Apple spent years making the SIM card disappear. With iOS 27 it went a step further: one phone number can now live on two iPhones at once, and it jumps to whichever phone you unlock. The feature is called iPhone Handoff, and Apple built it for people who carry a work phone and a personal phone, or who want the new $1,999 iPhone Duo in a pocket on weekends and an iPhone 18 Pro on the desk during the week. The software is free. Keeping it switched on is not. T-Mobile charges $5 a month, Verizon has just said it will charge $10, and AT&T has no plans to offer it at all.
UNILAD Tech rounded up the prices on October 19, citing BigGo Finance, after Verizon became the latest carrier to put a number on the feature. The fine print in Apple’s own support document matters as much as the headline price. Here is what you actually pay for, and when it makes sense to pay it.
The short version
- iPhone Handoff in iOS 27 lets two iPhones on the same Apple Account share one phone number. Only one phone is active at a time, and unlocking a phone makes it the active one.
- T-Mobile charges $5 a month. Verizon will charge $10 a month when its support arrives, which it calls “coming soon.”
- In the UK, EE charges £5 a month on a rolling contract, or nothing on its Full Works Plus plan. In Germany, Telekom sells it through its MultiSIM add-on for €6.95 a month, included in MagentaMobil L and XL.
- AT&T has not committed to supporting it. Only the US, UK and Germany have carrier support so far.
- Over a year, the fee runs from $60 on T-Mobile to $120 on Verizon. Deleting the eSIM does not stop the bill: you have to ask your carrier to turn the feature off.
What iPhone Handoff actually does
Apple first slipped the idea onto a crowded WWDC slide in June as “Switch between two iPhone devices with the same phone number.” At its September 9 event, Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of iPhone product marketing, gave it a name and a pitch: “iOS 27 improves connectivity with smarter transitions between cellular and Wi-Fi networks and introduces iPhone Handoff that lets you use a single phone number across two iPhones. The number is instantly active on whichever iPhone you pick up.”
Apple’s support page, published the same day, spells out the mechanics. When Handoff is on, “your calls, voicemail, messages (iMessage, RCS, or SMS/MMS), and Find My location automatically move to whichever iPhone you’re using at the time.” One phone is designated the main iPhone and the other the secondary iPhone. You switch by unlocking the phone you want, and a banner reading “Switched to this iPhone” confirms the move. Apple is explicit that “your phone number will only be active on one iPhone at a time,” so this is not two phones ringing in parallel.
It is built on eSIM. You set it up during new iPhone setup by choosing “Use Number on This iPhone and Another,” or later in Settings under Cellular. Both phones need iOS 27 or later, Wi-Fi, the same Apple Account, Messages in iCloud, and FaceTime and iMessage signed in with that account. The eSIM has to come from a carrier that supports the feature.
What every carrier charges
Apple’s support page says only that “carrier fees might apply when enrolling in iPhone Handoff.” The carriers have now filled in the blanks. T-Mobile was the first US partner and set its price at $5 a month shortly after Apple’s event. Deutsche Telekom, the other launch partner, does not sell Handoff as a separate product. It rides on Telekom’s existing MultiSIM add-on, which costs €6.95 a month and is already included in its larger MagentaMobil plans.
Verizon put its price inside its iPhone Duo press release on October 16: “iPhone Handoff will be available from Verizon for $10/month on compatible iPhones models running iOS 27.” Verizon said only that support is “coming soon.” EE announced on October 15 that it will be the first UK network to offer the feature, “included with EE’s Full Works Plus plan which includes Fast Lane, or available for £5 per month on a rolling contract.” It is also listed as coming soon. (UNILAD’s roundup says the free tier is EE’s “Full Works” plan. EE’s own announcement names Full Works Plus.)
| Carrier | Country | Monthly fee | Free on | Status (Oct. 19, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile | US | $5 | No plan announced | Live since iOS 27 launch |
| Verizon | US | $10 | No plan announced | “Coming soon” |
| AT&T | US | Not offered | n/a | No commitment |
| EE | UK | £5 (about $6.66) | Full Works Plus | “Coming soon” |
| Deutsche Telekom | Germany | €6.95 MultiSIM (about $7.79) | MagentaMobil L and XL | Live since iOS 27 launch |
Dollar conversions follow the rates UNILAD used. Taxes and fees are extra.
The yearly math
Five or ten dollars a month sounds small, which is exactly how carriers like it. Stretched over the life of a phone, the numbers look different. On T-Mobile, Handoff costs $60 a year. On Verizon it is $120 a year, or $360 over a typical three-year device payment plan. That is real money on top of an iPhone Duo that starts at $1,999.
For comparison, a full second line with its own number usually costs far more than $10 a month on any of the big three, which is why 9to5Mac’s Chance Miller called T-Mobile’s fee “significantly cheaper than having a second cellular plan altogether.” Handoff is cheaper than two lines. It is not cheaper than the free alternatives below.
