Keeping your number when you change phones
The SIM is yours and the number is yours. The one that needs care is the eSIM.
Your number is not stored in the phone. It belongs to the SIM and to your account with the operator, so changing handsets does not put it at risk — with one exception worth planning for.
A physical SIM
Take it out and put it in the new phone. That is the whole procedure. Do it before the pickup, not during: a phone that leaves with your SIM in it can still receive your calls and, more to the point, your one-time codes.
Take the microSD card out at the same time if there is one. Both are yours and neither is part of what is being sold.
An eSIM
This is the one that needs doing in advance. An eSIM is provisioned to the device itself, so it does not travel in your hand the way a plastic card does. Before the old phone goes:
- Use your operator's own transfer flow, or the phone's — recent iPhones and Android phones can move an eSIM between devices directly.
- Or ask the operator to re-issue the eSIM to the new handset.
Confirm the new phone has signal and can receive a test message before you hand the old one over. An eSIM left behind on a phone you have sold is a number you have to recover through your operator.
The codes that are not on the SIM
Banking and work logins that use an authenticator app do not travel with the number. Move those from inside the app while both phones are in front of you — it is the single most painful thing to lose. What a backup does and does not carry.
Then the phone can go
Sign out of the accounts, and leave the factory reset to our agent at the door. The ten-minute checklist covers the rest.
See what your phone is worth
A price in about a minute, free doorstep pickup in a two-hour slot, and paid — cash or bank transfer — before our agent leaves.
Questions people ask
- Do I lose my number if I sell my phone?
- No. The number belongs to the SIM and the account, not the handset. Move the physical SIM to the new phone, or have the operator move your eSIM.
- What about an eSIM?
- An eSIM is provisioned to the device, so it does not travel by itself. Transfer it to the new phone through the operator's app or by asking for a re-issue before the old phone leaves.
- Why does it matter that I take the SIM out?
- Because a phone that leaves with your SIM in it can still receive your calls and your one-time codes.