefully, the fix is there. If not, then we might have to set our sights on June—or a surprise secondary patch later this month.
Android Central's Take
It almost feels like Google's Pixels are getting kicked while they're down—or wounded, at most. We're just now coming off the back of some much-needed wireless charging and display fixes in May, and now these eSIM problems are taking over with no resolution yet. I'm hoping Pixel users can get some stretch of time here in the near future where the "issues" aren't really issues at all because this eSIM problem is a true bummer for a lot of people.
