How to Install a Saudi eSIM on Google Pixel
Add a Saudi eSIM to your Pixel before departure: the Settings path, the per-SIM roaming switch, and an honest note on coverage outside the main cities.
Updated August 28, 2026
Nothing about a Pixel makes this hard. The friction in a Saudi Arabia trip is elsewhere: in what your own carrier charges for the out-of-region band, one of the priciest rows on the sheet for most of the world, and in the twenty minutes after landing when the airport Wi-Fi login page will not load and the hotel shuttle desk wants a confirmation email you cannot open. A local prepaid SIM means locating an open kiosk and, most of the time, handing over your passport.
An eSIM turns that into something you do at home the evening before. Buy the plan in the Saudi eSIM app, install the line over your own Wi-Fi, leave it switched off, and arrive with one toggle between you and a working map. There is no penalty for installing early: the plan counts from its first connection to a Saudi network, not from the moment of purchase. Prices sit on the pricing page, and the rest of what we get asked is on the FAQ.
The Pixel path is Settings, Network & internet, SIMs, then Download a SIM instead. Two details are worth reading twice. Google’s wording — Download a SIM instead — sounds like a fallback and is in fact the option you want, sitting one screen behind an offer to search for carrier plans. And the Roaming switch on a Pixel is per SIM, so you can leave it on for the travel line and off for your home line, which is precisely the arrangement you want here. Other phones are covered on the iPhone and Samsung pages, or the general Android one if yours is neither.
Now the two things we will not soften. The plan is data-only, so it gives you no Saudi phone number, and that has consequences worth planning around: local services often expect a Saudi number for a verification text or a callback, and there is no workaround we can sell you. Your own number keeps working on your own SIM. And Saudi coverage is not uniform. It is excellent in the cities and along the highway network connecting them; it is patchy across the Empty Quarter, on the road out to AlUla and around active NEOM construction sites. That is where the towers are, and a different SIM would not move them. Download offline maps before a desert leg and you will barely notice; drive in expecting full bars everywhere and you will.
Installation steps
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Step 1
Buy the plan in the Saudi eSIM app
Choose your plan and pay. The QR code and manual activation details are filed under the order and stay there, so you can come back if the first install does not take.
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Step 2
Install at home, on Wi-Fi
A profile download needs a real connection. Doing it before departure loses you nothing, because the plan begins counting at its first connection to a Saudi network rather than at purchase.
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Step 3
Open Settings, then Network & internet
Pixels run close to stock Android, so the path is short and has held steady across recent releases. If your build words it differently, type SIM into the Settings search box.
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Step 4
Tap SIMs, or the plus icon beside it
With a physical SIM in use the entry reads SIMs with a small plus next to it. On a Pixel carrying no SIM you may instead see a direct invitation to add one. Both reach the same screen.
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Step 5
Pick Download a SIM instead, then scan
Android first offers to look for a carrier plan; skip that and choose Download a SIM instead, Google's wording for the option that accepts a provider QR code. Hold the Pixel over the code on another screen, or tap Need help for manual entry and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code.
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Step 6
Name the line, then switch it off
The Pixel downloads the profile and asks you to confirm. Label it Saudi so the dual-SIM screens make sense at three in the morning, keep your home SIM as the default for calls, and disable the new line until you arrive.
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Step 7
After landing, enable it and make it the data SIM
Open Settings, Network & internet, SIMs, select the Saudi line and switch it on, then set Mobile data to that line. Your usual number stays active on its own SIM for calls and texts.
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Step 8
Turn Roaming on for the Saudi line only
With the Saudi line open, switch Roaming on. Android keeps this toggle per SIM, which is exactly what you want here: it grants this line permission to attach to a visited network and adds nothing to a prepaid Saudi plan. Confirm your home SIM still has its roaming switch off.
Troubleshooting
Which Pixels take an eSIM?
Pixel 3 and everything after it, broadly, with regional exceptions — a handful of variants sold into particular markets shipped without the hardware. Rather than trust a list, dial *#06# on the phone you are holding: an EID beside the IMEI means the hardware is there.
Do I get a Saudi phone number with the plan?
No. This is a data-only plan, so no Saudi number comes with it and none can be attached. Your own number stays on your own SIM and remains reachable. Take it seriously when planning: several local services want a Saudi number to send a verification code or ring you back, from ride-hailing apps to hotel front desks, and a data eSIM has none to give them.
How good is coverage away from the cities?
Excellent in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, Dammam, Khobar and along the highways linking them. Genuinely patchy across the Empty Quarter, on the road out to AlUla and around construction-stage NEOM. That is where the towers were built across a very large country, and no eSIM or local SIM alters it. If your trip includes a desert leg, download offline maps in the last city with signal.
I cannot find Download a SIM instead.
Make sure you are in Settings, Network & internet, SIMs and not inside a carrier app. If the option really is absent while *#06# does show an EID, the Pixel is probably carrier-locked — operator handsets sometimes restrict which profiles they accept. That is a much easier phone call to make before you fly.
I have landed and the eSIM has no signal.
Check in order that the line is enabled under SIMs, selected for mobile data, and has Roaming on. Then toggle Airplane mode to force a fresh search. If it stays blank, open the line's network settings, switch off automatic selection, pick a network by hand, and put selection back to automatic once it registers.
Can I share the connection with a laptop?
Yes, hotspot is included. Turn it on under Network & internet, Hotspot & tethering. It is the practical answer for a hotel room whose Wi-Fi is unusable, and for a hire car where one phone keeps everyone else online.