I’ve been using Airalo (data only) eSIMs for my iPhone on international trips.
The usual setup is that I just need a way to communicate via the various messengers or FaceTime and for navigation. For everything else, I can rely on WiFi at the hotels or the relatives I stay with.
This way, data usage is very low and I manage to get through a week with a cheap 1 GB plan just fine.
But for that, after switching to the Airalo eSIM, I need to manually turn every single app’s access to cellular data off (I have about 275 apps installed), and back home, turn them all manually on again.
A main switch to turn all on or off would be really helpful here.
Does anyone know of an easier way?
Is T-Mobile an option? Unlimited international data included in my voice plan so I don’t even think about it. I will just ignore the fact that you have 275 apps on your iPhone.
Unfortunately, T-Mobile is not an option (maybe in the distant future, though).
Yes, it’s a lot of apps but I argue that with 50 apps, it would still be an annoyance.
There is a very good reddit thread about the Airalo esim. I’ve used it several times and have either turned everything off or very little off. I’m about to create a ‘how-to’ document for our family who are going to Greece together. Stay tuned.
Sadly no simple way around that issue, had the same situation when I visited Singapore last time.
Things to help:
Turn off background refresh
Force quit apps
Turn off the apps that are data hogs, but note that system services can use quite a bit of data
Perhaps use shortcut to setup an automation that turns off cellular when you are connected to Wi-Fi, or in specific locations?
One other thing to try, turn on un-used app offload, this would help with apps that you don’t use often, you can just turn it back off. Not sure it would clear apps in time. Any app that is off boarded wouldn’t be able to use data.
