Cellular Plan

Hello Englishseeker,

The thing is that, from your findings, there appears to be a mismatch between the identified model by iOS and the actual model that you have. We know your iPhone is supposed to be DUAL SIM capable. What we do not know is whether it is Physical SIM + eSIM or 2 Physical SIMS. You haven't had any fruitful responses in this forum and that is because this phenomenon is rare.

Lets check something if you are up for it. Remove your SIM tray from your iPhone and see whether it looks like it can hold 2 SIMS. One in the front and one in the back. Should look like the image below-

Image was obtained from this article by Apple ➔ Using Dual SIMS with two Nano SIMS

If the SIM Tray looks like it can hold 2 SIMS then we know for sure that you have a DUAL SIM iPhone made for the Chinese market. If not then it puts us back to where you were before you read this response from me.

I recommend that you continue to work with Apple Support until you get a satisfactory answer or action.

Axel F.

There are iPhones manufactured for regions in China Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau where the Dual SIM functionality works with TWO PHYSICAL SIMS. The rest of the iPhones manufactured use ONE Physical SIM and ONE eSIM. If your iPhone has the eSIM functionality then, you are right, you will have an option to add a cellular plan.

What you have is the DUAL SIM (TWO PHYSICAL SIMS) version of the iPhone 11. In this version TWO SIMs are fitted to the same SIM card tray. One in the front and one in the back. The BACK SIM is the reference to the SIM in the back of the SIM card tray.

More information on DUAL SIM here ➔ Using Dual SIM with two nano-SIM cards

Axel F.

FYI: These are user-only forums. You are not speaking to Apple. if you need to speak with Apple Support, then contact product and tech support:  Contacting Apple for support and service including international calling numbers.

You have to get with Apple on this one.

Axel F.

Thanks for the answer and your recommend.

Yes, i called the apple support in Turkey many times, they tried to find a solution for my problem, but they couldn’t that and gave me every time a standart answer, that they don’t know, why this option deactivated and which i can use this with my german e-sim number.

i will try to get a help/support from german apple support, but i think, the apple warranty can be used even in germany.

But the Apple in Head Office in US must solve this problem with a software update. That’s definitly a big problem.

if i had know, i wouldn‘t have bought this Phone with a deactivated e-sim menu.

i saw many threads about the same problem on this forum without a exactly solution. Every time, the standart answers and links, please check it or take contact with your carrier or read the article from apple etc. That‘s not the solution. The Option on the menu is deactivated and not showing. If you try to scan the QR-Code, you get a message, that the e-sim not supported.

@Apple CS

Some users/holders of iphone have this option, and some users not. We know, If the carrier (which like turkish carriers) not supported the e-sim, you can’t use this. But why did you deactivate this option??? if i want use that with my german e-sim number in Europe or another country, which like support the e-sim, i can’t use it even, but the option (add cellular plan) on the menu is not avaible.

that’s very unprofessional for Apple!

here is my active post without a solution from you: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251673526

Best way for you is to  contact product and tech support: ➔  Contacting Apple for support and service including international calling numbers.

Axel F.

The A2221 is the Global version and NOT made for China. This makes you right that it should have ONE Physical SIM + ONE eSIM. You are right that it should show Digital SIM and not Back SIM.

At this point, I do not know the answer to your question.

Axel F.

Hello englishseeker, i have the same problem with my iphone 11 pro 64gb. I bought it in Turkey. It has one physical and one e-sim. But the Menu add cellular plan is missing. Therefore i can’t use the e-sim with my german e-sim number. I couldn’t find a resolution for this problem until yet.

Thanks, i already read this thread on macrumors and tried the all recommends and ways (restore via dfu, update, put the foreign sim card, tried with another turkish and foreign carriers, again activation etc..), but it didn’t help. I have a german icloud account.

My iphone 11 pro is brand new, i got it before 18 days in Turkey and have ios 13.6.1 at the moment. I don’t understand, why the apple for some iphone’s this menu deactivated. (the apple turkey says, they don’t know the exactly reason about that, but they think, that the e-sim module on the Phone is avaible, but the option on the menu for some holders of iphone in Turkey at the moment deactivated, because the carriers have not started to support the e-sim until yet, i understand it, but that’s not a answer and in my situation i want use it not with turkish number, i want use it with my german e-sim number? Otherwise my many friends from germany could use the e-sim with iphone 11 pro even in Turkey and in Germany with turkish physical sim card from same carrier and with e-sim from same german carrier. But they got and buy the iphone 11 pro in Germany. Some holders of iphone 11 pro in Turkey has told me, they have already this option (add cellular plan) on the cellular menu since the beginning and they use this already in turkey with turkish physical sim and with a foreign e-sim number. (We have the same modell-nr with the ending TU/A, i checked it already) Any other users told me, they have activated this option with ios update. Any others got this with dfu restore. But in my case, it didn’t help. There must be a solution and a way for use this on Europe) My Phone is definitly european version, it has a physical sim card and a e-sim imei number. But the option for add cellular plan is deactivated. I couldn’t use that with my german e-sim and german number.

I’m very disappointed about Apple. There is no solution avaible at the moment about this problem, but it’s from case to case, phone to phone differently.

The Apple must be solve this problem.

I suspect iOS14 did not solve your problem!, and may have made it worse if that is possible.

My eSIM (US AT&T) with Swedish SIM began to have SIM Failure during iOS13.x (not sure which 'x'), but was always able to recover after restarting the phone. With iOS 14.0, the 'add data plan' option has disappeared, and my eSIM has SIM Failure on restart even though the data for the eSIM line (IMEI, etc.) is still there under General/About... . I cannot remove the eSIM data or try to reinstall as 'eSIM installation unsupported on your device' now occurs, and that is clearly wrong since it worked earlier (in Sweden, and eSIM was installed in Sweden for the US line). Apple Care Support (who deal with software issues apparently) has a case open, but I am not hearing anything the past days. The hardware (XS Max, unlocked, bought at Apple Store in US) has been scanned by Apple and is ok, so it's a software problem, of some kind. Bottom line: iOS 14.0 broke the eSIM line completely.