Disable physical sim?

mfawn

Hello! Having some issues disabling a sim while traveling internationally. Here's the gist:

Two sims: one regular sim for use when I'm in the states, one esim for when I'm abroad
I have 3g roaming for the regular sim, which I use basically just for 2FA.

Roaming with the physical sim absolutely destroys my battery life. I'm looking for a solution that would let me toggle the physical sim on and off. What I've tried so far is:

Airplane mode. This disables my esim, with no ability to manually toggle data for it (makes sense)
In network settings, there is a disable button on the esim, but not for the physical sim (doesn't make sense?)
Setting the physical sim preferred network type to 3G does not work, as signal availability is very spotty and changes between 3G and LTE frequently.
Taking the physical sim in and out is not an option

Any suggestions?

xxx

mfawn I'm looking for a solution that would let me toggle the physical sim on and off.

Set a Pin on the Sim -> reboot the phone -> skip the Pin promt ...

This should work. :-)

mfawn

xxx This is a very funny solution; good to know about! Every time I want to reactivate it, I'd have to restart?

christiee

xxx
how exactly do i skip.the sim prompt? there is no skip link,
i would be very interested in this feature.
i was carving i slot in my phone case and popping the sim out instead...my new phone and cover makes it difficult, ill have to get a wallet style cover to do this more easily.

xxx

mfawn me I want to reactivate it, I'd have to restart

Restart will work for sure. Starting the dialer should work too. The trick is to set the pin and not giving it.
So just try and report back. :-)

n3t_admin

mfawn Every time I want to reactivate it, I'd have to restart?

IIRC it should be enough to toggle airplane mode off and on.

mfawn

n3t_admin but then to turn it off again I would need to restart? I think this idea is nice but clearly a hack. What is the limitation preventing just disabling the sim the way I can with the esim?

n3t_admin

mfawn yeah, that's true. I think you'll need to switch to an eSIM if you want to easily turn it off and on. I don't know why there's no functionality for this in Android - I can turn off my physical SIM without issues on iOS...

mfawn

I'm considering this issue closed. I thought it was a graphene issue, but apparently it's a problem that was fixed after the pixel 4. Thanks for the discussion y'all!

xxx

mfawn

Oh wait there is a toogle to disable my physical sim (like for the e-sims).
I have 1 Sim and 2 E-Sims. (Pixel 6).

So there's no need for workarounds.

de0u

mfawn I'm considering this issue closed. I thought it was a graphene issue, but apparently it's a problem that was fixed after the pixel 4.

Please note that all Pixel 4 devices have been out of support for a long time and should be assumed to be vulnerable to remote code execution vulnerabilities.

mfawn

xxx yes, didn't realize it was a device level issue.

xxx

christiee

I'm sorry I don't remember. Try boot in Flymode.

Horst380

I have a Pixel 7 GOS, settings-network and internet-SIM cards. Opposite the physical SIM card is the power button. Voila.

christiee

(Proton doesn't let me log in from Belgium!? Huh)
Looks like sim pin dongles are here to stay for moi.
Apparently I like to use my phone offline and when it starts to cook , well I like to pop a sim....not ready for esims....and sure bring back the removable battery too😹