[fhdowntheline]

Hi, I have been thinking about keeping more than one phone for myself and was trying to see information and views/experiences of the community. Do you guys keep multiple phones with you? What is the use case ? My objective was to separate work devices from personal but somehow have stuck to keeping one phone with dual sim to get signal flexibility. But on the flip side is the risk of device loss. Not sure of the convenience of carrying two phones everyday. But would like to hear various experiences.

[SmartCat]

Advantages:

- Second phone means extra battery power (useful in case power source is not available closeby)
- If your primary phone gets misplaced or stops working or needs screen replacement, you have another working phone till the phone is repaired or replaced
- Second phone should ideally be on another network. So if one phone is out of network, the other is more likely to work. Dual Sim solves this problem, but switching between networks is a minor hassle.
- On highways, you can use the second phone for GPS navigation (in case this is a backup phone and does not get too many calls)

Disadvantages:

- Carrying 2 phones everywhere is quite inconvenient.
- Extra initial & monthly cost obviously
- You are twice as likely to experience screen replacement or other repair expenses.

[shankar.balan]

I use 3 phones.
One is my primary and has an e sim linked to my watch. This primary phone is my most used device. Photography. Email. Apps. Orders. The other is a backup phone as smartcat said. Sometimes I just forward all calls from my
Primary to this one because it is small and cute and slips into the pocket. And I manage whatsapp as may be needed on my watch. And the third is a purely data phone used for navigation only. Im using the cheapest monthly plans so the overall costs aren't out of control and yet I get enough data and important facilities like International calls and roaming all of which I have enabled only on my primary phone.
Most of the time Im using VOIP/ Whatsapp calling only anyway. Need to study if I can do whatsapp on two numbers.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Do you guys keep multiple phones with you? What is the use case ? My objective was to separate work devices from personal but somehow have stuck to keeping one phone with dual sim to get signal flexibility.

I used to have two devices for the last 7 years (early 2015 to end 2022). The work phone was always an iPhone and personal phone switched between Google Pixel, iPhones and Samsung S range.

Pros:

1. Strict separation of work and personal time – I used to leave the work phone away on my desk on the weekends, only to pick it up back on Monday morning
2. With work acquaintances use social platforms for communication (e.g.; WhatsApp), its easy to separate those also in two devices.
3. No need to install any work-related apps on personal device and/or give the organization any kind of access to personal device (e.g.; Company Portal / InTune app)

Cons:

1. Not easy to walk around with two devices. After a while, it becomes a habit, but still an inconvenience (especially with Smartphones getting bigger and bigger). For this reason my personal phones used to be the smallest available in a specific range – iPhone 12 mini, Samsung S22 etc.
2. Maintaining contacts over two devices was listed as an advantage, but sometimes it is a disadvantage also. After a while work acquaintances become friends and you will end up having them contacting on both devices. I used to get questions like ‘which number I should msg/call you’

My current job have the flexibility to choose between a company-provided second phone, or claim full bill incurred on the personal phone. I chose the latter and from December 2022 I am on single device mode. Now into the 3rd month, it works well for me. Reasons:

1. Extremely happy to be devoid of the hassle of carrying two phones
2. The company installed/controlled apps are just Outlook and Teams, and doesn’t interfere much into personal settings
3. The focus modes on iPhone is a boon to segregate personal and work – The work mode gets activated 9:00am to 5:30pm on weekdays, and screen layout is tailored accordingly. For e.g., in the work mode, Outlook and Teams come on home page, along with the calendar widget, and after office hours it gets relegated into 3rd or 4th page, with notifications muted. This means work information is not always ‘on-your-face’ and have the flexibility to choose when you want to look at it (screenshot below). And with this I don’t get overwhelmed with work stuff during personal time.
4. Substantial cost savings.

Work focus mode on the left, and personal mode on the right

[rajeevsulu]

I was a strict single phone, single number user till three months back. I am carrying my wife's phone too(she passed on three months ago) as I need to get data to process her office claims and other things. I find it very difficult to lug two phones around. Once the work is done, I am shutting off the second phone. Not for me!!

[StarrySky]

I have two phones simply because authentication to work account, bank accounts, other online identifications via banking account (in Finland) are all via mobile apps now. I want to avoid any disruptions in case something happens to the phone. Learned a lesson the hard way when my only phone suddenly reset itself some time back. The second phone has no SIM and I don't carry it around on short trips.

[fhdowntheline]

Thanks for your quick responses. One of the considerations that @Starrysky mentioned is the fact that most of our contacts, other miscellaneous notes and transactions are digital hence a backup secondary device is always useful.

