ATR incorrectly advertises eUICC capability, causes SIM to disappear on Android devices
I've hit a fault with my iD Mobile SIM card that I've traced to the card itself, and I'd like to ask that this is escalated to the team responsible for SIM cards (or your SIM card vendor). Summary for the technical folks: the SIM's ATR incorrectly declares eUICC (embedded SIM) capability, which causes Android to misclassify it, with the result that the SIM can vanish from the phone's SIM list entirely and can't be re-enabled by the user.
What happens (Google Pixel 7, current Android):
- If the SIM is ever turned off in Settings (or becomes inactive for another reason, e.g. an eSIM being activated), it disappears completely from Settings > Network & internet > SIMs.
- It never comes back on its own. Restarting the phone doesn't help, and removing and reinserting the SIM doesn't help either.
- The only way to recover it is to insert a different carrier's SIM, let the phone recognise it, then swap back.
Why (from Android diagnostics on my phone):
- The SIM answers reset with this ATR:
3B 9F 96 C0 0A 3F C7 8A 80 31 E0 73 FE 21 1F 65 D0 02 09 13 8D 81 0F FD
- The first TB interface byte after the T=15 indicator is 0x8A (bits b8+b2 set), which by the convention Android follows (GSMA SGP.22 / ETSI TS 102 221) declares the card to be an eUICC. It isn't one: when the phone reads the card's EID it gets all zeros (real EIDs start with 89).
- Android therefore treats the whole SIM slot as an eSIM slot. Because the card claims to be an eUICC but has no valid eUICC identity, the subscription falls into a gap in Android's SIM handling and is hidden from the user whenever it's inactive, with no way to switch it back on.
So the phone-side symptoms are an Android weakness, but the trigger is the capability declaration in the card profile, which is why I'm raising it here. My SIM's ICCID starts 8944 20 – I'm happy to provide the full ICCID and the Android telephony diagnostics via private message to iD staff.
Could you please:
1. Confirm whether this ATR is expected for iD SIMs of this batch, and if not, raise it with your SIM vendor so the profile can be corrected.
2. Let me know if a replacement SIM from a corrected batch is available.
Thanks!