AT&T is sitting this one out
AT&T customers cannot use the feature at all. Asked by CNET in September, an AT&T spokesperson said: “While we see that there could be potential in capabilities like iPhone Handoff, our focus remains on delivering innovations that make life simpler and keep customers connected with confidence.” The spokesperson then pointed to “existing eSIM activation and transfer options across compatible devices.” There is no timeline. Apple has said only that “more carriers” will follow.
That leaves AT&T users with the old routine: transfer the eSIM by hand in Settings each time they want to swap phones. It costs nothing, but it takes several steps rather than a tap, and it depends on the carrier approving each transfer. If you are weighing a carrier switch over this, our look at how Apple’s new iPhone lease shifts costs onto Verizon and AT&T is worth reading first.
The fine print most people will miss
A few other limits from Apple’s documentation are worth knowing before you pay:
- Your Apple Watch stays put. Handoff “does not switch your Apple Watch to your other iPhone.” Apple recommends pairing the watch to the iPhone you use most. Away from that phone, the watch falls back to Wi-Fi or its own cellular plan.
- Carrier settings live on one phone. Call Forwarding, Caller ID and carrier account management can only be handled on the main iPhone.
- Wallet is only partly shared. Payment cards work on both phones and car keys can be shared, but “certain transit passes, IDs, or corporate badges might only work on one device at a time.”
- Some apps will fight it. Apple says some third-party apps may sign you out on one phone when you sign in on the other, and banking apps may ask you to approve the second device.
- Dual SIM works, with a catch. Both eSIMs must be from carriers that support Handoff. They switch together and have to be enrolled one at a time.
- Replacing a phone takes care. You have to transfer the eSIM to the new device. If your carrier does not support transfer from a companion iPhone, you must enroll in Handoff again.
Device support is broad on paper. UNILAD notes that iOS 27 runs on the iPhone 11 series and later plus the second-generation iPhone SE, though Verizon’s announcement only names the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro as examples of compatible models. If you have only just updated, our guide to the new extra-large widgets in iOS 27 covers another change you may have missed.
Cheaper ways to do something similar
Handoff is the smoothest option, but it is not the only one. Here is how it stacks up against the workarounds people already use.
| Option | Same number? | Typical cost | Main drawback |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone Handoff | Yes | $5 to $10 a month (US) | Only some carriers, one active phone at a time |
| Manual eSIM transfer | Yes | Free | Slow, needs carrier approval each time |
| Second line | No | A full extra plan | Two numbers to manage, highest cost |
| Google Voice | No, a separate number | Free for personal use in the US | Runs through an app, not your carrier number |
| iMessage, FaceTime and Wi-Fi calling relay | Partly | Free | Second phone needs the first one nearby for SMS and calls |
The closest cousin is the smartwatch number-sharing service carriers have sold for years, such as Verizon’s NumberShare, AT&T’s NumberSync and T-Mobile’s DIGITS. Those let a cellular Apple Watch ring on your phone number, and they typically cost around $10 a month. Verizon has simply applied the same price to a second iPhone.
Who should actually pay for it
For most people, the answer is nobody. If you carry one iPhone, Handoff does nothing for you. For an old iPhone kept for camping trips, a manual eSIM transfer a few times a year is free and good enough.
The fee starts to make sense for a narrower group:
- People who swap phones daily. The iPhone Duo on evenings and weekends, an iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max for work, is the exact use case Apple and Verizon are marketing. At up to 44 hours of claimed battery, the Duo is a real all-day phone, as our foldable battery comparison found.
- Creators who film on one phone and post from another. UNILAD points to social media creators who run two devices. Handoff keeps calls and texts on whichever phone is in hand.
- People who want a cheap “beater” phone. Hiking, festivals, the beach. EE’s own pitch leans into that: “heading to a festival, going for a run, tackling an all-day hike.”
- Customers who already get it free. If you are on EE Full Works Plus or a Telekom MagentaMobil L or XL plan, there is no reason not to try it.
Everyone else should start with a free trial of their own patience. Move your eSIM by hand twice. If the shuffle annoys you, $5 a month on T-Mobile is a fair price for making it disappear. On Verizon, $120 a year for a software switch Apple built is harder to justify, and since Verizon has not even turned the feature on yet, there is no rush to decide.
Sources and further reading
- UNILAD Tech: iPhone owners face monthly fee to use new Apple feature as UK and US networks confirm prices
- Apple Support: Set up iPhone Handoff
- Verizon News: iPhone Duo offers and iPhone Handoff coming to Verizon
- EE Newsroom: iPhone Duo with iPhone Handoff, only on EE
- MacRumors: Verizon Will Charge $10 a Month for iPhone Handoff
- MacRumors: iOS 27’s iPhone Handoff Feature Limited to T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom at Launch
- 9to5Mac: T-Mobile will charge $5/month for Apple’s new iPhone Handoff feature
- 9to5Mac: AT&T seemingly has no plans to support iPhone Handoff
- BigGo Finance: Verizon to Charge $10 a Month for iPhone Handoff, Double T-Mobile’s Fee
- UNILAD Tech: iOS 27 introduces iPhone Handoff for users who carry two phones
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