iOS 27 Adds Handoff For Using One Phone Number On Two iPhones

Apple has added a feature to iOS 27 that lets one phone number run on two iPhones, with a companion eSIM covering the second device.

Key Points:

iPhone Handoff, built into iOS 27, lets a single phone number move between two iPhones instead of staying locked to one handset.

The main iPhone keeps the primary eSIM, while the second device receives a companion profile tied to the same number.

Carrier support is required, and T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom are expected to be among the first to enable it.

iPhone Handoff Setup In iOS 27

The feature is called iPhone Handoff, and users switch it on from the Cellular menu inside the Settings app on the phone they use most. Setup then asks which iPhone should act as the main device, the one carried on most days, and which becomes the companion.

A forum member demonstrated the process this week with two simulated iPhones running inside Xcode 27's Device Hub, giving the first clear look at a capability Apple listed at its June developer conference and then left unexplained.

Both handsets have to run iOS 27, and the two lines must sit on the same carrier account. The number is not live on both at once.

The main eSIM stays on the primary iPhone, while the companion device receives a second profile tied to the same number, and every cellular setting remains under the primary phone's control. Location sharing follows whichever handset is actively using the line, so the number effectively travels with the device in hand.

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T-Mobile And Carrier Support

Carriers hold the deciding vote, because the companion profile has to be issued on their side rather than generated by iOS on its own. T-Mobile appears to be the only U.S. operator testing the arrangement so far, and it reportedly opened enrollment briefly last month before withdrawing it. Deutsche Telekom is expected to be among the first carriers to offer the feature in Germany.

Developers, product reviewers and people who carry a work phone beside a personal one have spent years swapping SIM cards, forwarding calls or paying for a second line. Commentators welcomed the software fix as a tidier answer to a problem that carriers have never addressed directly.

Apple's eSIM Shift Since iPhone 14

Apple has scheduled its next iPhone event for Sept. 9, where the iPhone 18 Pro and the company's first foldable model are widely expected to appear.

Public release of iOS 27 should follow within days, closing roughly three months of beta testing. Apple has not said which markets will get iPhone Handoff at launch.

The groundwork for this stretches back four years, well before iPhone Handoff had a name. Apple removed the physical SIM tray from U.S. iPhone 14 models in 2022, then sold the iPhone Air as an eSIM-only handset, shifting number provisioning off a plastic card and into software that Apple and carriers now control together.

Alexey Bondarev

Alexey Bondarev is the Head of Content at Yellow.com, having reported on crypto for the last 10 years. He specializes in in-depth Research and Learn pieces, with a focus on analytical reporting, industry context, and the bigger forces shaping crypto, from the AI era and security technologies to fintech innovation. He believes that everything digital will imminently overcome everything analogue and is working hard to make that come true.