How to remove the SIM card in an iPhone or iPad

Swap the SIM card in your iPhone or iPad when changing carriers using this handy guide.

On your iPhone or iPad, it’s the SIM Card that does the job of providing cellular network services on the go. While certain carriers offer eSim service, a good old physical SIM card can still be relied on for cellular networks. 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 can swap the SIM in the iOS device in just a few simple steps.

To know how to take out the SIM card from an iPhone or iPad, you have to first understand what tools 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 the 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 the SIM tray — you just have to look at the sides of your iPhone or iPad and locate a slim cutout with a single pinhole. 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 than the iPhone, as Apple has changed the location of the SIM Tray on the 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 an iPhone or iPad

Now that we have the tools required to eject the SIM card from an 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.

1. Hold the Apple SIM ejector tool or the metal paperclip in one hand.
2. Carefully and slowly insert the tool into the hole of the SIM card slot without applying any pressure.
3. Gently apply pressure on the pin, making sure that the PIN is being pushed straight inside and not at an angle.
4. With a little pressure applied, the SIM card tray pops out of the slot.
5. Carefully pull out the SIM card tray out of the slot with your fingers.
6. 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.