Can’t send MMS (likely eSIM related bug)

Hi,

I’ve been abroad for a few months and used eSIM cards, mostly data only. But I had my local physical sim with me in the phone. To avoid sending MMS messages accidentally or SMS (that option when iMessage wouldn’t work), extra charged in roaming, I disabled MMS/SMS in message settings.

When I came back home I removed eSIMs and enabled both. But it occurred I cannot send MMS messages anymore.

When I was creating MMS message, the button to add a picture was greyed out so I couldn’t even choose a picture .

When trying to workaround by sharing a photo and choosing recipient, message with photo was created but after hitting send, I got a pop up saying that I can’t send it because MMS messages has to be enabled, despite it already was enabled.

Local phone Apple support couldn’t help.

I enabled/disabled that toggle, I resetted network settings, restarted the phone etc., called my provider and even changed my SIM card to new one. Nothing has helped.

When I used a backup to restore the phone, it didn't help either as it had to copy that glitch/bug whatever it was.

So the only solution was to clear the phone and set it up from the scratch.

I am writing this because my father has just came back from the trip and called me saying he can’t send mms and he had that disabled too while he was away and he was using eSIMs too

I was at that time on iOS 16, and iPhone 13 mini but he’s already on iOS17 and iPhone 15 pro.

Any idea how to fix this without clearing his phone and setting up again ?

It looks like a glitch/bug in both ios16 and 17