Using a smartphone in Morocco

[Tim Cullis]

Having a smartphone in Morocco is obviously useful for communicating with folks back home and hotels, being able to look things up on the Internet, and for navigation when driving. It's possible your smartphone contract from back home might allow you to make and receive normal telephone calls whilst in Morocco, however the costs will likely be high. You may also be able to 'roam' with your home data contract, but again at likely high costs. So you may be interested in getting a local Moroccan SIM card.

But even without obtaining a local SIM card, you can achieve much of what you need by using wifi (pronounced wee'fee) which is available in most hotels and the majority of cafes, just ask for the passcode (“le code du wifi s'il vous plaît"). It won't be fast, so don't plan to stream a movie, but with free wifi you can use WhatsApp and Facetime to communicate, and can surf the Internet. But of course ONLY whilst you are at the hotel or cafe. Even so, when away from the hotel/cafe you can still do basic navigation if you have already downloaded Google maps to your smartphone before leaving home—search for 'download offline google maps iphone/android'. Your smartphone has a built-in GPS satellite receiver, so when you fire up Google Maps it will show you where you are on the map, and also indicate the direction you are facing. This is useful both when driving on roads, or when finding your way in a medina.

You can also download OpenStreetMaps offline maps from MAPS.ME

If you use Google Translate it’s a good idea to also download the French language vocabulary so you can use it offline.

One tip: it's often very difficult to find the contact details of a hotel; you can try searching the Internet but all the results are from booking companies who want you to use their service and definitely don't want you contacting the hotel directly! You can see what I mean if you try searching for 'auberge ibrahim agoudal'. However, most hotels now have their own presence on Facebook, so now try searching within Facebook for 'auberge ibrahim agoudal' and you will find telephone, email, twitter and website information.

 

[Arsey]

Or get an esim if you have a modern phone .

Use something like Airalo and it’s $9.50 for a week. Only 1Gb but should be enough for most people

 

[Tim Cullis]

OBTAINING A LOCAL VOICE/DATA CONTRACT
The easiest solution is to get a local SIM card on a prepaid contract. Mobile coverage in Morocco is excellent with 4G in most urban areas. Because a high proportion of the population lives in the more remote areas, you will also find coverage in places you wouldn’t normally expect. There’s three mobile operators, Maroc Telecom, Orange and Inwi (Maroc Telecom is also called IAM, Orange took over what used to be Meditel). Service, coverage and costs are broadly similar from the three suppliers. NOTE: If you purchase a SIM or eSIM from any other company offering coverage in Morocco, you will invariably pay much higher charges for the service.

First of all, before you leave home, make sure your phone is not irrevocably locked to your home contract, as you can only use other contracts if your phone is unlocked. If you are not sure, swap out your SIM card for a friend’s card on a different network; if it works OK your phone is unlocked. If you have an iPhone you can find out if it is locked by going to Settings > General > About. If "No SIM restrictions" appears next to Network Provider Lock, your iPhone is unlocked.

Visitors with the US-model iPhone 14 introduced in 2022 may have some problems due to its lack of a SIM card slot and reliance on eSIM technology. eSIMs are not widely adopted at the time of writing this post, so bring an earlier model iPhone if possible (see later discussion of eSIMs).

The Moroccan SIM cards are free, you just add a plan. The three companies have sales booths at major airports and often you can get a SIM card at the ports. Tanger also has a big Maroc Telecom shop plus an Orange boutique near the railway station. Often there are students working for the company standing outside of these stores who will assist you.

You are likely to need to show your passport to have the SIM registered against your name and will need to pay in cash, so change some money first. Most short term visitors get a 5GB plan which typically costs 50dh. If you are here for more than a week, get a 10GB plan (100dh). This will last for up to 30 days from the date of purchase. If you are pressured into buying a 200dh 20GB plan just walk to another booth, you will get called back and offered 10GB. If there are two of you, you could get one SIM and then tether the other person’s phone to the Moroccan SIM personal hotspot. You will be given a card with the SIM information on it including the password for the SIM card. The first thing I do is to remove the password. Ask for the default language for top-ups to be changed from Arabic to French.

Sometimes changes need to be made to the configuration, such as the APN (Access Point Name) settings. Also make sure tethering (personal hotspot) is enabled if you need this. If your home SIM has been removed, put it somewhere safe. Do not leave or pay until you are sure the new SIM is working for both voice and data. All SIMs come with a Moroccan phone number. You get a small amount of local calls with the card, but most people will use WhatsApp for phone calls. You can top up the plan by buying scratch cards from a local shop. A 2GB top up will last for up to a week, a 5GB for up to 30 days.

iPhone phone contacts are stored in the smartphone memory, so no need to worry about not being able to access them when swapping out a SIM card. Android offers the choice of where to store contacts, so you should check where they are stored and if necessary move them from SIM to phone memory.

