Project Fi on iPhone 7 / iPhone 8 / iPhone X

Update: Just upgraded to an iPhone X and can confirm this works there too. I’ve updated this guide.

I switched to Google’s Project Fi about a month ago. It’s pretty fantastic on paper compared to every other carrier in the US. $20 dollars a month for unlimited call and text, $10 for every gigabyte you use. High speed international data automatically, for the same price. It even jumps between T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T towers based on signal strength if you have a supported Nexus or Pixel phone (the iPhone doesn’t support this).

Here’s a guide to setting it up and with problems you might run into:

Setup

You need an unlocked carrier iPhone, and a Nexus or Pixel to activate the SIM card with. Just sign up online and they’ll send you a SIM, pop the SIM into your Nexus or Pixel and activate it using the Fi app. Once your sim is activated, pop it into your iPhone and you’re (mostly) good to go.

International didn’t work for me until I updated the settings (which left me stranded for about 30 minutes at Narita airport trying to juggle my Pixel and iPhone to figure out what wasn’t working). If I hadn’t carried my Pixel with me I’d have been screwed. If it isn’t working, try the settings listed in Appendix 1:

Caveats

1. Your iPhone won’t support Visual Voicemail. You’ll get some bizarre texts saying you have a voicemail– right now as far as I know the only way to access it is to call your own number.
2. MMS and Group SMS are completely broken. Some people have fixed this by locking their MMS servers in carrier settings to T-Mobile but it didn’t work for me. (Keep in mind, group iMessages still work- this relates specifically to MMS and group SMS with green bubblers.)
3. Automatic Carrier Switching doesn’t work (based on what everyone says online). You can however choose between four Project Fi carrier options, so if your signal is bad try turning automatic carrier choice off and selecting one manually. To see what this looks like, check out Appendix Image 2.
4. You don’t have the Fi app, so you’ll need to visit http://fi.google.com to see your usage and manage your account. Not too big of a deal, but it does mean you don’t have access to chat support if something goes wrong.
5. Lastly, Fi isn’t guaranteed to work with the iPhone. There are rumors about service being shut off, but I couldn’t find evidence of someone actually having service disabled because of Fi. Regardless, you might want to avoid mentioning your iPhone to Fi Support.

Appendix Image 2: Fi Carrier Selection