Way back in November of 2022, T-Mobile disabled self-service SIM swaps for customers due to security concerns. The original reasoning was that the company was “implementing extra security features” for SIM swaps.
A year later we wrote about how the feature never returned, with T-Mobile stating they had no news to share when asked. Now, nearly two and a half years later, we’re finally getting the ability back.
A SIM swap attack is when a malicious actor uses a combination of leaked data (such as your phone number, name, etc) and social engineering techniques to change the SIM card associated with a victim’s phone number to a card that they are in possession of. They then have access to your texts and can receive two-factor codes for your other accounts, such as bank accounts.
The issue was especially bad for a while for crypto users. Coinbase users were targeted specifically for attacks like these, with bad actors accessing customer accounts by getting two-factor codes via a SIM-swapped line.
According to information shared with us here at The Mobile Report, the ability to change SIM cards yourself is returning via the do-everything T-Life app on April 24th. The feature is part of a small list of “T-Life Enhancements” for April.
There’s no word on what the flow will look like in the app yet, but if it works it will be a welcome change. Customers have had to contact support for the last 2.5 years if they wanted to change their SIM cards or even activate eSIM in some cases.
AT&T and Verizon have both had self-service SIM changes for ages, and never paused the ability. It’s unclear why it took T-Mobile so long to implement a secure way to handle the changes.
Most of the other changes coming to T-Life on that date are for in-store things, like a new “Store Mode” button being added to the shop tab, and a new “rate plan upselling and upgrade flow”. T-Mobile really wants everything done in the app now.
Look forward to changing your own SIM card on April 24th.
