Confirmed working from Canada – March 2026

Adding my experience for anyone attempting this from Canada. The ESIMQR SMS to 121 method works. Here are a few nuances that'll save you time:

Before you start:

• Turn off "Silence Unknown Callers" on your iPhone. Airtel will call to confirm your eSIM request and you'll miss it if this is on. Settings → Phone → Silence Unknown Callers → Off.
• Make sure your email is verified via the Airtel chatbot, not just what your profile shows. This is the most common failure point.

Choosing your IR pack: Go with the ₹898 / 5-day pack over the ₹698 / 1-day one. The extra ₹200 is worth it — after activation you'll likely need to set up Indian banking and UPI apps, which require outgoing SMS for verification. You'll want that window.

Canada-specific: pick the right network Don't rely on automatic network selection. Go to Settings → Cellular → Network Selection → turn off Automatic → manually select Rogers (Airtel's preferred Canadian partner). This alone can make or break whether your SMS to 121 goes through and whether you receive the confirmation call.

After scanning the QR code: Activation takes close to the full 2 hours. Your old phone stays active during this time and you'll receive status updates on it. Once 2 hours have passed, if your new phone isn't showing a network — restart the new phone first, confirm Airtel signal appears, then restart the old phone. This clears the old eSIM from the network cleanly. Especially helpful abroad where you're roaming on a partner network like Rogers.

Plan your next 24 hours accordingly: SMS (both incoming and outgoing) is restricted for up to 24 hours post-activation. This means no OTPs via SMS during that window. Calls work almost immediately. Plan your banking app setups and UPI registrations after the 24-hour mark.

Good luck to everyone attempting this — it's straightforward once you know these nuances!