What Is an ICCID Number? Find It on a SIM Card, iPhone or eSIM (2026)

Summary

An ICCID is the serial number of one SIM card or eSIM profile. It is 19 or 20 digits, always begins with 89, and is printed on a physical SIM or shown on iPhone under Settings › General › About.

Every new SIM or eSIM gets a new ICCID, while the phone's IMEI and the eSIM chip's EID never change. It is not your phone number.

What is an ICCID number?

ICCID stands for Integrated Circuit Card Identifier. The format comes from the ITU's Recommendation E.118, the international numbering standard for telecom cards. Each ICCID is unique worldwide and names exactly one SIM: a plastic card, or a downloaded eSIM profile.

Carriers and eSIM providers use it to find that one SIM in their systems: whether it is active, how much data it has used, which network it is registered on. To you it matters in two situations: when support asks for it, and when you want to tell two SIMs on the same phone apart.

Orange SIM card from 2001 with a long serial number printed along its edge — An older SIM card with its ICCID printed along the edge. The number starts with 89, like every ICCID. Photo: Blackcat / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

ICCID number on a SIM card

On a physical SIM, the ICCID is printed on the plastic. On a nano-SIM the print is minuscule, so look at the larger card the SIM was punched out of, or at the packaging, which usually repeats it with a barcode.

Small nano SIM card with printed digits next to its empty micro SIM adapter frame — A nano-SIM and its adapter frame. The long number printed on the card is typically its ICCID. Photo: Blackcat / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Full-size SIM carrier card with PIN and PUK codes and a barcode printed on it — The carrier card a SIM comes in, here with the PIN and PUK. Many carriers print the ICCID on this card too. Photo: Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

How to read an ICCID

The digits are not random. Under E.118 an ICCID splits into four parts. Here is the shape, using the first digits common to our own travel eSIMs and placeholders for the rest:

Anatomy of an ICCID

89Industry: telecommunications

65Country code of the issuing operator (+65)

01Issuer: which operator

XXXXXXXXXXXXIndividual account number

XCheck digit (catches typos)

Total length 19 or 20 digits. The country code is the international calling code of the operator that issued the SIM, which is not necessarily where the SIM works.

What 426 travel-eSIM ICCIDs show

We decoded the ICCID of every eSIM profile we delivered between 14 April and 3 November 2026. All 426 begin with 89. All are 19 or 20 digits long. And the country code inside them rarely matches where the customer was going:

Issuing operator's country (code)	eSIM profiles	Share
Singapore (+65)	115	27.0%
Israel (+972)	93	21.8%
North America (+1)	76	17.8%
Hong Kong (+852)	61	14.3%
Belgium (+32)	31	7.3%
Poland (+48)	29	6.8%
Latvia (+371)	8	1.9%
Austria (+43)	6	1.4%
Japan (+81)	6	1.4%
Other	1	0.2%

Source: YonoSIM order records, 426 distinct eSIM ICCIDs, 2026-04-14 to 2026-11-03. Country decoded from the digits after 89.

That is normal, and it explains a setting people trip over. Most travel eSIMs are issued by an operator in one country and roam onto local networks at your destination. A Singapore-issued profile can run on Japanese towers. Because your phone sees a foreign profile on a local network, it treats the connection as roaming, which is why the travel eSIM line needs Data Roaming switched on. The full logic is in data roaming on or off.

How to find the ICCID on iPhone

Open Settings › General › About.
Scroll down. Each SIM and eSIM has its own section with its own ICCID.
Or connect to a Mac, select the iPhone in Finder, and click the phone number under the device name to cycle through EID, IMEI and ICCID.

iPhone

Settings › General › About

One ICCID per line

A dual-SIM iPhone lists each SIM separately. The travel eSIM has its own ICCID; your home SIM keeps its own. Touch and hold to copy.

Apple's path: Settings › General › About, scroll down for EID, IMEI and ICCID. Digits masked.

