iPhone dual sim usability

Contacts remain ‘as they were’, you effectively have one pool of contacts that you can define as Personal/Business. Based on the definition depends on which line you call them through.

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Messages effectively works in the same manner, incoming is just a bit like Outlook/Mail, one holding area for many accounts. I can’t see a way to dictate which line is used on the fly when composing a new one though...

I think with regards to Facebook/WhatsApp you’re potentially asking how (and if) you split a personal account with a business account? Neither app is impacted by enabling/use of Dual SIM. So if you’re wanting to run separate Facebook/WhatsApp accounts you’re probably not going to like the way it works. As far as I can tell you need to sign out of them and sign in using your business info (for example).

A lot of the data/phone related settings can be toggled on for both, personal or business. As in you can seemingly tell Facebook you’re happy for it to consume personal data, but not business etc...

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One negative that I’ve found is that you cannot utilise 5G when in dual sim mode. You CAN disable one sim to receive 5G however. Suspect this will be a 12S feature...

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Choice for on the fly messages matches line used for voice calls (says so in your screenshot above 👍🏼)
 
Ever since i managed Vodafone at a corporate level, I vowed never to touch them again. It’s just that at the time I wanted a connection for my watch Vodafone were most competitive.

Admittedly, the issues such as really bad signal etc, ie. the problems I faced back then, no longer appear to be an issue. But their CS and procedures are still terrible.

I still don’t see how/why they have the reputation they have in the business sector! The only thing my head goes to is that they’re located in the south, and most of my corporate dealings have been with businesses where their HQ is in the south. Anyway, whatever. Vodafone still suck in my eyes.

Back to my journey to dual-SIMdom. I did try again last night, at about 22:30. This time I used the App instead of the website, to perform the SIM swap.

This time things looked a little more positive. At least I received a QR code!

Scanning the QR on your phone via the phones camera is a little fiddly however 😂

I airdropped the QR to my Mac, scanned it. Only to be told the QR was invalid.

View attachment 1428077

Brilliant. So again, almost immediately signal was removed, and whilst I now had a QR code, it was useless. I hit up their forums and found this eSim problem, which is almost identical to my experience, in which I posted a lengthy reply with screenshots and the lot, only to wake this morning and find my reply has been deleted as spam?!

Of course, at that time of night Vodafone CS was closed, so at this point it was just a case of going to bed and seeing how it goes overnight. Fingers crossed.

Anyway. Alongside identifying my reply had been nuked in the forum, i found I’d received an email from Vodafone with a QR...

Thankfully this worked!

So the Tl:dr; is pretty much;

  • use the app to perform a sim swap
  • do it just before bed/at a time you can be without connection for 1-24 hours
  • hope that the SIM profile lands within 1-24 hours

View attachment 1428079



Massive apologies to @neuty for Hijacking this thread! Maybe I can re read the OP and try to assist now 😂🙈
Zero apologies needed as we both got the same result we wanted. It's all about sharing.

Carl
 
Choice for on the fly messages matches line used for voice calls (says so in your screenshot above 👍🏼)

I presumed as much. So effectively you define a line for the contact, regardless of contact method. 👍👍
 
What we saying on dual SIM battery life? Never had low battery prompts on my 12 Pro, until enabling Dual SIM.

Coincidence, or is this known behaviour?
 
What we saying on dual SIM battery life? Never had low battery prompts on my 12 Pro, until enabling Dual SIM.

Coincidence, or is this known behaviour?
It has had an impact on my battery. Something I'm watching for now.
 
Just a warning from my experience:

I got a new iPhone 12 Pro Max through EE. They sorted me out a new eSIM to replace the one in my iPhone XS. No problem.

Later I wanted to add a second physical SIM from Three/Smarty, but EE told me the phone is locked for 6 months! They then tried to flog me a 'discounted' plan. Fortunately I've worked out I can use a cheap PlusNet SIM which uses the EE network.

I can't believe they still network lock iPhones in 2021.
 
One more thing.

@tredman do you have an Apple Watch? Just wondering if all calls, messages, emails etc come through on the watch too?

Carl

Looks like you’ve got most things sorted now but a couple of things.

I’ve been using dual sim since the launch of iPhone 11Pro Max.
EE provide my e-sim and my Apple Watch Esim with no issues syncing at all. Battery on my 6 easily lasts all day (screen always on) and I have around 30% left at the end of the night with very heavy daily usage.
My physical sim is an overseas card that roams on Vodafone and been working flawlessly.

