Issue Deactivating Embedded Apple SIM on iPad Pro

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I’ve switched my 10.5″ iPad Pro from T-Mobile over to Verizon. Verizon sent me their nano SIM which I have been able to activate with Verizon.

However, the embedded Apple SIM still shows T-Mobile Active, and when I go into About in the Settings app when T-Mobile Active is selected, it still shows the number active for the canceled T-Mobile line (I didn’t do a number port, I canceled T-Mobile and activated a new line with Verizon).

I contacted T-Mobile, even escalated to exec offices, and they confirmed the line is fully canceled and the account is closed out. I even reached out to Verizon who ran the SIM Card number on the embedded Apple SIM and said it shows canceled with them.

I talked to Apple, and they couldn’t successfully find a way to remove the Active T-Mobile section from the iPad Pro. We tried Reset Network Settings, but that didn’t work.

It’s conflicting with my Verizon activation since the iPad is confused on what cellular connection I have, plus occasionally my iPad drops from Wi-Fi to one of the cellular connections, plus my battery life is impacted with the cellular chip attempting to reach out to two cellular networks, plus it’s preventing Instant Hotspot from working.

With the exception of doing a restore of my iPad, I haven’t found another way to resolve the issue. Does anyone else have anything else I could try, and if all else fails and I have to restore, could I restore from iCloud or iTunes successfully and ensure the activation is removed from Apple SIM, or would the restore actually restore the activation? I spent a few weeks just getting this iPad the way I wanted it, so having to go through a complete restore and setup as new would irk me to say the least.

Thanks!

Nathan Parker

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[Alex5723]

Try this method :
https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-221019/

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by Alex5723.

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Nathan Parker

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Thanks for that. I checked, and my iPad Pro isn’t giving me the options listed on that page.

Nathan Parker

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Nathan Parker wrote:

However, the embedded Apple SIM still shows T-Mobile Active, and when I go into About in the Settings app when T-Mobile Active is selected, it still shows the number active for the canceled T-Mobile line

If you have the eSim active then you should see both lines on the cellular in settings.

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Nathan Parker wrote:

Thanks for that. I checked, and my iPad Pro isn’t giving me the options listed on that page.

On my iPad 10.5 the plans are under Settings – Cellular Data – Cellular Plans.

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I can see it under there, and the T-Mobile plan shows Active, but the issue is, the T-Mobile plan is not supposed to show Active. I called T-Mobile and even escalated it up to executive offices, and the account is totally closed and everything has been deactivated from T-Mobile’s end.

Apple suggested a restore in iTunes which I may try tonight or this weekend. I’m not sure if that’d fully wipe out the embedded Apple SIM settings though.

Nathan Parker

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Alex5723

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Nathan Parker wrote:

Apple suggested a restore in iTunes which I may try tonight or this weekend

Why not just delete the plan from your iPad.?

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Alex5723 wrote:

Why not just delete the plan from your iPad.?

It’s not giving me the option to delete the plan. The option to remove it is completely missing.

Nathan Parker

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Just tried the restore in iTunes, and the embedded Apple SIM is still showing active. Not sure what to try next.

Nathan Parker

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[Alex5723]

Nathan Parker wrote:

embedded Apple SIM

I think that only T-Mobile can help.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by Alex5723.

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I’ve been talking with T-Mobile exec offices. They say everything is closed out on their end. They’re sending me back to Apple. I have another message into Apple Support.

One issue is this iPad Pro technically doesn’t have a real eSIM like the new ones. It has that “embedded Apple SIM” which is a physical SIM on the logic board. Plus, I purchased the iPad from T-Mobile a couple of years ago, so I’m wondering if by doing so the iPad stays permanently active with T-Mobile in some state.

Worse I could do is live with it a few more months if I can’t resolve it, even with the glitchy cellular conflicting, then new iPad Pros will likely launch around my birthday, and since I haven’t picked out a birthday present yet, maybe I could upgrade (I don’t want the current models due to the bending issue with those, not going to sink that kind of money into something that has that type of manufacturing defect in them, maybe the next models).

Nathan Parker

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Disclaimer: I have iNothing, so this perhaps is of NothingHelp.
Can you make any changes at all to the T-Mobile definitions? Change number, any other ‘properties’, some of which may force an error, which in turn may lead to a clearing? Or might this just complicate matters?

Another thought: Since this is an embedded SIM, and bought from T-Mobile, is/was there anything in the purchase documentation that addresses this ‘permanent’ status?

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I’m talking with Apple, and they’re having me try one more type of restore to see if that resets it. My Internet has been out this evening and finally back. Trying it now.

It’s not giving me the option to make any changes on the device itself, and the account is totally closed with T-Mobile, so there’s nothing I can change from the T-Mobile end.

There was nothing in the documentation about it being permanently tied to T-Mobile even though it’s an embedded SIM and it was purchased from them (since it’s an embedded Apple SIM). However, I’ve heard some carriers such as AT&T have been known to do it (when googling about it and reading Apple sources), so it could be possible. T-Mobile or Apple hasn’t specifically told me mine is though.

Nathan Parker

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Nathan Parker wrote:

It’s not giving me the option to make any changes on the device itself, and the account is totally closed with T-Mobile, so there’s nothing I can change from the T-Mobile end

I think that the proper course of action should have been :
1. removing T-Mobile cellular plan from the iPad while the plan was still alive
2. Deactivating the line at T-Mobile.

You may test that by calling T-Mobile and requesting re-activation and then checking if the remove option for the plan in on. If so, then remove the plan and deactivate again.

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Even when the line was active with T-Mobile, there wasn’t an option to remove it on the iPad itself since T-Mobile was the one that activated on their end instead of me signing up from the iPad itself (which is why this is so confusing).

I attempted the nuclear restore, and the embedded Apple SIM is still showing active. Apple is now escalating it to Apple’s engineers to work on, as well as they’re having me restore my backup so I can at least get all my data back quickly.

When I dug into this further, it seems the embedded SIM activates with a “CSN Number” which the carrier then creates a virtual ICCID Number onto the embedded Apple SIM, then binds the ICCID Number to the Billing Phone Number (that’s how T-Mobile handles activations). Somehow the virtual ICCID Number didn’t unlink from the “CSN Number” even though T-Mobile did deactivate it from their end. So Apple is having their engineers to look into seeing how to get this unlinked. They did confirm there is no lock on the iPad or permanent activation on the iPad with it being purchased from T-Mobile (they said T-Mobile sells the same iPad models that the Apple Store sells).

The embedded Apple SIM was one of Apple’s not-so-bright moves. I’m glad the new iPads use real eSIM plus with Verizon moving forward I’ll be using a physical nano SIM so once I get over this issue, I won’t have to deal with it further.

Nathan Parker

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Alex5723

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Apple is calling me back tomorrow, but the good news is I think I resolved it tonight.

Instead of performing the restore of the OS through iTunes, I should have performed the “Erase Content and Settings” on the iPad itself under Settings>General>Reset.

Once I did, it prompted me that it would erase the T-Mobile plan from the embedded Apple SIM. Once I tapped to continue the reset, the iPad rebooted, and even after signing into iCloud and restoring the iCloud backup, the T-Mobile plan was gone from the Apple SIM, and the Verizon SIM was left active.

Nathan Parker

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Alex5723

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