Roamless Global eSIM Review: Per-GB Prices in Japan and Across Asia, Whether Credit Expires, Whether Hong Kong Phones Can Use It, and US$5 Each with a Referral Code

Roamless is operated by Roamless Technologies Inc., which is incorporated in Delaware in the United States. The terms of service were last updated on 2 April 2026 and are governed by Delaware law; disputes must be resolved through binding arbitration on an individual basis, and users waive the right to class actions. The terms allow users to opt out of arbitration in writing within 30 days of accepting them. Roamless does not state that it holds a Hong Kong telecommunications licence or is regulated by a local authority; credit purchased is not a deposit and cannot be exchanged for cash.

Roamless is a data-only global eSIM. After creating an account in the app, you install the eSIM once and can then switch it on to go online in more than 200 countries and regions; the eSIM itself has no expiry date. The eSIM has no phone number, and your Hong Kong number remains on your existing SIM card. The app also offers paid services such as internet calling and Roamless Numbers, described below.

Pay-as-you-go credit (called Roamless Credits in the app, and also known as FLEX) is topped up in US dollars and deducted by the MB at the per-GB price of wherever you are. It works worldwide and can also be used for internet calls in the app. A data plan (formerly FIX) is a fixed amount of data for a specified country or region, valid for 30 days from the first KB used. Unlimited plans are available for periods of 1 to 90 days depending on the region (Hong Kong only 1 to 45 days); the first 3GB each day is at full speed, after which speed drops to 1Mbps until the allowance resets 24 hours later. They provide data only and do not renew automatically. Data plans and Unlimited plans must be paid for separately and cannot be bought with pay-as-you-go credit.

On a single eSIM, balances are deducted automatically in this order: rewards (data or credit given through promo codes), Unlimited plans, data plans, and finally pay-as-you-go credit. The referral reward is added directly to the pay-as-you-go balance, so it is used last. Once an Unlimited plan is bought, it takes over immediately even if a data plan for the same place is in use, but the data plan's 30-day validity does not pause, so it is advisable to use up the data plan first.

As for validity, the help centre states that pay-as-you-go credit "never expires", and the referral reward does not expire either. The terms of service, however, provide that credit becomes inactive after 12 consecutive months without activity on the relevant service, and that Roamless may then cancel it at its discretion without a refund. On how long an unactivated data plan can be kept, a single help centre article says both "activate within 18 months of purchase" and "expires if unused within 12 months"; 12 months is the safer assumption. Unless stated otherwise, the terms provide that promotional rewards expire 6 months after they are issued. Deleting your account deletes all credit, data plans and rewards with it.

Pay-as-you-go prices per GB: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, mainland China and Macao are all US$2.45 (about HK$19); Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United States are US$1.95 (about HK$15); and use within Hong Kong itself is US$2.95 (about HK$23). In other words, US$10 of credit buys about 4.1GB in Japan and about 5.1GB in Singapore.

Japan's data plans (30 days) are 1GB for US$3.95, 3GB for US$7.95, 5GB for US$9.95, 10GB for US$14.95 and 20GB for US$22.95. The 1GB and 3GB plans actually cost more per GB than Japan's pay-as-you-go rate; the plans are cheaper only from 5GB upwards. Japan's Unlimited plan costs US$3.84 for 1 day and US$23.52 (about HK$183) for 7 days; in Hong Kong, the 5GB data plan costs US$11.95 and the 7-day Unlimited plan US$26.25.

Payment is settled in US dollars only. The official payment guide lists Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and "Union Credit", and the purchasing guide also mentions Apple Pay and Google Pay; PayPal is not accepted. If you pay with a Hong Kong dollar credit or debit card, the card issuer may charge a foreign currency transaction fee, which varies from card to card. The minimum purchase on the website is US$1. If auto top-up is switched on, your card is charged automatically whenever pay-as-you-go credit falls below US$5, and this threshold cannot be changed.

