Android 13 QPR2 Beta 2 Debuts Seamless eSIM Transfer Support

Andi C., Tech Times 10 January 2023, 12:01 pm

Android 13 beta reveals a new feature to transfer your eSIM to new devices conveniently.

While smartphones and operating systems have created numerous technical advancements over the years, the ability to easily your digital sim profile between Android phones is not yet available.

It is currently not an easy process, and you might even need to call your carrier to get the eSIM on your new phone activated, and the eSIM profile on your previous phone needs to be deactivated before being activated on your new phone.

Fortunately, the built-in Quick Move tool in iOS smartphones enables users to transfer physical or eSIMs from an old iPhone to a new one without getting in touch with their carrier. Now, it looks like Google is allegedly working on bringing comparable capabilities to Android, drawing inspiration from this iOS feature.

New eSIM Transfer Support for Android 13

According to XDA-Developers, Android leaker Mishaal Rahman reveals that similar to iOS' feature, Google is introducing the capability in the SIM Manager app for its Pixel smartphones and a number of other mobile devices that come pre-loaded with Google Mobile Services.

You might soon be able to transfer an eSIM profile from an old Android phone to a new phone, or convert a profile on a physical SIM card into an eSIM profile. Support for transferring profiles is being implemented in Google's SIM Manager app the LPA on Pixel and many GMS devices.
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) January 9, 2023

Digital Trends reports that Google has been testing MEP on Pixel phones, and Rahman anticipates the function to be included in the future Android 13 public beta edition. The pre-installed SIM Manager app on Pixel phones will take care of the underlying MEP adjustments.

Google has been in discussions with carriers and OEMs on the implementation strategy while testing the APIs with Developer Preview builds of Android 13 at the moment. Google's Pixel line of smartphones will most likely enable both eSIM profile transfers and turning a physical SIM into an eSIM profile. Only a few models may have the ability to convert a physical SIM to an eSIM profile, but other OEMs devices will also get support for eSIM profile transfers.

What To Expect for Android 13 QPR2 Beta 2

Aside from the anticipated eSIM feature, here is a full list of changes that users can expect for Android 13 in Google Pixel smartphones, according to XDA-Developers:

Android 13 Fixes:

Fixed an issue with the System UI that sometimes caused the Home screen to become unresponsive.
Fixed an issue where, after switching back to Normal video capture mode from Slow Motion mode in the Google Camera app, the app continued capturing slow-motion video if the capture speed was changed between 1/8x and 1/4x while in Slow Motion mode.

The new Android update brings Google Play services up to version 22.41.13 from 22.39.10. However, three problems linked to the Android Platform have been found in this release, so before you update, take into account the following drawbacks if you have not already joined the beta program:

Android 13 Current Drawbacks:

The list of Recent apps sometimes becomes unresponsive if the screen orientation is changed while the list is open.
In some cases, when entering and exiting Picture-in-picture (PiP) mode from an app after changing the screen orientation, the system Settings app crashes with a "Settings keeps stopping" message, and then the system Settings app can't be opened.
An issue with the System UI can sometimes cause it to crash from a null pointer exception.