Guides · Gap year · Updated May 2026

Gap year in Israel — the phone and connectivity guide

You're reading this because your kid — or you — is heading to Israel for a gap year. There are a lot of decisions to make about phones before they leave. Here's how to work through them in order.

Which carrier should they use?

Step one: check what the school requires or recommends

Before you do anything else, read the school's pre-arrival materials carefully and look for carrier guidance. There are two different situations:

If the school requires a specific carrier — you're largely locked in, and that's okay. It means the school has a relationship with that carrier and can provide some level of support when things go wrong. Follow their instructions, buy through their recommended channel, and keep the program office's contact info handy.

If the school recommends (but doesn't require) a specific carrier — pay attention. A school recommendation almost always means there's a relationship in place: a negotiated rate, a local rep who can help students, or at minimum a contact person who speaks English and knows how the program works. Even if you find a slightly cheaper option elsewhere, the support infrastructure can be worth the difference.

If you have free reign

No carrier requirement and no recommendation? Then you're choosing on your own — and there are two broad approaches:

US-based resellers sell Israeli SIM cards and plans to gap-year students and tourists before they leave the country. They're convenient, the websites are in English, and customer service is usually responsive. The tradeoff: you pay for that convenience. Resellers typically charge meaningfully more than you'd pay buying a SIM directly from a carrier store in Israel.

Buying directly in Israel — walking into a Cellcom, Partner, Hot Mobile, or Pelephone store in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and buying a SIM there — will almost always be cheaper. The catch is that Israeli carrier customer service can be a challenge. It's not always bad, but it's inconsistent, sometimes slow, and if your Hebrew isn't strong, navigating a billing dispute or a technical issue can be genuinely frustrating. For a year-long stay, that's a real consideration.

Does the school require a kosher phone?

Many yeshivot and seminaries require students to use a kosher phone — a device with no internet access, limited to calls and SMS. If that's the case, buy the phone in Israel.

Kosher phones sold in the US are expensive, the selection is limited, and the Israeli kosher phone ecosystem — approved device lists, kosher certification agencies, carrier plans designed for them — all assumes you're buying in Israel. Your school will almost certainly have guidance on which device and which carrier to use; follow it.

If you're not sure whether the school requires a kosher phone, ask before your kid packs their iPhone.

Do they need an Israeli phone number?

Almost certainly yes for a gap year — most programs require one, and Israeli businesses, banks, and government services rely on local numbers for SMS verification. We cover this in detail, including when you also might want a US callback number, in the phone numbers guide.

What happens to their US number?

This is one of the most common and most misunderstood questions — and the answer is more nuanced than most families expect. Do you cancel? Suspend? Port it out and park it? The short answer is: don't cancel without doing the math first. The full breakdown is in What to do with your kid's US phone plan while they're in Israel.

Can they use their US smartphone in Israel?

Yes — with one prerequisite. If the school doesn't require a kosher phone, your kid can use their existing iPhone or Android in Israel. They just need it to be unlocked first. A phone bought from a US carrier is almost always locked to that carrier, which means it won't accept an Israeli SIM. Unlocking it is usually a simple phone call or online request to your carrier, but there are conditions — device paid off, account in good standing — that vary by carrier. Full details in the unlocked phones guide.

What apps are useful in Israel?

Israel has its own app ecosystem — navigation, transit, food delivery, payments, news — and some of the most useful ones aren't obvious to someone arriving from the US. We put together a guide: Essential apps for living in Israel.