eSIM Dual‑Device Service for Smartwatches: Availability, Pricing, Security Risks, and Future Outlook

Recent user reports indicate that the China Telecom app now shows the eSIM watch service can be processed, and the online customer service confirmed that the eSIM dual‑device service has resumed.

Android smartwatches can select brand and model on the eSIM page of the China Telecom app, while Apple Watch users must activate the service directly on the watch.

Pricing: users who applied after June 1 2021 are charged a dual‑device service fee of CNY 10 per month. For main‑sub card plans, data and voice are shared within the primary package; for non‑shared plans, the watch receives 500 MB of domestic data and 60 minutes of domestic voice.

In July 2023, China Telecom announced that, due to maintenance, the app would suspend eSIM watch dual‑device and independent eSIM services from July 12, with the resumption date to be announced later.

Earlier, China Mobile had already paused eSIM watch dual‑device services at the end of May, and China Unicom also limited the service in some regions, though existing users were not affected.

eSIM dual‑device service, piloted in 2018, allows a phone and a wearable to share the same number, data, and voice, so both devices ring simultaneously and can make calls independently.

For example, after setting up cellular on an Apple Watch, the watch can operate independently of the iPhone, supporting internet access, calls, WeChat, and SMS.

Independent eSIM means the watch obtains its own number and provides full cellular functionality, completely detached from the phone.

eSIM adoption is growing worldwide; since the iPhone 14 series, Apple has removed physical SIM slots in some markets, making eSIM the default.

Security concerns have emerged: a vulnerability allowed eSIM profiles to be converted into physical SIM cards, which fraudsters exploited to create multiple cards with excessive data, causing significant losses for operators, especially on certain Android watches.

Compared with traditional SIM cards, eSIM poses greater information‑security risks because the usual identity‑verification step is bypassed, making telecom fraud harder to control.

Despite these risks, experts predict that eSIM will see extensive use over the next five years in smart cities, smart homes, industrial IoT, vehicle‑to‑everything, and smart healthcare, driving large‑scale cellular IoT deployment.

Currently, the China Telecom and China Unicom apps can process eSIM watch services normally, and users are urging China Mobile to restore the service.