Is Firsty eSIM worth it? No free data on +852 numbers: 10 things to know before you buy

Here's how Firsty Free works: watch an ad, get data. Each ad gives you 20MB, up to 18 ads a day, so 360MB a day at most; you can bank up to 240MB, it has to be used within 7 days of earning it, speed tops out at 1Mbps, there's no hotspot, and you don't need to register a credit card.

The question is whether you're allowed in, and that depends on the country of the phone number you sign up with. The help centre's list of eligible numbers includes the UK, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia and a whole bunch of European and American countries, but not Hong Kong. Replying to a user on the Hong Kong App Store on 8 June 2025, Firsty spelled it out: Free is paused for Hong Kong users, though visitors to Hong Kong can still use it. So sign up with +852 and you only get the paid plans; if you happen to have a UK, Japanese or Taiwanese number, then you might get to play.

Even if you're in, Free doesn't work everywhere: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the mainland, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and the UK are in; Macau, Cambodia and Laos are out. Clause 3.1 of the terms still describes the old "30 minutes per ad" system, and the help centre says some older accounts may still see it during the transition; whatever the app shows is what counts.

Your phone needs to be unlocked and have eSIM. Apple's support article of 17 September 2026 says the Hong Kong or Macau versions of iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, 17, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max, 17e, Air, 16e, 13 mini, 12 mini, SE (2nd and 3rd generation) and XS have eSIM; the Hong Kong iPhone 11 to 16 series (except the 12 mini, 13 mini and 16e), XS Max and XR take two physical SIMs and can't install an eSIM.

The awkward bit: Firsty's own device page says iPhones bought in China and Hong Kong don't support eSIM, which doesn't match what Apple says; it also says Samsung Galaxy phones bought in Hong Kong may not support it. We couldn't confirm whether the app will let a Hong Kong iPhone 17 or similar install the eSIM. Quickest check: dial *#06#, and if you see an EID, your phone has eSIM. If you only find out after buying that your phone isn't compatible, and the plan hasn't been used (under 10MB), you can get a full cash refund within 14 days of purchase.

Installing the eSIM needs Wi-Fi, so ideally sort it out before you leave Hong Kong. The app is English only and needs iOS 15.6 or later.

Since July 2026 Firsty has switched to one global price, and the old per-country pricing and plans like Comfort+ and First Class are gone (users without an active plan moved over from 6 July). The site says paid plans work in 176 countries and regions, but Greenland, Cuba and French Polynesia lost their paid plans from September 2026, so that number may not be up to date.

Classic is a one-off data pack: from 500MB for €2.50 up to 50GB for €49 (€0.98 per GB), valid for 30 days from activation, and it can't be paused. Once you've bought it, pick your destination and it activates automatically when you land and connect to a local network, or you can tap to activate it yourself in the app.

Unlimited is charged by the day, 1 to 60 days at a time: 1 day €3.50, 7 days €22.40 (€3.20 a day), 14 days €42 (€3 a day), 30 days €69 (€2.30 a day), and 45 and 60 days at €2 a day. The first 5GB each day runs at the fastest local speed, then drops to 512Kbps until the next 24-hour cycle resets; hotspot use counts towards that 5GB. You can hold both at once: Unlimited goes first, and Classic only kicks in once the day's high-speed data is used up.

Some help centre articles and the China page still show old prices; we went by the site's price list on 13 October 2026, and the price at checkout in the app has the final say.

The Unlimited price list has a quirk: some longer durations cost less in total than shorter ones. For example, 16 days at €44.80 is cheaper than 15 days at €45, 23 days at €57.50 cheaper than 22 days at €61.60, 30 days at €69 cheaper than 29 days at €72.50, and 45 days at €90 cheaper than 44 days at €101.20. Going for 15 days? Buying 16 saves you €0.20, so check the durations either side before you buy.

Got days left over? Clause 4.3 of the terms says that when you pause, the current 24 hours runs out as normal, while the remaining full days are kept and don't expire, ready to switch back on for your next trip. Classic can't be paused.

csl's Japan daily data roaming pass is HK$88 a day for 1GB of high-speed data, then 512kbps, so HK$440 for five days; the 2GB-a-day pass is HK$138 a day, also dropping to 512kbps after that, so HK$690 for five days. Also, once you confirm a csl pass, a new one starts automatically each time the last one ends while you're there, until you leave.

Firsty Unlimited for five days is €16, about HK$140 at the European Central Bank reference rate of 12 October 2026 (€1 = HK$8.7743), with 5GB of high-speed data a day; a first purchase with the referral code makes it €13, about HK$114. If your card charges a 1.95% foreign currency fee, that €16 bill costs about HK$3 more. Light data users could also look at Classic 3GB for €7.50 (about HK$66).

The trade-off is convenience: a roaming pass runs on your usual Hong Kong SIM, with no extra eSIM to install; with Firsty, if you still want bank SMS codes, your phone needs dual SIM with the Hong Kong SIM left on, and remember to switch off data roaming on it. For a Macau day trip there's not much in it: Firsty has paid plans in Macau, 1 day of Unlimited is €3.50 (about HK$31), csl's Macau day pass is HK$38, and €3.50 is under the €4 needed for the referral code.