Once you are operational, you may get a message saying ‘carrier changed, do you want to register with a new phone number?’ Although it doesn’t state who the message is from (!), it’s actually WhatsApp. I always decline as I will be going back to my home number later.

When you remove your home SIM you will of course no longer be able to make or receive voice calls on your usual number (though WhatApp will still work). I solve this having my UK contract on an eSIM which leaves the physical SIM slot free to fit a Spanish Lobster SIM or a Moroccan IAM SIM, giving me access to two networks at once. More on dual SIMs and eSIMs in a post further down.

 

[Tim Cullis]

DUAL SIMs and eSIMs
Some older Android phones have dual SIM slots where you can keep your existing SIM and add a second one. What’s more usual nowadays is for phones to be able to simulate having a dual SIM by having an electronic version (eSIM is how cellular support is provided on the Apple Watch). iPhones that support eSIM include ALL models from the SE 2020, XR and XS onwards (so also iPhone 11, 12, 13, 14).

When you have multiple SIMs enabled (whether SIM or eSIM), you normally choose which one is used for mobile data and outgoing telephone calls, however you can have both services activated at once for incoming and outgoing telephone calls. You can also configure mobile data switching so you use whichever has the better coverage but you probably don’t want this as you would incur additional charges from your home service.

If you have both SIMs active, when you come to make a normal telephone call, the SIM you are about to use is shown at the top of the screen and you can change that if you wish.

The iPhone 14 sold in USA doesn’t have a physical SIM tray and only supports eSIMs, there are rumours that the next generation of iPhone 15 models for Europe will be similar, which means the devices would work only with eSIMs for cellular connectivity.

It’s currently not easy to obtain an eSIM from one of the three Moroccan companies, though if you visit one of Maroc Telecom’s big stores you can convert your free nano SIM into an eSIM deal and set up your phone for the eSIM at a cost of 60dh on top of whatever you add for your data plan. Having said that, on this link, Maroc Telecom suggests the eSIM should be the same price as the nano SIM, https://www.iam.ma/particulier/offres-mobiles/services/pratique/e-SIM.aspx

Apple has suggestions on international eSIM support, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213448 and one of the vendors mentioned that offers a prepaid data eSIM that you can install yourself is Airalo, see https://www.airalo.com/morocco-esim/choukran-7days-1gb Airalo’s eSIM works on Maroc Telecom’s network, however be aware there’s no voice calls and the data allowance is just 1GB before needing to be topped up.

 

[GeorgeF1]

Having a smartphone in Morocco is obviously useful for communicating with folks back home and hotels, being able to look things up on the Internet, and for navigation when driving. It's possible your smartphone contract from back home might allow you to make and receive normal telephone calls whilst in Morocco, however the costs will likely be high. You may also be able to 'roam' with your home data contract, but again at likely high costs. So you may be interested in getting a local Moroccan SIM card.

But even without obtaining a local SIM card, you can achieve much of what you need by using wifi (pronounced wee'fee) which is available in most hotels and the majority of cafes, just ask for the passcode (“le code du wifi s'il vous plaît"). It won't be fast, so don't plan to stream a movie, but with free wifi you can use WhatsApp and Facetime to communicate, and can surf the Internet. But of course ONLY whilst you are at the hotel or cafe. Even so, when away from the hotel/cafe you can still do basic navigation if you have already downloaded Google maps to your smartphone before leaving home—search for 'download offline google maps iphone/android'. Your smartphone has a built-in GPS satellite receiver, so when you fire up Google Maps it will show you where you are on the map, and also indicate the direction you are facing. This is useful both when driving on roads, or when finding your way in a medina.

You can also download OpenStreetMaps offline maps from MAPS.ME

If you use Google Translate it’s a good idea to also download the French language vocabulary so you can use it offline.

One tip: it's often very difficult to find the contact details of a hotel; you can try searching the Internet but all the results are from booking companies who want you to use their service and definitely don't want you contacting the hotel directly! You can see what I mean if you try searching for 'auberge ibrahim agoudal'. However, most hotels now have their own presence on Facebook, so now try searching within Facebook for 'auberge ibrahim agoudal' and you will find telephone, email, twitter and website information.

Thank you, very well presented knowledge and tips..