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I recently went to Mexico and I purchased a SIM card for my trip as it was much cheaper than paying the international rates. The SIM card worked fine, but I didn't realize no one would be able to contact me on my USA number via iMessage. Is there a way to keep my number associated with my iCloud account while I have a different SIM card in?

I have a cellular enabled iPad that I no longer have service for--would putting my SIM card in my iPad accomplish this?

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Putting it in your iPad probably wouldn't accomplish it, as your iPad doesn't support phone lines and wouldn't feed it into iMessage.

If your phone and one of the two lines (main and travel) supports eSIM you could use that to have a dual sim:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209044

For example, if you use AT&T you should be able to convert the physical SIM to an eSIM directly from the Cellular page in Settings. Other carriers may have the same feature, but I've only done it with AT&T.

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  • I was looking for a work around. I never dreamed there was an actual feature to support what I needed. This should be perfect.
    – Andrew
    Jun 7, 2022 at 20:38
  • Actually, after testing, this will not quite meet my needs. The idea is that I need to be able to prevent my phone from accessing cellular services without losing access to my number (similar to Airplane mode). However, if I turn off the eSIM line, I still lose my number for iCloud services. I think this is probably a first step, but it doesn't get me across the goal line.
    – Andrew
    Jun 17, 2022 at 18:41
  • You can turn off just data - is that not sufficient?
    – Ezekiel
    Jun 21, 2022 at 1:59
  • No, I would still get charged for international usage if I get calls or texts.
    – Andrew
    Jul 17, 2022 at 20:42
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    Would turning off roaming address that?
    – Ezekiel
    Jul 18, 2022 at 21:56

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