Download Firsty through the link on this page, open a new account and enter 69SR-OUUA when you sign up or check out (type it in yourself if it isn't filled in), and your first purchase is €3 off. Clause 12 of the terms says the first purchase must be "at least €4", while the referral page says "over €4"; but no plan costs exactly €4 right now, so in practice you need 1GB of Classic (€4.50) or more, or 2 or more days of Unlimited. 500MB (€2.50) and 1 day of Unlimited (€3.50) don't count.

Run the numbers: 1GB of Classic comes to €1.50 after the discount (about HK$13), the cheapest way in; 5GB of Classic is €6.50 (about HK$57); 7 days of Unlimited is €19.40 (about HK$170). It's for new users' first purchase only and can't be combined with other offers; open multiple accounts or resell, and Firsty can cancel your order or kick you out of the programme. The discount only applies to paid plans and has nothing to do with Firsty Free.

Full disclosure: 69SR-OUUA is our referral code. Once you complete your first qualifying purchase, the referrer's account gets €3 in Firsty credit, which can't be transferred, can't be cashed out and can only be used in the app, so we get something out of it too.

Clause 8.1 of the terms says all payments are processed in euros, by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay, Google Pay, AliPay and more; your account currency is set when you sign up and can't be changed later. Pay with a Hong Kong dollar card and what you're actually charged depends on your card issuer's exchange rate and foreign currency fee.

Firsty credit in your wallet can only be spent in the app on plans or calls (credit earned from referrals is explicitly not exchangeable for cash), and there's nothing like deposit protection, so buy the plan for the trip you're actually taking rather than stocking up.

A Firsty eSIM is data only, with no local phone number. The app has calling, but you need to top up call credit separately, and before your first call your account must have at least one real-money purchase (a plan or call credit); promotional credit doesn't count.

The help centre says your data may take a detour through a network hub in Belgium (the partner is Proximus), and websites will think you're in Belgium. Hong Kong-only streaming platforms, online services or news sites may not work as a result, and you may see ads aimed at Belgium.

For the mainland, Firsty's China page says data is routed outside the mainland, so WhatsApp and Google work without a VPN; that's their claim, and we haven't tested it. The same page still lists some old prices (7 days at €19.25, for example), so go by the app.

Clause 9 of the terms: you can withdraw within 14 days of buying, but once a plan is activated and more than 10MB is used, it counts as used, with no refund and no partial refund either. If it's unused (under 10MB) and you change your mind within 14 days, you can choose 90% back in cash (minus a 10% admin fee) or 100% as Firsty credit; if your phone isn't eSIM compatible and the plan is unused, you get a full cash refund.

If you can't connect, report it within 72 hours of activation and spend at least 30 minutes troubleshooting with support; if you turned on auto-activate on arrival, the 72 hours count from when the system activated it, and refund eligibility goes by that time too. Approved refunds are processed within 5 working days. Picked the wrong destination and the plan activated early? Contact support to have it restored.

To close your account, tap "Delete Profile" at the bottom of your profile page in the app. Deletion isn't instant and can take up to about three months, and logging back in during that time cancels it; you'll need to delete the eSIM separately in your phone's settings.

Your contract is with Firsty B2C Pte. Ltd., registered in Singapore (registration number 202507463H), and the app developer is Bamboo Connected B.V. of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The terms say the connection is provided by third-party networks that work with Firsty. The terms are governed by Dutch law, with disputes heard by the Amsterdam courts, though consumers still keep the mandatory protections of the law where they live. We couldn't find out whether Firsty holds a Hong Kong telecoms licence.

What we saw on 13 October 2026: App Store (Hong Kong) 4.1 (14 ratings), UK App Store 4.6 (303 ratings), Google Play Hong Kong page 4.2 (about 4,170 reviews), Trustpilot 4.0 (335 reviews, 17% of them one star). Firsty's own website quotes higher scores; we stuck with the numbers we checked ourselves.

Top gripes: the eSIM installs fine but won't connect on arrival; people can't find Free after signing up, usually because their number isn't eligible; unhappiness with the 2026 changes, such as Free dropping to 20MB per ad; Free data draining or expiring without being used; Free being slow; and support replying slowly or not sorting things out. On the plus side, reviewers mostly praise the live chat support with real people.

Go for it if: your phone has eSIM, you visit Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the mainland or Europe a few times a year, and you use lots of data a day or need a hotspot; your trips vary in length and you want to pause unused days; or you have an eligible number, such as a UK one, and can keep Free as a backup.

Skip it if: you're on a Hong Kong-model iPhone 11 to 16 (except the 12 mini, 13 mini and 16e); you need a local number for texts; you want to pay in Hong Kong dollars or need a Chinese interface; you only do Macau day trips; or you thought your +852 number would get free data.