This might not be a good idea.
Many people use the same phone number for years, even decades at this point. These numbers aren't just a way to contact people, because we've foolishly also settled on phone numbers as a means of authentication. Banks, messaging apps, crypto exchanges, this website's publishing platform, and even the telecom operators managing your number rely on multi-factor SMS codes. And these codes not even very safe.
So losing access to your phone number doesn't just block you. Key parts of your digital life may also become inaccessible, and this may now happen more often due to eSIM interchangeability.
Most people won't have to change their phone number often, but the risk of your eSIM expiring when you do is very real. Compare this to a physical SIM card, which will almost never fail unless you damage it. Replacing this tiny piece of plastic takes seconds, and you'll never have to wait with your carrier's support agents or drive to a store. In short, a physical SIM is inherently reliable, but an eSIM is not.
Obviously, the solution is not to remove multi-factor authentication: your phone number is unfortunately too important to be ignored. However, operators' use of SMS to control account access is self-defeating and virtually guarantees that people will have a bad experience in the eSIM era. Enchitification has truly arrived for SIM cards.
If such a future is inevitable, there must be a better way to verify account ownership when your eSIM fails. It doesn't matter what it is as long as SMS isn't the default. Google really gets it right with Fi. You can load an eSIM at any time through the Fi app, and it's protected by the same settings as your Google account. This is actually very good from a consumer safety point of view. Google Authenticator, passwords, and push notifications make it quite difficult to sign out of Google, even if you take advantage of advanced security features.
We've done away with the headphone jack. We ditched the microSD card. Is it all worth it to increase battery capacity by 8 percent? This is a difficult task.