Assuming a five-day trip using about 1GB a day, or about 5GB in total: pay-as-you-go comes to US$12.25 (about HK$96); Japan's 5GB data plan costs US$9.95 (about HK$78); and 5 days of Unlimited costs US$16.80 (about HK$131), which suits travellers who use far more than 1GB a day or who need a personal hotspot for other devices. These figures are converted at about HK$7.8 to US$1 and exclude any foreign currency fee charged by your card issuer.

There are two ways to make a first qualifying purchase with the referral code. You can buy US$5 of pay-as-you-go credit, which together with the US$5 referral reward makes US$10, or about 4.1GB in Japan, for an actual outlay of about HK$39. Alternatively, you can buy Japan's 5GB data plan (US$9.95) and receive an additional US$5 of credit (about 2GB in Japan), about 7GB in total. The first suits travellers making a single trip with light use; the second leaves credit after the plan is used up, which can be kept for later trips.

New users also receive US$1.25 of trial credit when they activate the eSIM, which Roamless says is worth up to about 500MB, although a few destinations do not offer the trial. This site has not been able to verify whether the trial credit can be received together with the referral reward, so it is excluded from the calculations above. For a single trip, the referral reward is equivalent to about 2GB of data in Japan, a significant share of the cost; whether Roamless is good value in the long run depends on the per-GB price in the places you visit most often. If you are planning a trip to Japan, see also this site's guide to payments and connectivity in Japan.

Install the app and create a new account through the referral link on this page, enter the referral code JIMMYQZD in the app (for example, via "Redeem your referral/promo code" at the bottom of the home screen), and then buy US$5 or more of pay-as-you-go credit or a data plan to receive US$5 of Roamless credit. The code must be entered within 30 days of opening the account, the qualifying purchase must also be completed within 30 days of opening the account, and the code must be entered before you pay.

Other restrictions: the referral reward and promo codes are different rewards and cannot be combined on the same purchase, so you must choose one before paying. If your first purchase used a promo code, a further purchase of US$5 or more within 30 days of opening the account still qualifies for the referral reward. Once entered, the referral code is tied to the account or device and cannot be entered again on another account on the same device. The referral reward is added to the pay-as-you-go balance; it cannot be used to buy data plans or Unlimited plans and cannot be exchanged for cash. No end date has been announced for the referral programme, and the latest terms in the Roamless help centre prevail in all cases.

Disclosure: JIMMYQZD is this site's referral code. When you complete a qualifying purchase, this site also receives US$5 of Roamless credit, which can be used only on Roamless services and is not cash.

Roamless works only on devices that support eSIM and are not locked to a carrier, including phones, tablets, some Android-based mobile Wi-Fi routers and eSIM adapters; the Apple Watch is not currently supported. The simplest check is to look for an "Add eSIM" option under Mobile Service on an iPhone, or on the SIM management page on Android.

Readers in Hong Kong should take particular note: Apple states that the iPhone XR, XS Max, 11 series, 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 13, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, and every model in the 14, 15 and 16 series (except the 16e) bought in Hong Kong have a dual-SIM design using two physical nano-SIM cards, whereas the iPhone XS, 12 mini, 13 mini, SE (2nd and 3rd generation), 16e, 17e, 17 series, Air and 18 Pro series bought in Hong Kong use eSIM. If your phone is locked under a contract, it must first be unlocked by the carrier.

Installation is needed only once: on the Data page of the app, select Install eSIM; then set Roamless as the mobile data line, switch on data roaming and confirm that the APN is "roamless". Ideally, this should be done before leaving Hong Kong. The help centre warns against entering a phone number for the Roamless eSIM in Settings, and against converting your existing physical SIM card to an eSIM by mistake, as that conversion cannot be reversed. When changing phones, delete the eSIM on the old phone first and reinstall it on the new one; there is no limit on how often this can be done, but the iOS "Transfer eSIM" feature should not be used. To stop background apps using up credit, you can set the Roamless line to Low Data Mode and turn off iCloud backup over mobile data.

Roamless connects to local carriers' networks: in Japan, KDDI (3G/4G) and SoftBank (up to 5G); in South Korea, SK Telecom; in Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom; in Thailand, AIS, True and Dtac; in mainland China, China Unicom; in Macao, CTM; and in Hong Kong, CSL and PCCW. The help centre says most destinations offer 4G and 5G, but some have only 4G or 3G, and whether you can connect to 5G also depends on local coverage and network congestion.

