Second phone setup, ISP,carrier,apps

Privacy Questions
1

Hello, everyone.

TLDR:Looking for a second phone with no personal info stored in it for voip calls,instant messaging(whatsapp,vibertelegram)
1.which one to choose and what OS?. Is pixel 6+grapheneOs necessary for the below purpose 3.?
2. eSim or prepaid sim(cash only) or no sim?
3.Want to give the least info possible to a) ISP, b) Carrier, c) Gapps

I want to buy a second phone for voip calls,instant messaging (whatsapp,viber,telegram)
I intend using it at home and when I’m outside(not at work etc.)
My contacts won’t have my real name listed and generally that cellphone won’t include any personal info of mine.

1. Phone choice
a. Is Google Pixel 6 + grapheneoS necessary?
or the below options can be utilized as alternatives?
b.Motorola g32/42/52 with end of support in 2025 + calyx OS are better
The above are pretty cheap as used where I live.
(I don’t mention Oneplus 7/7t and other divestOS supported devices because I have found these at almost the same price as google pixel 6/6a so there is no point)
c. Any somewhat modern phone with extended software+security updates support and stock OS
d. Any phone(at least android 10) with no software+security updates support and custom rom(lineage)

2. Sim card choice
Should I choose an eSim or prepaid physical sim paid by cash?
Would it make sense to not use a sim card at all and actually help my purpose a bit more?

3. Purpose:
Giving away as little info as possible to
A. ISP
B.phone carrier
C.above mentioned google apps
From what I’ve read on this forum so far, I cannot prevent carrier and ISP from getting IMEI info and somewhat tracking my location(Mudi router + blue merle is a cumbersome and expensive approach)

A. ISP
Is VPN+RethinkDNS enough?
In case of a physical sim choice, carrier and ISP will be the same.

B. Carrier
I could use a faraday bag while being at home but it’s not really feasible because I’m still willing to still use it(texting)even there too.
***One option is:
Once I add an eSim/sim, enable airplane mode+wifi and have it always like this(at least when I’m at my place and only disabling it when waiting for a phonecall while being outside)
In that case if I manually disable the SIM, or reboot, can the carrier track my location?
***Second option:APM on GrapheneOS, which is related to 1. question regarding phone choice.
In case of a physical sim choice, carrier and ISP will be the same.

Also, can I sparigly use cellular data when I’m outside? (I don’t mind compromising my location a few times when away from my house)

C. Google Apps
Is vpn+rethink dns+Beeper is enough considering there will be no info to identify me?
Hence, no need for sandboxing etc.
I also use viber on my primary phone and unfortunately, use a personal facebook account on a dedicated browser on my pc. I don’t won’t these to be linked to the content of my secondary phone’s apps(viber+whatsapp).

Thank you.

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2

this seems like a lot for your use case.

why not just use a secure messenger such as signal to message these contacts?

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3

Thank you for responding.
Unfortunately, they only use Gapps for instant messaging.

I edited the post adding a bit more info.
I use viber on my primary phone and facebook on a dedicated browser on my pc.

I want to prevent any possible linkage (whatsapp->facebook personal account & viber 1st device-> viber 2nd device)

4

To be honest, for your use case, I would recommend running these apps in private space. These apps cannot communicate to or be communicated to by the regular apps, or run anything in the background, and the device identifiers are not the same, so no risk of data leaking between them.

In general, I try to keep things as simple as possible as the more complex your setup gets, the more likely you are to miss something and compromise your privacy

5

May I ask if by running these apps in private space, you mean something like shelter?
If so what’s the point of using it in a secondary phone where there will no info to identify me?

Wouldn’t vpn+rethink dns+beeper be more suitable in order to avoid linking those apps “fake” accounts to my personal ones(viber on main phone,fb on pc) ?

6

Private space is an android 15 feature that allows you to corner off some apps on your device to keep them private from the rest of your phone, and the rest of your phone private from them. I’m suggesting that you use this feature to install the apps you want to install on a secondary phone instead of getting a second phone.

7

I would go for this setup:

Google Pixel with GrapheneOS.

For a SIM, I would ideally not have one and use my phone in airplane mode, but if I needed one, I would ideally go with silent.link or a prepaid option bought with cash.

Then you could either use Tor or a VPN of your choice, I would recommend Proton, Mullvad, Windscribe, or IVPN.

As for Google apps, I don’t see why you would need them, you could get away without installing them on your device.

But just using a different user profile or private space on the same device makes a lot more sense.

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8

Thank you for your response.
Regarding private space on the same phone, wouldn’t that compromise my location to carrier?

As for Gapps, yeah, apart from viber the other 2(whatsapp,telegram)can be used with a matrix bridge without installing on my device. I still need to use them at least with a mediator(e.g.beeper)because my contacts will communicate strictly with those apps.

9

Your carrier will have the same information on your first phone as it currently does. Your carrier will not be able to see what apps you have installed or what you do on them (assuming you are using a vpn)

10

It’d depend on your budget. It seems like anonymity is a top priority for you, so I think prioritizing a “private” Android OS like GrapheneOS might be preferable to choosing a cheap Android phone that will provide security updates for a longer period of time. I believe the Pixel 6 is only guaranteed full updates until October 2026. That being said, it looks like GrapheneOS provides OS security updates for some EOL devices going as far back to the Pixel 4. EOL devices will lack firmware and driver security updates, but OS updates alone might be good enough.

At the end of the day, it’s really hard to say because it depends on what you want to prioritize while also keeping to your budget. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably pick the newest Pixel I can afford and get GrapheneOS. If you’re on a really tight budget, see if you could afford a 6a rather than the 6 since it’ll last you almost an extra year. I’d definitely recommend avoiding option D if you can help it.

I’m not familiar with the privacy implications of eSIM vs SIM specifically, but there are a few things to keep in mind depending on how serious you are about remaining anonymous. You didn’t go into your threat model so I’ll just list a few things to consider and you can decide how far you wanna take it.

  • For maximum anonymity, you should avoid SIM/eSIM entirely. But if you want to use this phone while you’re out and about, that’s probably not practical.

  • If you need a SIM/eSIM, it’s best to acquire a pre-paid plan anonymously. So long as your country doesn’t require that you identify yourself, you should be able to get a pre-paid plan in cash without providing any real information.

  • If you’re going the “anonymous pre-paid plan route”, you should know that giving out the phone number tied to your phone can easily de-anonymize you. Michael Bazzell goes more in-depth on this if you can manage to find his now deleted podcasts which probably have some outdated info. For the sake of time, I’ll skip the explanation and just advise you to never give out the number that is used on your phone from your pre-paid plan, only use it for mobile data if anonymity is a serious concern. If you need to use a phone number, use a VoIP service. JMP is a popular choice among privacy-conscious people, if I recall correctly it is because they support anonymous signup and payment methods.

If you just want to protect your traffic from your ISP, using a decent VPN service 24/7 should help.

I think you pretty much nailed it. The best option is to enable airplane mode and put it in a faraday bag when not in use or when at home. If you must use your device at home, the next best thing you can do is disable mobile data and only re-enable it when you’re away from home.

If you need to use apps that require Google Play, GrapheneOS already sandboxes it. If you’re using “Googled Android”, a VPN or DNS service will be quite limited in protecting you from Google. I also can’t speak to the efficacy of Beeper, but I’d advise that you avoid it for private messengers like Signal. It might have a use for privacy-invasive messengers, but that’d need to be a separate discussion.

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