Guides · Updated September 2026

Why does my phone say I am in Singapore? (or Europe, or the US)

Travel eSIMs route traffic through a gateway in another country. What that changes, what it does not, and how to deal with apps that notice.

You land in Manila, connect, open a website and it greets you in Singapore. Or your banking app asks you to confirm a login from a country you are not in. Nothing is wrong. This is how most travel eSIMs work, ours included, and it is worth knowing why before it surprises you.

What is actually happening

Your travel eSIM is a roaming line. The local network (Smart, Globe, TrueMove, Telcel and so on) carries your signal, but your internet traffic exits to the wider internet through a gateway operated by the eSIM provider's home network. For our Asia plans that gateway is in Singapore. For Turkey it is in Europe. For the Americas it is an international gateway that may show as the US.

Websites and apps that guess your location from your IP address will therefore guess the gateway's country. Anything that uses the phone's actual GPS, which is most apps that matter on a trip, knows exactly where you are.

What works normally

• Maps, Grab, Uber, Bolt, food delivery: these use GPS. Unaffected.
• WhatsApp, iMessage, email, Instagram, TikTok: unaffected.
• Booking sites, airline apps, Google search: they may default to the gateway country's version or currency. Change it in the site's settings if it bothers you.

What might notice

• Banking apps: some flag a login from an unexpected country and ask for an extra confirmation. Approve it and you are through. If an app blocks you outright, log in once over hotel Wi-Fi, which will show the real country.
• Streaming: Netflix, Disney+ and the like show the catalogue for the gateway country. Downloads made at home still play.
• Local-only content: a few local TV or news apps that only serve their own country may refuse the connection.

Speed

Routing through a gateway adds a little latency, typically a few tens of milliseconds. Video calls and browsing do not notice. Competitive online gaming might.

Common questions

Can I choose a different gateway?

No. It is set by the network the plan runs on.

Will my location show correctly to friends on Find My or WhatsApp live location?

Yes. Those use GPS.

Do local SIMs have this?

No. A SIM bought in the country exits through that country. It comes with the queue, the passport registration and the store visit, which is the trade-off.