BUT the only thing to be aware of is that I upgraded to iPhone 12 Pro Max and couldn’t get 5G. Apple have since confirmed that 5G does not “currently” work when running dual sim.
Not really an issue as we are all stuck at home but if you do need to use 5G you have to switch off a line and I think it is esim that doesn’t work but I haven’t tested to confirm that. Still no fix from apple.
 
Looks like you’ve got most things sorted now but a couple of things.

I’ve been using dual sim since the launch of iPhone 11Pro Max.
EE provide my e-sim and my Apple Watch Esim with no issues syncing at all. Battery on my 6 easily lasts all day (screen always on) and I have around 30% left at the end of the night with very heavy daily usage.
My physical sim is an overseas card that roams on Vodafone and been working flawlessly.

BUT the only thing to be aware of is that I upgraded to iPhone 12 Pro Max and couldn’t get 5G. Apple have since confirmed that 5G does not “currently” work when running dual sim.
Not really an issue as we are all stuck at home but if you do need to use 5G you have to switch off a line and I think it is esim that doesn’t work but I haven’t tested to confirm that. Still no fix from apple.
Great bit of info for anyone using dual sim.

I’m currently back using two phones as I am most likely leaving my current job that supply a work phone.

The whole usage was very well implemented. As @tredman has said. Better than Android.

Carl
 
Hi all,
Thought I’d add a few thoughts as someone who has moved from years of Android dual sim to iPhone dual sim. Had OnePlus and Samsung phones for the last 3 or 4 years, but fancied a switch back to iPhone - my first since the 3GS.
Both my personal and work lines are with o2 - I switched back to them from Sky which was seamless, and the eSIM pack was dead easy to activate.
Best feature for me is CarPlay works perfectly with both sims, and uses whichever one you have assigned to the contact. Android Auto doesn’t do this, you had to choose a default sim. Messaging wise I mostly use WhatsApp for personal and WhatsApp Business for work, no issues there at all.
Battery - I have an 11 Pro Max refurb - seems absolutely incredible compared to previous phones, but it is charging in the car a lot. Rarely have to charge overnight if I’m working.
Overall it’s probably been an even better experience than I was expecting, very happy. If anyone has any questions about swapping from Android dual sim to iPhone just ask.

:)
 
Hi all,
Thought I’d add a few thoughts as someone who has moved from years of Android dual sim to iPhone dual sim. Had OnePlus and Samsung phones for the last 3 or 4 years, but fancied a switch back to iPhone - my first since the 3GS.
Both my personal and work lines are with o2 - I switched back to them from Sky which was seamless, and the eSIM pack was dead easy to activate.
Best feature for me is CarPlay works perfectly with both sims, and uses whichever one you have assigned to the contact. Android Auto doesn’t do this, you had to choose a default sim. Messaging wise I mostly use WhatsApp for personal and WhatsApp Business for work, no issues there at all.
Battery - I have an 11 Pro Max refurb - seems absolutely incredible compared to previous phones, but it is charging in the car a lot. Rarely have to charge overnight if I’m working.
Overall it’s probably been an even better experience than I was expecting, very happy. If anyone has any questions about swapping from Android dual sim to iPhone just ask.

:)
Brilliant reply and great detail @Ian182
 
I currently use eSim personal on my iPhone without any issues. I like in the video how the iMessages work. Ive watched a video on how to set up WhatsApp Business as the second line too.
My plans would be use iCloud for all personal details and Google for work. That keeps everything pretty separate. I would also use Outlook for work emails.

I dont use Facebook and social media via work, just messages, calls, emails.

Only tricky one for me would be photos. They would all end up on my main photos app mixed with personal and work.

Carl
@athelstan i would be keen to know what you found angry about this post
 
Just to add that Apple has announced iOS 14.5 BETA which fixes and finally allows 5G for those running Dual Sim. The full public release ETA is March
 
Later I wanted to add a second physical SIM from Three/Smarty, but EE told me the phone is locked for 6 months! They then tried to flog me a 'discounted' plan. Fortunately I've worked out I can use a cheap PlusNet SIM which uses the EE network.

I can't believe they still network lock iPhones in 2021.

Phone locking will finally be outlawed in November of this year.

Just to add that Apple has announced iOS 14.5 BETA which fixes and finally allows 5G for those running Dual Sim. The full public release ETA is March

iOS 14.5 beta is completely usable, so anyone wanting to use dual 5G (or even the feature to use your Apple Watch to circumvent FaceID) shouldn’t be scared to download and run with it.

I’ve used it on my iPhone 12 and haven’t found any bugs which seems to be the same for the majority who've posted in the relevent thread at McRumors.
 

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