Verizon and T-Mobile don't support iOS 12's dual-SIM feature

It’s been a busy day for Apple. The Cupertino company released a slew of updated devices and rolled out iOS 12.1, but not everything is sunshine and rainbows. The dual-SIM feature baked into iOS 12.1, which lets you use a single SIM card on two separate networks, apparently doesn’t work with Verizon or T-Mobile.

The dual-SIM feature in iOS 12.1, which is only available on the iPhone Xs, Xs Max, and XR, is a bit of a misnomer. Rather than allowing users to use two physical SIM cards, like some Android phones, iOS’s dual-SIM uses a physical SIM card and created a second virtual SIM card. However, the feature is almost useless here in the United States as only one of the four major carriers seems prepared to support it.

Sprint is still working on getting its network ready to handle the eSIM piece of iOS 12.1’s dual-SIM tech, but T-Mobile and Verizon were both short-listed for the feature. T-Mobile said that it is still working on getting everything ready for it, so the virtual SIM can’t be used on that network.

Perhaps the most annoying hiccup lies with Verizon. The nation’s largest mobile carrier is blocking users from activating Verizon’s service on the digital SIM line. If you connect to a different network using the digital SIM and connect to Verizon with the physical SIM card as the secondary number, Verizon will push your connection to its 2G network.

That’s a big problem. In addition to a major speed decrease, 2G CMDA (the network Verizon bumps you to if set as the secondary number) doesn’t support things like MMS or FaceTime, which are critical features for some iPhone users.

Verizon has said that it’s working on the problem and hopes to have a solution pushed out soon. However, there’s no timeline set on it just yet. In the meantime, it looks like you’ll need to keep Verizon as the primary number unless you want your phone to be severely crippled on the “nation’s fastest 4G LTE network.”

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