Apple’s new iPhone Handoff feature won’t be free for everyone. T-Mobile customers looking to use the feature will need to pay an extra $5 per month, a detail Apple left out during its official announcement.
The feature first showed up as a small mention during Apple’s WWDC keynote earlier this year, tucked into a slide packed with upcoming iOS 27 features. It simply read that users would be able to switch between two iPhones while keeping the same phone number active. Apple filled in the details during this week’s “Surprise and Shine” event, where Kaiann Drance, the company’s VP of iPhone Product Marketing, explained that iPhone Handoff lets a single phone number stay instantly active on whichever iPhone someone happens to be using. Drance confirmed the feature launches first with T-Mobile and Telekom Germany, with Verizon and EE expected to add support by the end of the year, followed by additional carriers down the line.
As per Stetson’s post on X, T-Mobile customers will need to pay $5 per month to actually use iPhone Handoff.
Not every carrier is charging separately for the feature, though. Deutsche Telekom’s own announcement of iPhone Handoff support doesn’t list any standalone fee tied to the feature itself. Instead, it comes bundled into the carrier’s existing MultiSIM offering. Adding MultiSIM to a plan normally costs €6.95 per month, though some select plans already include it at no extra charge. You can find Apple’s detailed how to setup iPhone Handoff feature here.
Apple’s own support page for the feature does note that “carrier fees might apply when enrolling in iPhone Handoff,” pointing users toward their carrier for specifics rather than listing pricing directly. That vague wording lines up with what’s turned out to be a real cost for T-Mobile subscribers specifically.
The difference between the two carriers highlights something worth keeping in mind as more carriers roll out support throughout the year: how iPhone Handoff gets priced, or whether it comes with any added cost at all, looks like it’ll vary quite a bit depending on which carrier someone happens to use.
