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eSIM not showing signal bars on iPhone

My iPhone 13 Pro, running iOS 17.4, recently had its international roaming Indian physical SIM card upgraded to an eSIM for use in Bahrain. The installation was successful.


Note: I have two connections on my phone - one physical local SIM card and one recently converted from an international physical SIM to an international eSIM. This is where the problem started. So I have only two SIM profiles on my phone.


- When there is no physical SIM and no other eSIM being used, only the problematic eSIM is available on the device. Incoming calls are received and outgoing calls can be made, but there are no signal bars displayed. The top right corner shows "No SIM".


- When there is one local physical SIM and the problematic eSIM is available on the device, both the problematic eSIM and the local physical SIM can receive incoming calls. Only one signal bar is displayed for the local physical SIM card. For outgoing calls, the physical SIM is used by default. There are no options available to make outgoing calls through the eSIM.


- I tried transferring the problematic eSIM to another iPhone, but it showed "No phone number available".


Inside the problematic eSIM profile, there are only two available options when there is no physical SIM installed:

1. Turn on/off option

2. Delete eSIM


When there is one physical SIM available, inside the problematic eSIM profile, there are four options available:

1. Turn on/off option

2. Data mode

3. Limit IP address tracking

4. Data roaming


So, how can I get signal bars and more options inside the eSIM profile? How can I make calls from the eSIM when I have a physical SIM inside as well?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]


iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 17

Posted on Mar 8, 2024 2:08 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 1, 2024 11:56 PM

Hello, was this issue fixed? I am facing the same. The esim is activated and everything but i see no second signal tower and nothing. Why is this happening? Did anyone of you in the thread reach a solution yet or even the original post person?

27 replies

May 31, 2024 4:12 AM in response to Lunar6621

I also have the same problem.


After the AirTel eSim conversion,

  • incoming call works,
  • outgoing call works,
  • SMS works,
  • Mobile data / internet browsing works


The following does not show / work,

  • The signal tower does not show up
  • The hotspot does not work


Called AIRTEL several times - they are unable to fix the problem.


Can anyone help me to fix the problem.

Apr 28, 2024 8:26 AM in response to nibin_s

I am also facing this issue after a switch to ESim. I could observe that when the esim was activated for a brief moment the signal bar was visible and i could see the signal strengths of both physical and esim profiles. But it quickly disappeared and now i dont have any signal bar for the esim. The calls and data are working though.


is there any update in this issue?

Mar 25, 2024 11:15 AM in response to nibin_s

I am also facing the same issue,

i have an esim and physical sim, in video i can see that there is a direct way to switch between while calling and existing contact but it is not showing for me. Also signal bar for esim is not visible but able make calls and send messages from esim and physical sim. I tried network resent but it didn’t work. Can someone please help me

May 31, 2024 4:29 AM in response to MuthUma

I also have the same problem.


After the AirTel eSim conversion,

  • incoming call works,
  • outgoing call works,
  • SMS works,
  • Mobile data / internet browsing works


The following does not show / work,

  • The signal tower does not show up
  • The hotspot does not work


Called AIRTEL several times - they are unable to fix the problem.


Also I get the following error, when I try to setup the Personal Hotspot,

  • To enable personal hotspot on this account, contact AirTel......


Can anyone help me to fix the problem.

May 3, 2024 9:28 PM in response to nibin_s

I had the same issue. After switching to eSIM from physical SIM, the signal bar disappeared and unable to make calls using SIRI since it thought there is no network. But I was able to make /receive calls manually.


No help from Apple community and I visited a local Airtel store. They reinstalled the eSIM and the problem got solved. SIRI now recognizes the network but call not going through.

Jun 19, 2024 2:07 AM in response to nibin_s

Hi, was having the same problem with migrating my Airtel physical SIM to a eSIm. I went to an Airtel shop and while they did migrate the SIM, I could not see signal bars or use my iPhone 12 Pro Max as a hotspot for 2 weeks. Today, and to fix it, I just downloaded the Airtel Thanks app and did it myself. It worked in 2 minutes. Note, you’ll need wifi to do this migration from the app.

Jul 27, 2024 3:25 AM in response to nibin_s

I too faced the same issue with my Airtel esim. The next day, after my SMS service was enabled again, I clicked on upgrade to esim one more time in Airtel thanks app, received OTP and then it requested for activation within 20 minutes and then I was seeing signal bars and was able to use hotspot too. It even had other options enabled in the mobile service section which were absent during the first time I activated it.

eSIM not showing signal bars on iPhone

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