The personal hotspot has no speed or data cap and can be shared with several devices, although it uses up credit faster. Roamless has not published speed figures, and this site has not carried out its own tests; a common complaint in user reviews is full signal bars but slow data or dropped connections.

On use in mainland China, Roamless's China page says data is carried over its international network, so apps such as WhatsApp and Google work as usual without a VPN. This is the provider's own claim and has not been verified by this site; anyone using network services in mainland China must still comply with local laws and regulations. Roamless also recommends installing before departure, as app stores in mainland China may be restricted.

The Roamless eSIM provides data only: it has no phone number and cannot send or receive ordinary SMS messages. Your Hong Kong number remains on your existing SIM card, and both can be switched on at the same time. If you need to receive SMS verification codes from Hong Kong banks while abroad, keep your existing SIM card switched on; any roaming charges are set by your carrier.

Internet calls in the app are charged per minute from pay-as-you-go credit, at rates based on the location of the number dialled; Roamless says rates start from US$0.01 a minute. Roamless Numbers is a separate subscription service that currently offers only US, Canadian, UK and Australian numbers, with no Hong Kong numbers; it costs US$59.95 a year or US$6.95 a month, renews automatically and is charged 3 days before the next period begins, and Roamless states that no refunds are given. The numbers can be used only within the Roamless app and require an internet connection.

The terms of service provide that all transactions are final. The help centre allows refunds in only two situations: the phone does not support eSIM, or the phone is locked and the carrier cannot unlock it. Requests must be made by opening a support case in the app with a screenshot of the relevant settings page. Once part of the pay-as-you-go credit has been used, the remaining credit is not refunded (although it can be transferred to another Roamless account); once a data plan has been used, the unused portion is not refunded either; and temporary connection problems are not grounds for a refund. Approved refunds are generally returned to the payment card within 5 to 10 working days. You should therefore confirm that your phone supports eSIM and is not locked before paying.

Customer service is available through live chat on the website and in the app (answered first by an automated assistant, with the option to ask for a member of staff) and by email. To delete your account, go to Profile > Account Settings > Delete Account in the app. Deletion is permanent: it deletes all credit, data plans and rewards and deactivates the eSIM. Deleting only the app has no such effect.

As at 13 October 2026, the Roamless app was rated 4.8 on the App Store (Hong Kong), from 49 ratings, and 4.75 (3,163 ratings) and 4.77 (5,837 ratings) in the UK and US stores respectively. The Google Play listing for Hong Kong showed a rating of 4.4, with more than 500,000 downloads worldwide; on Trustpilot it was rated 4.5 (1,785 reviews), with about 77% five-star and 7% one-star reviews, and Roamless had replied to about 68% of negative reviews.

Among the latest 160 or so reviews in the UK and US App Stores (October 2023 to October 2026), the more common complaints were full signal bars but slow data or dropped connections, in places including Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam; locked iPhones showing eSIM as unsupported, followed by disputes over refunds; and pay-as-you-go credit running down quickly, with prices in some parts of Asia higher than local SIM cards. A few users also mentioned forced app updates using mobile data, trial credit not being credited, advertising in push notifications, and problems registering by email. The app currently offers a Simplified Chinese interface but not Traditional Chinese, and users in the Hong Kong store have also asked for Traditional Chinese to be added.

Suitable for: people whose phone supports eSIM and is not carrier-locked, who make several short trips a year and use relatively little data on each; people whose trip covers several places (for example, Japan followed by South Korea) and who do not wish to buy an eSIM for each one; and people who need backup data or a connection for a second device.

Not suitable for: people using a Hong Kong-sold iPhone with two physical SIM slots, or a carrier-locked phone; heavy daily data users who find a drop to 1Mbps after 3GB a day insufficient (see this site's Airalo review for comparison); people who need a Hong Kong number or a Traditional Chinese interface; and people who may not travel for more than a year and do not wish to risk their credit being cancelled.