Yes — all of it. A travel eSIM is a second line that carries data only. Your SIM never leaves the phone.
Your physical SIM stays in, so your number, incoming calls, SMS and two-factor bank codes all keep working. WhatsApp, iMessage and FaceTime are tied to your number and your Apple ID, not to a data line, so they carry on over the eSIM's data with your full history intact. The one thing you do not get is a local phone number.
Modern phones run two lines at once: your physical SIM and the eSIM. You choose, per line, which one handles which job. The travel setup is always the same three choices:
On iPhone all three live in Settings > Cellular; on Android in Settings > Network & internet > SIMs. Set them once at the airport and nothing needs touching again.
Leave your home line switched on but with its data roaming off. People who turn the whole line off to "be safe" then discover they cannot receive the SMS code their bank sends when they try to pay for dinner. Off is not safer — data roaming off is safer. The full list of switches is on the avoiding roaming charges page.
Yes. A travel eSIM is data-only and installs as a second line, so your physical SIM stays in the phone and keeps your number, calls and SMS exactly as they are. Nothing is transferred, ported or replaced — which is the main advantage over buying a local SIM card abroad.
Yes, as long as you leave your home line switched on. Those codes arrive over your carrier's normal SMS network, not over data, and receiving SMS abroad is normally free. This is the single biggest reason not to pull your SIM out and replace it with a local one.
Yes to both. WhatsApp is registered to your phone number once and then runs over any internet connection. Your number does not change, so nothing re-registers, no contact has to re-add you, and your history is untouched.
Both keep working. They are tied to your Apple ID and your phone number rather than to a specific data line, so they run happily over the travel eSIM's data. If iMessage shows as green instead of blue, check Settings > Messages > Send & Receive and confirm your number is still ticked.
Yes, the line is still live. Answering may cost you a roaming fee from your own carrier, so turn on Wi-Fi Calling before you travel and those calls route over the internet at domestic rates instead.
A local number. If a delivery driver, a taxi app or an in-country bank needs to send you an SMS at a local number, a data-only eSIM cannot help — you would need a local SIM for that. For the large majority of trips this never comes up.
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