If you tell me what you want to achieve, I might be able to help you.
this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2025
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Privacy
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My goal is minimalism. I'm not sure if I will stick to it. But I want a distraction free life. No ads. No TV. No time durdling on my cell phone. No corporate overlords.
My wife and I realized how distracting a phone can be and I just want some good quality time away from it. But I work in tech in tech need authenticatorsamd on-call functionality. I want to separate my work and personal life as much as I can.
Get a Pixel, put Grapheme OS on it. Set up a work profile. The work profile can be turned off manually or on a schedule, blocking any app within it including Google and any other stuff.
On your personal profile, use only Fdroid & Accrescent for your basic needs.
That's it.
The problem I have is pixels are really expensive. I just use base model phones. I know the used market is a thing. But really I just don't want as many distractions at times.
I have a second SIM card for my phone number (for a tiny fee) ... I need to direct where SMS go, but it rings on both.
You could probably also setup call forwarding from your work phone to your personal dumb phone - there will likely be an extra per-call cost.
Can you talk with the IT team?
I was able to switch my MFA to a Yubikey.
They rolled out the MFA policy quite recently and I immediately sent an email like "Hello. I do not have a smartphone. What are my options?"
They also had the option for SMS verification, but I had been looking at getting a Yubikey for myself anyway so might as well get work to pay for it.
Did. They were not very helpful on that.
I mean, that's on the IT department in most countries. Like if you don't have a smart phone, you don't have a smart phone. If they want it for the job usually they would need to either provide an alternative or provide the device.
I don’t see why you couldn’t have two separate devices - a basic smartphone that has only the apps you need for work (and no other personal information on it such as photos, contacts, etc.) and a “dumbphone” for personal use.
You can use the smartphone without a SIM card if you don’t need to receive calls or texts (some authenticators only require you to enter a code in their app instead of calling or texting you). There are also VOIP and virtual numbers you that you can use on that device if you need call and text features without giving away your personal number.
I like the rugged CAT dumb phones and believe Nokia still makes decent ones.
HMD has released in India a semi-intelligent phone, the HMD Touch 4G, for (the equivalent to) 40€.