The eSIM that helps street dogs: why we built Rufly, and how it works in Portugal

Two things happen to almost every guest who arrives in Funchal. They land with no working data and spend the first twenty minutes of their trip hunting for airport WiFi to find the transfer driver. And within a week they notice the island's street animals and ask what they can do about it.

Those two problems have nothing to do with each other, which is exactly why we ended up joining them. Rufly is our travel eSIM brand, and 10 percent of every order goes to rescue shelters, including Associação Patinhas Felizes here in Funchal.

What an eSIM actually is

An eSIM is a SIM card built into your phone that can be programmed with a mobile plan instead of swapped physically. You buy a data plan online, receive a QR code, scan it, and your phone carries a second line alongside your home number. Nothing is posted to you and nothing has to be removed with a paperclip at the gate.

The practical effect is that you can set everything up at home on your own WiFi, days before you fly, and the plan simply activates when you land and the phone finds a local network. Your usual number stays reachable for calls and messages, while data runs on the cheap local plan.

Does your phone support it?

• Most iPhones from the XS onwards support eSIM, and recent US iPhone models are eSIM only.
• Google Pixel from the 3 onwards and most recent Samsung Galaxy S and Z devices support it.
• The phone must be carrier unlocked. A handset locked to a network cannot install a third party eSIM.
• Check settings for an option to add a mobile or cellular plan. If it exists, you are fine.

Do you even need one in Portugal?

Be honest about your situation, because the answer differs. If you have an EU mobile contract, roam like at home rules mean your normal plan works in Portugal and Madeira at no extra cost within fair use limits, so an eSIM adds little. If you are on a UK, US, Swiss or other non EU plan, the picture changes quickly, and per megabyte roaming charges are where holiday budgets quietly disappear.

The alternative is a local prepaid SIM from a Portuguese operator, which is genuinely cheap. The trade off is time: a shop visit, identification, a top up you cannot use next trip, and the loss of your usual number in that slot. An eSIM removes all of that for a small premium, and matters most on arrival day when you are trying to find a driver rather than a phone shop.

What to check before buying any travel eSIM

1. Whether unlimited really means unlimited, or full speed up to a threshold and throttled after. Both are fine, but you should know which you bought.
2. Whether the plan is for Portugal specifically or a regional Europe bundle. If your trip includes Lisbon and then Spain, regional is better value.
3. Whether Madeira and the Azores are included, since a few providers treat the islands separately.
4. Whether hotspot and tethering are allowed, which matters if you want to work from a laptop.
5. When validity starts: on purchase, on install, or on first connection. First connection is the traveller friendly version.

We built Rufly around those answers rather than around a pricing table. One honest price for unlimited data, the QR code emailed within seconds, coverage across more than fifty destinations, and validity that starts when you land rather than when you check out.

The ten percent, and where it goes

Ten percent of every Rufly order goes to street dog rescue. That is a share of revenue rather than of profit, so it does not disappear in an accounting year that happened to be tight, and every contribution is published.

Patinhas Felizes in Santo António, Funchal is one of the shelters that benefits. It is a small volunteer run space caring for a handful of dogs at a time, some social and confident, others still relearning that people can be trusted. It has taken on municipal kennel work in the past and has been visited and praised by local welfare campaigners, but the day to day is unglamorous: food, cleaning, transport and vet bills, funded largely by people who show up.

That is the sort of organisation where small, regular money does disproportionate good. A month of food or one round of sterilisations is a rounding error for a telecoms product and a genuine change of circumstances for a shelter with six dogs in it.

It almost feels like stepping into the back garden of someone's home. Calm, simple, and built around giving the dogs a sense of safety and routine.

Why an apartment company owns an eSIM brand

It looks like a strange combination on paper. In practice both businesses answer the same question, which is what makes the first day in a new place stop being stressful. Our apartments handle the bills, the fibre, the desk and the keys. Rufly handles the fact that a phone with no data makes every other problem worse.

If you are heading to Madeira, the two fit together neatly. Set up a Portugal eSIM before you fly, land with maps and messages working, and if you are staying a while, look at our serviced apartments in Funchal. We are pet friendly too, and if you are bringing a dog, start with the Madeira pet travel guide.

If Madeira is more than a holiday for you, read the remote work month in the life and the visa and admin guide next. Bringing the dog? Start with the Madeira pet travel guide.