[d.w.w.]

We use two phones but only the primary phone has the SIM cards. The secondary connects over wifi is used for browsing/social media/running rarely used apps. It also has a copy of some authenticator apps to use in case the primary phone stops working.

We dont carry the secondary phone with us until and unless it is really needed(mostly travelling out of station). The phones are from different brand which means we have to carry multiple chargers along if we need to use turbo charging.

[Chetan_Rao]

I use one phone actively, and have a backup device at home setup identically (apps etc.) so all I need to do to switch to it when needed is authenticate banking and other sensitive apps; ready to roll in 10 mins.

I prefer Android due to its clear separation of Personal & Work profiles since Android 9 (?), which makes it super convenient for me as an end user (one click on/off for Work profile), and easy for my IT admin to isolate and manage work apps and their data. There's no app or data overlap between the two profiles, and any MDM (mobile device management) policies from work, including emergency wipe, are restricted to Work profile info.

The only restriction enforced by work across the device is authentication standards (passcode length, types of authentication allowed etc.), but that's something I'd do anyway.

[Eddy]

For the entire month of January 2023, I used two phones. This was because I was switching to iPhone for the first time and wanted to be sure that I was comfortable with the new setup before discarding my Android completely.

After a month or so, I configured both SIMs on the iPhone, so a single device again for me.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Thanks for your quick responses. One of the considerations that @Starrysky mentioned is the fact that most of our contacts, other miscellaneous notes and transactions are digital hence a backup secondary device is always useful.

A more Car specific utility since we are BHPians.

1. Travel Phone if you are traveling into the hinterlands - BSNL \ Jio sim spare phone with large battery - works as a useful tool when all other networks fail, sure you do need a 5G Airtel for normal use. Sometimes an old Nokia\ Samsung keypad phone works best in such places.

2. Smartphone connectivity phone - If your primary work phone is always connected to car, you may not want to answer calls from work on your infotainment screen, notifications etc.

3. Kids phone - Some of them want their own music in the car, so a different music app wont mess up your recommendations in your primary music app. Also for playing games and what not. You can also use configure one phone as kid`s phone and lock it down in terms of what can be used in it.

[Axe77]

I use two phone instruments with three SIMs.

First:

I have only one primary number (Airtel) which is used with an iphone pro (the iphone is also sync'd with my iPad since I use this extensively for work and personal use).

Use case: This is my primary number and main phone - I use this for making and receiving calls, SMSes, personal one to one whatsapp messages as well as important whatsapp groups. All important apps that I use are also basically on this phone.

Second:

I have another cheaper android phone which has two sim cards, one Vodafone and one Jio. I actually want the two sims to be Jio and BSNL, since Vodafone doesn't have great connectivity - just haven't gotten around to doing the leg work to make the switch.

Usage: This serves the following purposes:

# All my non essential group whatsapp chats are on this phone (various riding groups, building / society groups / running related groups etc etc). I check this periodically when I feel like but it ensures that the 30,000 group whatsapp chats don't keep disturbing or clogging my primary phone.

# This phone ensures I have access to at least data from 3 different SIMs across the two phones available, when I'm travelling or in a remote area. This is extremely important to me from a work perspective. I like to be reachable / connected 24x7x365 as far as possible.

# Finally, its a cheaper rough use device (I like to keep this well within Rs. 25k) so it is the default device for my google navigation on a phone mount while on bike rides. I don't like mounting my iphone on the motorbike to preserve its internal sensors etc.

[aargee]

Have only 1 strong, reliable phone for anything & everything & no intention to change the number either; would like to live a life that is simple.

PS - Unfortunately, PFC fails miserably when it comes to motorcycles

[ValarMorghulis]

We have 4 phones at our house.
2 phones with the missus-1 for work, 1 personal (Airtel). The work phone is used only during work hours.
2 phones with me: 1 personal (Vi) and 1 "home phone" (Jio). Old iphone7 serves as home phone.

The home phone number is given everywhere: Shopping, retailers, builders, brokers, and so on. I do carry this on trips, so in a way we have coverage across 3 networks. Last year at Kedarnath, only Jio worked.

[govigov]

I am sharing a video which started a discussion with my friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvRwW4ggTj0

More than the number of phones and what they are used for, I think the mentality should be about having different telephone numbers. One number for AADHAR / PAN / UPI and other for friends, family and a 3rd one for e-commerce. This way, you can get more use case out of your phone numbers, rather than the number of phones. Your mileage may vary.