O2: Apple Watch users are stuck in the eSIM queue
If you want to use your Apple Watch on the mobile network, you have to register an eSIM. O2 customers have been complaining about difficulties for weeks.
Apple Watch when used for telephony purposes: Nothing works without eSIM.
(Image: Apple)
Users with a contract with the mobile network provider O2, a Telefonica subsidiary, are complaining about problems activating their contract with the Apple Watch. Mobile-capable devices such as the Apple Watch Series 10 with LTE or the Apple Watch Ultra of both generations use electronic SIM cards, so-called eSIMs, which are transferred from the iPhone to the computer watch. This is done via the Apple Watch application on the iPhone. However, the affected O2 customers are stuck at several points in this process: eSIM activation is not finally completed despite the provider's message to the contrary. There have been reports of this for several months. A central thread on this topic in the official O2 forum has over 450 replies and 18 pages; it was started eight weeks ago, with the latest entries dating from this Tuesday.
Mobile tariff is set to "Wait"
To make an Apple Watch mobile compatible, the respective contract for the cell phone must allow this. In Germany, all four major providers officially support this: Telekom, O2, Vodafone and 1&1 – plus isolated resellers such as Winsim, which Apple does not include in its official list. The contract must include a multi-SIM function so that the Apple Watch can be assigned its own eSIM. This may be subject to a charge.
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If access is configured correctly, activation should be quick: Users call up the Apple Watch app, select the Mobile section there and can activate the tariff. This usually requires logging into the account with the mobile phone provider. This is also the case with O2. However, this does not result in a correct conclusion, including activation, at least for the users affected by the problem. This can be recognized by the fact that the mobile tariff in the Apple Watch app remains on "Waiting" (for final activation) – something that otherwise only takes minutes. In other cases, it says that the SIM card still needs to be "ordered", which can take up to 48 hours – but even after that nothing happens. Finally, they sometimes say that the data cannot be read by the system and that you should try again "later". In some cases, those affected even receive an e-mail stating that the tariff has been successfully activated without this being the case.
"Uniform solution for all cases"
A Mac & i reader writes that orders get stuck in O2's system and sometimes block further processes for weeks, which even the technical department cannot solve. "Provisioning of the eSIM therefore fails again and again." O2 itself did not initially respond to an inquiry to the press office. In the forum, employees write that there are currently "challenges, especially with the activation of eSIMs on the Apple Watch." They are "already in contact with our contacts in the specialist department" to find a "uniform solution for all cases".
This apparently affects not only customers who have to transfer their eSIM when changing devices, but also people who want to activate an Apple Watch mobile tariff for the first time.
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