esim_check

Flutter plugin to check eSIM hardware support using native platform APIs.

  • Android: EuiccManager.isEnabled() — real hardware check, no entitlements needed
  • iOS: Device model identifier check — Apple's CTCellularPlanProvisioning API requires a restricted carrier entitlement, so we match the machine identifier against known eSIM-capable models instead

No permissions required. Works offline and in flight mode.

Requirements

  • Flutter >= 3.41.6
  • Android: minSdk 24, AGP 9 (no backward compatibility with older AGP versions)
  • iOS: iOS 15+, Swift Package Manager only (no CocoaPods)

Usage

import 'package:esim_check/esim_check.dart';

final supported = await EsimCheck.isSupported();

Returns true if the device has eSIM hardware, false otherwise.

Overriding the iPad18+ heuristic

iPhones and iPads through iPad17 use verified lists. Future iPads (iPad18+) fall back to an even-minor heuristic that may not hold for every model. Use includeIosModels and excludeIosModels to correct it:

final supported = await EsimCheck.isSupported(
  includeIosModels: ['iPad19,3'],  // cellular model the heuristic misses
  excludeIosModels: ['iPad18,4'],  // WiFi-only model the heuristic matches
);

excludeIosModels takes priority. Both parameters are iOS-only and ignored on Android.

Platform behavior

Platform Method Fallback
Android >= API 28 EuiccManager.isEnabled() —
Android < API 28 — Returns false (no Android device with eSIM shipped before API 28)
iOS Machine identifier lookup Returns false for unknown models
Android Emulator EuiccManager.isEnabled() Returns false (no eSIM hardware)
iOS Simulator — Returns false (no eSIM hardware)
Web, desktop — Returns false

Note: some Windows/macOS laptops and tablets (e.g. Surface Pro) have eSIM hardware but no platform implementation exists for desktop — contributions welcome. Apple Watch supports eSIM but Flutter does not run on watchOS.

iOS detection details

Apple's CTCellularPlanProvisioning.supportsCellularPlan() requires the com.apple.developer.networking.cellular-provider entitlement, which Apple only grants to carriers. Without it, the API always returns false.

The CTTelephonyNetworkInfo workaround (counting SIM service keys) broke in iOS 16 when Apple deprecated CTCarrier.

This plugin uses the device model identifier (utsname) instead:

  • iPhones: All models from iPhone XS (iPhone11,x) onward support eSIM, except iPhone11,4 (China XS Max with dual physical SIM). Uses major version heuristic — future-proof.
  • iPads (2026+): From iPad18,x onward, even minor number = cellular = eSIM capable (odd = WiFi-only). Future-proof heuristic. Note: the even-minor pattern broke for iPad16,8–iPad16,11 (2026 iPad Air M4), so all models through iPad17 are listed explicitly.
  • iPads (2018–2025): iPad7–iPad17 cellular models are matched against an explicit list (minor numbering is inconsistent — e.g. iPad16,9 is cellular while iPad16,8 is WiFi-only).

Use includeIosModels/excludeIosModels to correct the iPad18+ heuristic for specific models. Simulators return the host architecture (arm64/x86_64) which doesn't match any device pattern, so they correctly return false.

Mainland China limitation

Most iPhones sold in mainland China (iPhone XR through iPhone 16) and all cellular iPads have dual physical SIM slots instead of eSIM, but share the same machine identifiers as their global eSIM-capable counterparts. The only exception is iPhone11,4 (China XS Max), which has a unique identifier and is explicitly excluded. For all other China models, the plugin cannot distinguish them from global variants and will return a false positive. This is a fundamental limitation of the device model approach — Apple does not expose eSIM capability through any public API without the restricted carrier entitlement.

Libraries

esim_check