How to remove SIM card from iPhone

On your iPhone or iPad, it’s the SIM Card that does the job of providing cellular network services on the go. The SIM — or Subscriber Identity Module — is a tiny physical card that goes into your device and tells it to connect to a particular network that it is configured for. At times, you may need to remove the SIM card from your iPhone or iPad. You may be traveling internationally and may want to switch to a local SIM card in your iPhone, or you may want to temporarily switch to a different carrier network for some time. By following this detailed guide to removing the SIM card from an iPhone or iPad, you’ll be able to swap the SIM in the iOS device in just a few simple steps.

Table of Contents Show

How to Remove the SIM Card in iPhone or iPad
How to find your SIM card tray
How to re-insert the SIM card into an iPhone
Find where your SIM tray is located on your iPhone or iPad model

To know how to take out the SIM card from an iPhone or iPad, you have to first understand what tools do you need to remove the SIM card from an iPhone or iPad. Well, saying “tools” here is kind of a misnomer, as what you only need is a SIM ejector tool. Now, all iPhones and iPads come with an Apple SIM ejector tool, but just in case you don’t have access to one, any metal paper clip will do. Just make sure that you straighten up one of the ends.

Now that we have the necessary tools to eject the SIM Card from iPhone or iPad, let’s go ahead and locate the SIM tray. Depending on which generation or model of iPhone or iPad you have, the location of the SIM card tray on your iOS device will vary. But it’s fairly easy to find the location of SIM tray — you just have to look at the sides of your iPhone or iPad and locate a slim cutout with a single pin hole. This hole is where you insert the SIM ejector tool or metal paperclip as explained above.

On all iPhones sold by Apple in recent years, the SIM Card is located on the right side of the iPhone. When holding your iPhone with the screen facing you, the SIM card tray will be located on the right hand side, right next to the Sleep/Wake button. Locating the SIM card tray on an iPad is a little trickier compared to the iPhone, as Apple has changed the location of the SIM Tray on iPad depending on the model and the space available inside. On most modern iPads, the SIM slot will be on the same side that has the volume buttons.

How to Remove the SIM Card in iPhone or iPad

Now that we have the tools required to eject the SIM card from iPhone or iPad and now that we know where the SIM tray is located on the iOS device, let’s look at how to actually remove the SIM Card from an iPhone or iPad.

Hold the Apple SIM ejector tool or the metal paperclip in one hand.
Carefully and slowly insert the tool into the hole of the SIM card slot without applying any pressure.
Gently apply pressure on the pin, making sure that the PIN is being pushed straight inside and not at an angle.
With a little pressure applied, the SIM card tray pops out of the slot.
Carefully pull out the SIM card tray out of the slot with your fingers.
Proceed to Add, Remove or Swap out the SIM card in the SIM card tray.

To insert the SIM card tray back into the iPhone or iPad, you don’t need the SIM ejector tool. Simply place the SIM card onto the SIM tray in the correct orientation, then insert the tray back into the SIM slot and gently push it back into the slot.

Be careful never to apply a lot of force or pressure. You’ll always need to apply gentle pressure, both while removing the SIM card from the iPhone or iPad and also while inserting a SIM card into the SIM slot of your iOS device.

The SIM card in your iPhone is crucial to your making calls, but it's also small enough to lose, and easy enough to put in the wrong way. Here's how to successfully remove a SIM card, and put one back.

Removing a SIM card from an iPhone 12 Pro

At least when SIM cards first came out, they were embedded in plastic that was credit card-sized and hard to lose. As the subscriber identity module became more common, and as phones needed have more components packed inside, the circuitry part stayed roughly the same, but the enclosing plastic shrunk to almost nothing.

So now when you have a SIM card in your hand, it's so small that you could really have it on your fingertip. And that would mean that removing it from your iPhone, or fitting another one, is fiddly enough.

But then there is also the fact that these SIM cards have to go in the right way around, and the right way up. Maybe if you had to do this a lot, you would learn which way was which, but most people rarely change them.

With one exception, SIM cards are fitted in a tray that slides in and out of your iPhone. There are differences over where these trays are. And the exception is that there are now eSIM cards, virtual ones that need no fitting.

How to find your SIM card tray

The SIM tray is on the left side of your iPhone, as you face the screen, if you have any of these models.

iPhone 12
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max

It's likely that the next iPhone will also have it on the left, but that isn't known yet.

