Travel service
SIM Card / eSIM on Arrival
A passport-registered Iranian SIM handed over when you land, or a travel eSIM set up before you fly — with the internet-filtering realities explained honestly.
Instagram, most Google services and many apps you rely on are filtered in Iran — and even apps that get unblocked can vanish from the allowed list with little notice — so returning travelers all give the same advice: sort connectivity before you land, and install and test a VPN before arrival, because you often can't download one inside the country. A local SIM (Irancell or MCI) is cheap but requires passport registration, and at 3 a.m. the airport counter is a queue you don't want to stand in. We prepare a registered SIM with a data package and hand it over with your airport pickup or at your hotel, or set you up with a travel eSIM before departure so you have data the moment you land — we'll tell you honestly which option fits your phone and route, since Iranian operators' own eSIMs are not reliably available to visitors. We also brief you on the filtering situation as of your trip and on the HAMTA phone-registration rule: unregistered foreign phones drop off Iranian networks after roughly 30 days on a local SIM.
What’s included
- Registered local SIM (MCI/Irancell) handed over on arrival, or a travel eSIM arranged before you fly
- Data package included; top-ups arranged during the trip
- Install and TEST your VPN before arrival — we send up-to-date app-status notes with your booking
- Passport registration handled for you
- HAMTA phone-registration rule explained — unregistered phones lose local service after ~30 days on an Iranian SIM
Questions travelers ask
Do WhatsApp and Instagram work in Iran? Do I need a VPN?
Expect filtering. Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, Telegram and many Google services are routinely blocked, and even apps that get unblocked — WhatsApp has come and gone from the list more than once — can vanish again with little notice. So the safe move is simple: install a reputable VPN and test it before you fly, because downloading one after you land is much harder. For data, set up a travel eSIM before departure or buy a local SIM at the airport (passport required), and keep offline maps for desert and remote stretches where coverage drops. Once there, ask your guide or hosts what's working that week rather than trusting older posts online.