Google Pixel eSIM Setup for a Balkan Trip
Download your Balkan eSIM onto a Pixel before you travel: the SIMs menu, the roaming switch each line needs, and how the phone handles every border.
Updated August 24, 2026
Most people reading this are in a car with other people. That is the practical case for one regional data plan rather than several local SIMs: the phone in the holder runs navigation and everyone else joins its hotspot. Tethering is part of the plan, so one line genuinely covers the vehicle — including the second phone someone always ends up using to check a border queue while the driver keeps the map on screen.
The reason to buy a regional plan at all is the crossings. An EU contract’s roam-like-at-home allowance covers Greece and Croatia and then stops the moment you enter Montenegro or Serbia, which is where a week’s drive spends much of its time. One eSIM that keeps working over each of those borders removes the ritual of finding a shop, buying a local SIM, and doing it again two days later. What we sell is on the pricing page, and what is an eSIM explains the format if this is your first one.
The exception matters more than the rest of this page put together. Türkiye is not on this plan. If you are driving on to or back from Türkiye, the data stops at that border, and there is no toggle, network setting or workaround that extends it. Buy the separate Türkiye plan in the app and switch which line carries data once you have cleared customs. Assume it works and you will find out in a queue, with no map.
Everything else here is Pixel-specific: the SIMs menu, the Download a SIM instead route, and the roaming switch that has to be on for the travel line and off for your own. Pixel 3 and newer support eSIM broadly, though there are regional exceptions, which is why this starts with a check on the phone rather than a model list. Other handsets for the same trip? See iPhone, Samsung, or general Android.
Installation steps
-
Step 1
Confirm the phone can take an eSIM
Pixel 3 and later support eSIM in most markets, but there are regional exceptions, so check rather than assume. Type *#06# in the dialler: if an EID is listed under the IMEI, the hardware is there.
-
Step 2
Buy your plan in the Balkan eSIM app
Pick the plan that matches the trip you are making. The QR code and the manual activation details stay saved under your order, so you can open them again from anywhere you have a connection.
-
Step 3
Install at home, on Wi-Fi
Downloading an eSIM profile needs internet, which is the one thing you may not have when you land or cross. Installing early has no cost attached: the plan starts when the line first connects inside the covered area, not at the moment you pay.
-
Step 4
Open Settings, Network & internet, SIMs
Tap Settings, then Network & internet, then SIMs. If a SIM is already active you may see a plus sign next to SIMs instead — that opens the same flow. Android versions shuffle these labels, so if nothing matches, search Settings for SIM.
-
Step 5
Choose Download a SIM instead
When the phone asks you to insert a SIM or offers to connect to a carrier, look for the Download a SIM instead link, then Next, and scan the QR code from a laptop or another phone. With no second screen, use manual entry and copy the SM-DP+ address and activation code from your order.
-
Step 6
Name it, then turn it off until you need it
Give the line a name like Balkan so the two SIMs are easy to tell apart, and leave your usual SIM as the one handling calls and messages. Then switch the downloaded line off. It stays installed and does nothing until you turn it on.
-
Step 7
Enable it and point mobile data at it
Once you are inside the covered area, go back to SIMs, switch the Balkan eSIM line on, and set it as the SIM used for mobile data. Calls and texts keep running on your own SIM and your number does not change.
-
Step 8
Roaming on for the travel line, off for the other
Open the Balkan eSIM line in the SIMs menu and turn Roaming on. On a Pixel this setting belongs to the line you have open, so make sure it is the travel one. Every network this plan uses belongs to another operator, so the line needs that permission to attach at all. Then open your home SIM and switch its roaming off — that is the line that can run up a bill without you touching the phone.
Troubleshooting
Does the plan cover Türkiye?
No. Türkiye is not included and nothing in the settings makes it work there — the line stops carrying data at the Turkish border. If your route continues into Türkiye, buy the separate Türkiye plan in the app and switch your data line once you are across. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Romania and Slovenia are also outside this bundle.
I cannot find Download a SIM instead.
Search Settings for SIM to jump straight to the right screen, since Google has moved these menus between Android releases. If the option is genuinely absent, either the phone has no eSIM hardware — *#06# will show no EID — or it is carrier-locked, which the operator that sold it has to fix. Some Pixels sold in certain markets differ from the general pattern.
The QR code will not scan.
Raise the brightness on the screen showing the code, hold the Pixel about 20 to 30 cm away, and keep the whole square in frame with no reflection across it. If it still fails, enter the details by hand from your order. A manually entered profile is identical to a scanned one.
We crossed a border and data stopped.
Wait a few minutes; the phone drops the old network and finds a new one by itself, and that is not instantaneous at a busy crossing. If it has not recovered, toggle Airplane mode off and on. If it still will not attach, turn off automatic network selection for that line, choose one of the networks the phone lists, and put it back to automatic afterwards.
Can I run a hotspot for everyone else in the car?
Yes. Tethering is included, so the Pixel holding the eSIM can share the connection with passengers, a tablet or a second phone used for navigation. It is data-only: no phone number, no calls, no SMS. That stays on your own SIM.
Will enabling roaming trigger charges from my normal operator?
Not for the travel line — your operator is not involved in it at all. It is a prepaid plan used on partner networks in the covered countries. The charge risk sits entirely with your home SIM, which is why its roaming switch stays off for the whole trip.