Why YSK:
Because this scenario:
I know what some people are thinking:
My eSIM is tied to my phone, phones these days have encryption, so all I need to do is set a lockscreen password then a thief cannot access any of my data.
WRONG
At least in Android: You can just use some button combo (just look up “[Phone model] hard reset”) to get into the recovery menu and wipe all data, then reboot, and the eSIM is still there!
(Caveat to this: If you happen to have a Google account, it would force a FRP lock, and that would stop access, but most of fediverse does not like those type of online accounts, so: without a SIM PIN and without FRP locks, the eSIM is accessible to a thief)
Now the thief has your bank 2FA Codes!
TLDR: Set a pin on your SIM cards, even if it’s an eSIM (but especially if you use physical SIM cards)
(Curious: Does anyone actually use SIM PINs or do I just have a lot of paranoid regarding tech and potential hacks/exploits)
I believe this wouldn’t be as simple on iPhone because there is no easy way to do the restore like that on the phone itself.
DFU mode could be used but you’d need to a computer to finalize the restore process and somewhere along the lines will require your Apple ID credentials. Either in iTunes/Finder or when setting up the phone after restore.
Unless the owner has relinquished their account from the phone, then this may be possible using that method.
But having a SIM lock is still an extra layer of protection against these kinds of attacks.