How to find the ICCID on Android

Android

Settings › About phone › SIM status

Pick the SIM first

On dual-SIM Android phones, SIM status shows one line at a time. Choose the eSIM at the top, then read its ICCID. Some brands label it ICCID, others SIM card serial.

Android menus vary by brand. If your phone does not list it, the ICCID is on the SIM card for a physical SIM, and in your provider's account or plan page for an eSIM.

Silver Xiaomi phone with its dual SIM tray partly ejected — A dual-SIM tray. Two physical SIMs mean two ICCIDs; add an eSIM and you have three. Photo: Ilya Plekhanov / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

eSIM ICCID: what changes and what does not

You do this	ICCID	EID	IMEI
Install a new travel eSIM	New one	Same	Same
Top up the same travel eSIM	Same	Same	Same
Delete an eSIM and buy another	New one	Same	Same
Move your number to a new SIM	New one	Same	Same
Move to a new phone	Same for a physical SIM, usually new for an eSIM	New	New

The ICCID follows the SIM. The EID follows the chip, and the IMEI follows the phone.

The other two numbers have their own explainers: EID and IMEI vs EID vs ICCID.

ICCID vs phone number

They are different things. Your phone number (in carrier terms, the MSISDN) is assigned by the carrier and linked to a SIM in its records. Port your number or replace a lost SIM and the number moves to a SIM with a new ICCID. Travel eSIMs are usually data-only, so they have an ICCID and no number at all. More in does an eSIM have a phone number?

Mini, micro and nano SIM cards side by side, each smaller than the last — Mini, micro and nano SIM. Different sizes, same ICCID format, and an eSIM profile uses it too. Photo: Bidouille82 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

When you need your ICCID

Support asks for it to find one exact eSIM. For a YonoSIM plan, your order email is enough; the ICCID is also on your plan page under the technical details.
Two eSIMs look alike in Settings. Compare the first digits to tell the travel line from your home line.
Activating a carrier SIM online, where the carrier asks you to type the number from the card.

Still setting up? Start with compatible devices, then the iPhone or Android activation guide.

Macro photo of the gold contacts of a nano SIM card on a red background — The contacts of a nano-SIM. An eSIM puts the same chip on the phone's board, and the ICCID moves into software. Photo: Subhrajyoti07 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

FAQ

QWhat is an ICCID number?

AICCID stands for Integrated Circuit Card Identifier. It is the serial number of a single SIM card or eSIM profile, defined by the ITU's E.118 numbering standard. It is 19 or 20 digits long and always starts with 89, the identifier for telecommunications. Every new SIM or eSIM you install gets a new ICCID.

QWhere is the ICCID number on a SIM card?

AIt is printed on the plastic of the SIM card itself, and usually on the larger card the SIM was punched out of. Look for a 19- or 20-digit number starting with 89. On a nano-SIM the print is tiny, so the carrier card or the packaging is easier to read.

QHow do I find the ICCID on my iPhone?

AOpen Settings, tap General, tap About and scroll down. On a dual-SIM iPhone each SIM or eSIM has its own section with its own ICCID. You can also see it on a Mac in Finder by clicking the phone number under the device name.

QDoes an eSIM have an ICCID?

AYes. Each eSIM profile has its own ICCID, just like a plastic SIM card. The eSIM chip has a separate number, the EID, which never changes. If you install three travel eSIMs over three trips, you get three ICCIDs and keep one EID.

QIs the ICCID the same as my phone number?

ANo. The ICCID identifies the SIM or eSIM. Your phone number, technically the MSISDN, is assigned by the carrier and linked to the SIM in the carrier's systems. That is why a carrier can move your number to a new SIM with a new ICCID. Data-only travel eSIMs have an ICCID but no phone number at all.

QWhy would support ask for my ICCID?

ABecause it pinpoints one exact eSIM. A provider can look up its install state, data usage and network registration from the ICCID. At YonoSIM it is shown on your plan page under the technical details, and your order email is enough on its own, so you rarely need to type it out.

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Originally published on www.yonosim.com/en/blog/what-is-iccid-number-esim-2026 · YonoSIM — You Only Need One SIM