Honest Mobile, a crowdfunded MVNO mobile network in the UK, which runs mainly off the back of the Three UK network - has announced a brand new Smart SIM. The new SIM is operated as an eSIM only and is designed to be a secondary SIM first and foremost. Honest has said that this is a “first-of-its-kind SIM” designed to tackle expensive global roaming charges, as well as poor mobile phone signal in the UK.
Honest announced the Smart SIM concept in summer 2023 as a beta and according to the company, 100,000 users signed up to the waiting list. The beta program started rolling out in August 2024 and had an initial price of £5 per month.
Andy Aitken - CEO and co-founder of Honest:
“The big mobile networks have set the bar shockingly low when it comes to meeting consumer needs. Too many people still struggle with connectivity, both in the UK and abroad. With yet more price hikes coming this April, Brits deserve better. We developed Smart SIM to tackle poor UK signal and expensive roaming, giving people peace of mind about staying connected, without worrying about losing signal or expensive roaming.”
The Smart SIM is not designed to be a replacement for your main phone SIM. It only works with essential apps and currently this list has around 200 apps included, with more being added each week. These apps include Apple Maps, Monzo, iMessage and WhatsApp. Many other are included too, such as electric car charging, airlines, parking and more. Just before the beta ended a few weeks ago, Honest also added support for WhatsApp voice calls.
Honest says:
"Unlike other multi-network SIMs, Smart SIM is for essential apps only. So you have peace of mind about staying connected, without the sky-high costs."
It is also important to mention that the Smart SIM cannot take phone calls and is designed for data only. On the backend it uses the EE, O2 and Three networks. During the beta process, Vodafone support was there but was removed due to issues. It will then connect to whichever network has the best coverage. When using on an iPhone, you can choose which SIM is primary, so you can choose to use the Smart SIM only for data if you need to.
In an update email beta testers, Honest said the following in September 2024:
"Vodafone didn’t work as hoped, so it’s on hold until it’s working as it should."
Data allowance is unlimited and works in 180 countries, making roaming abroad pretty easy.
Since exiting the beta, the Smart SIM is now priced at £10 per month, on a month to month basis. Although you can pay £45 for a year upfront, which brings that down to £3.75 per month.
