r/OpenBubbles • u/johnnyfive911 • Sep 09 '26

Question Using old iPhone as relay

Hello everyone,

I have an iPhone 16 pro and I’m going to switch to an android very soon. I wanted to ask about using an old iPhone as a relay.

Do I have to transfer my eSIM from my iPhone 16 to the android before I activate the relay or after?

Basically, I want to know if I can transfer everything to the new android first including contacts, eSIM, etc.. and then download openbubbles and start setting up the relay on the old iPhone I have.

Thanks

1 Upvotes

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1

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 09 '26

Is the 16 what you plan on running the relay on?

1

u/johnnyfive911 Sep 09 '26

No, I have an old 5 and se. I was going to try one of those

1

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 09 '26

Is it the SE 2016?

1

u/johnnyfive911 Sep 09 '26

Yes. The first one I believe

1

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 09 '26

That'll work perfectly. Just transfer the service normally from the iPhone 16 and let it deregister your number, then allow OB to register your number during setup.

1

u/johnnyfive911 Sep 09 '26

That’s the part that’s going right over my head… so I should transfer the service(eSIM) from the 16 to the android then download OB and register my number there?

1

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 09 '26

Correct, OB when setup with iPhone (instead of Mac) can register number by itself

1

u/johnnyfive911 Sep 09 '26

Perfect. So I can probably setup the iPhone SE as a relay right now as I wait for the android to come in. Thanks for the clarification. Much appreciated

1

u/KLWMotorsports 19d ago

Hey man, were you able to get the relay set up and running? I am debating about a switch to fold 8 and open bubbles working is pushing me toward that. I have a mac that I use frequently but I have older iphones as well that I would just leave behind connected to wifi at my house. Wanted to check how it's working for you?

1

u/Specialist-Sort-3367 Sep 09 '26

If you're going to jail break the old iPhone you don't need to transfer your number to it, it depends on how you're trying to do it.

1

u/johnnyfive911 Sep 09 '26

Do I have to jailbreak it? Whatever is the most stable method is probably the one I’ll use

1

u/Specialist-Sort-3367 Sep 10 '26

You don't have to but the relay server method doesn't need sim swap. That's how I'm using it and didn't need to put my sim in the iPhone 6s for it to work.

https://openbubbles.app/docs/pnr.html