Most older iPhones, from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 11 Pro Max, have the SIM tray on the right. Whereas the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS all have the tray on the top.

Regardless of its position, the way you remove the SIM card is exactly the same on all iPhones. And so is the need to remember which way was facing up when you took it out.

SIM cards do have one corner cut off so that you know which way around to fit it into the tray. However, it's still possible to put it in with the wrong side facing up.

Turn the iPhone off
Find the SIM tray
Look for the small hole next to it
Insert either a SIM eject tool, or the end of a paper clip, into the hole
Press firmly until the tray pops out partway
Pull on the tray to remove it completely

You may have a SIM eject tool if you have bought a new SIM. A partially straightened paperclip is as straightforward to use.

It is possible to remove the SIM card without turning the phone off. However, manufacturers, including Apple, warn of a possibility that static electricity could damage the card or the device itself.

L-R: insert a paperclip into the tray hole, press firmly, then pull the tray out

How to re-insert the SIM card into an iPhone

In theory, you just reverse the steps for removing the SIM card. In practice, you need to take a little care because the card is so small and easily lost.

Place the new SIM card into the tray, being careful to have it the same way up and the same way around as the one you removed. Then press on the tray, pushing it into the phone.

Make sure that you press firmly. The tray is not correctly inserted, and the SIM card will not work, unless the outside of the tray is flush with the body of the iPhone.

You don't need a paperclip for this, the action of pressing the tray back in secures it.

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All iPhones and cellular-capable iPads come with SIM card slots on their sides. A SIM (subscriber identity module) card is how your carrier provides all the information your device needs to get on their network and access the voice and data services linked to your account; if you travel internationally or plan to switch carriers, you may need to swap the SIM card in your iPhone or iPad.

If you upgrade, want to use a local SIM while traveling, or want to remove the SIM card on your iPhone or iPad for any reason, here's how!

What you need
Where your SIM tray is located
How to remove the SIM card

The only thing you need in order to remove the SIM card in your iPhone or iPad is an Apple SIM card remover tool (included in the box in some countries, especially when you buy an unlocked device) or a small, bent paper clip.

If you're using a paper clip, straighten the long end until it projects out (see the photo above). If you're using something else, like the tip of a small screwdriver, just make sure it fits into the SIM ejector slot. You don't want to mangle your device.

Find where your SIM tray is located on your iPhone or iPad model

Almost every iPhone comes equipped with a SIM card tray*; if you have an iPhone 4s or newer, you have a SIM card slot.

*The only exception was the CDMA variant of the iPhone 4.

Here is where you can find it, given your iPhone model:

Original iPhone/iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS: On the top of the iPhone in between the headphone jack and power button
iPhone 4s and later: On the right side of iPhone, the side opposite your mute switch and volume buttons

Only cellular-capable iPads have SIM trays. If you have one, here is where you can find your SIM tray:

Original iPad: Along the left side of the iPad towards the middle, opposite the side that contains the mute switch and volume buttons, near the bottom
iPad 2/3/4: Along the left side of the iPad, opposite the side that contains the mute switch and volume buttons, near the top
iPad Pro/Air/Air2/mini (all generations): On the bottom right side of the iPad, the same side that contains the mute switch and volume buttons

Gently insert the small paperclip you bent earlier into the small pinhole opening in the SIM tray.
Apply a small amount of pressure until the SIM tray pops out of the iPhone or iPad. Don't apply pressure at an angle, only in the direction of the pin hole.
Grab hold of the SIM tray and pull straight out.
Swap your SIM card. Make sure you have installed the SIM in the correct orientation by aligning the notched corners on the card.
Re-insert the tray. Make sure you are inserting the SIM tray in the correct orientation.

Note: If you're using an iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, or iPhone XR from Mainland China with dual nano-SIM cards, the cards are placed on either side of the SIM tray, and should only fit one way.

Keep in mind that you should never force a SIM tray back in place. You can break pins off the logic board and that can leave your iPhone or iPad unable to connect to any cellular network.

Always make sure the SIM is installed in the tray correctly and that you're putting it back in your iPhone or iPad in the correct direction. An easy way to be sure is to line up the pin hole. This way you know you're putting it in correctly.