I was reading a recent story about a UK based age verification company, Yeti, reportedly banning a user simply for using GrapheneOS. While going through the discussion, I came across the idea of dual wielding two phones: a GrapheneOS device (or any custom ROM or Linux phone) alongside a basic “identity” phone.

Dual wielding seems like a practical way to separate personal data from services that require real world identification. The tricky part, however, is handling SIM cards. In many countries, your primary phone number is registered with the government, so it needs to stay active if you want people, businesses, and official services to be able to reach you.

I’m thinking of putting my main SIM in the identity phone and treating it as the device that represents my legal identity. The identity phone would contain only apps that are directly tied to my real world identity, such as government ID apps, age verification apps, digital identity services, and any other applications that require official identification.

Then I’d buy a separate data-only eSIM and use it exclusively on the GrapheneOS phone. I can even try regular esim with separate number too, but those are rare. Every phone operator wants to know who you are nowadays.

Most people communicate through WhatsApp and other data-based apps these days anyway, so the GrapheneOS phone could remain my primary daily device while the identity phone simply stays powered on to receive calls and SMS messages associated with my registered number.

In theory, dual wielding like this provides a cleaner separation between identity and personal computing. The identity phone becomes a dedicated device for government and identity-related services, while the GrapheneOS phone handles day to day communication, browsing, and personal activities without being directly tied to the primary SIM or identity infrastructure.

Thoughts?

P/S: it’s Yoti. My apologise to the Yeti…