Dual Sim on (i)phone

[WWA]

Hello

Has anyone used dual sim on iPhone, or another smart phone? I'm looking for some advice and help...

I have a work sim and a personal sim and hence two phones. Ideally carrying one phone would be much easier.

I understand how the dual sim works with one being a physical sim and one an e-sim, but I don't understand how that works in software.

If the WhatsApp, and iMessage, on the phone are registered to my work number, would turning the work number off disable iMessage and WhatsApp? So that I would only receive text messages (not iMessages) sent to the personal number, but whilst still keeping data on and running from the not-disabled personal line?
or would I have forsake iMessage and only use text? what then happens to WhatsApp which is internet powered but registered to a number?

Thanks in advance for any help

[Cybertronian]

I use Dual Sim for exactly the same reasons as you've described.

WhatsApp will only work with a single number per device on iOS. I believe Android allows for multiple instances of WhatsApp to be installed as a workaround.

iMessage under iOS 13 can work with two different numbers on the same device, but it awkwardly will only allow you to send from a single number/email address but receive on two.

If you absolutely need WhatsApp and iMessage to work for both work and personal purposes, you'll unfortunately need to resort to two devices as before. Apple may continue to refine the implementation, though I wouldn't hold my breath on it as they have much bigger fish to fry in terms of software 2019-2020.

[WWA]

Cybertronian said:

I use Dual Sim for exactly the same reasons as you've described.

WhatsApp will only work with a single number per device on iOS. I believe Android allows for multiple instances of WhatsApp to be installed as a workaround.

iMessage under iOS 13 can work with two different numbers on the same device, but it awkwardly will only allow you to send from a single number/email address but receive on two.

If you absolutely need WhatsApp and iMessage to work for both work and personal purposes, you'll unfortunately need to resort to two devices as before. Apple may continue to refine the implementation, though I wouldn't hold my breath on it as they have much bigger fish to fry in terms of software 2019-2020.

Hi,
Thank you for your speedy reply. I wasn’t clear enough in my original post, apologies for that but what I would like is for the iMessage and WhatsApp to be tied to one number, and then when that number is off iMessage and WhatsApp won’t work but the rest of the phone functions will.

I need iMessage and WhatsApps on through my work number but don’t want to receive work messages when work sim is off. Would be handy if email turned off too but I guess that will only happen by turning all data off.

Can iPhone do the above?
Thanks again

[Glosphil]

I have used 2 Android twin SIMM phones. Both had a menu function to enable/disable one of the SIMMS. Latest phone is a Honor 9 Lite.

[alorotom]

The iPhone isnt 2 physical sims either unless you have the chinese/HK version. Else it will have one physical and one esim.

[Cybertronian]

WWA said:

Hi,
Thank you for your speedy reply. I wasn’t clear enough in my original post, apologies for that but what I would like is for the iMessage and WhatsApp to be tied to one number, and then when that number is off iMessage and WhatsApp won’t work but the rest of the phone functions will.

I need iMessage and WhatsApps on through my work number but don’t want to receive work messages when work sim is off. Would be handy if email turned off too but I guess that will only happen by turning all data off.

Can iPhone do the above?
Thanks again

Gotcha. Re-read your original post and your reply.

If you want iMessage and WhatsApp associated with your work number and wish to disable the work number, say at weekends, the following will/won't happen:

- You will not receive any iMessages sent to the work number - any sent to the email address associated will still come through, but these should be very rare unless you have a lot of contacts using standalone iPads.

- You will still receive WhatsApp messages (just tested this).

- Any text messages sent to your personal number will be just regular SMS text messages - perhaps warn any friends and family that send you messages with images to be cautious, as those will come through as MMS messages (chargeable to them, unless they have an allowance for them).

Regarding email, you could just disable the work mail account under Settings>Passwords & Accounts, which will still allow for data to work via your work number.

The other thing to bear in mind is not all networks support eSIM (only EE and O2 currently), and if you wish to use two different networks in your iPhone, it will need to be unlocked. I have an unlocked iPhone, which allows me to use an EE eSIM and a physical work Vodafone SIM.

Hope this helps.

Edited by Cybertronian on Sunday 13th October 08:29

[WWA]

Cybertronian said:

Gotcha. Re-read your original post and your reply.

If you want iMessage and WhatsApp associated with your work number and wish to disable the work number, say at weekends, the following will/won't happen:

- You will not receive any iMessages sent to the work number - any sent to the email address associated will still come through, but these should be very rare unless you have a lot of contacts using standalone iPads.

- You will still receive WhatsApp messages (just tested this).

- Any text messages sent to your personal number will be just regular SMS text messages - perhaps warn any friends and family that send you messages with images to be cautious, as those will come through as MMS messages (chargeable to them, unless they have an allowance for them).

Regarding email, you could just disable the work mail account under Settings>Passwords & Accounts, which will still allow for data to work via your work number.

The other thing to bear in mind is not all networks support eSIM (only EE and O2 currently), and if you wish to use two different networks in your iPhone, it will need to be unlocked. I have an unlocked iPhone, which allows me to use an EE eSIM and a physical work Vodafone SIM.

Hope this helps.

Edited by Cybertronian on Sunday 13th October 08:29

Hello,

Thank you very much for your detailed and comprehensive reply. You have answered all the questions that I could not find the answers to on the internet.

It seems like for total radio silence from one number having two phones is still the best. The apps that run on data such as WhatsApp will never be truly off when using one phone one number.

Thank you for your help, much appreciated

[bingybongy]

My Motorola G6 has two physical SIM cards. I use for the same reasons as you.
In the SIM management you can turn the SIM data off. It's how I use mine as it's my on call number only calls required.

[WWA]

bingybongy said:

My Motorola G6 has two physical SIM cards. I use for the same reasons as you.
In the SIM management you can turn the SIM data off. It's how I use mine as it's my on call number only calls required.

Thank you. I’ll look into that.

[Glosphil]

bingybongy said:

My Motorola G6 has two physical SIM cards. I use for the same reasons as you.
In the SIM management you can turn the SIM data off. It's how I use mine as it's my on call number only calls required.

Numerous Android phones allow 2 physical SIMMs with very flexible management possible.
Apple want you to buy 2 phone - no surprise there.

[anonymous-user]

Sims aside, how do you keep work and personal data separate with one set of contacts, text messages, etc.

I thought Samsung has some sandboxing software Knox? to keep thing separate. I would check that work are okay with a dual sim device, my work weren't so I have a dual sim phone for me and a work phone from then.

It is a PITA.

[PF62]

bingybongy said:

My Motorola G6 has two physical SIM cards. I use for the same reasons as you.
In the SIM management you can turn the SIM data off. It's how I use mine as it's my on call number only calls required.

My understanding having used a number of dual sim android phones, is only one is active for data (both are active for phone and sms, and various profiles to chose how they work).

With the data you have a choice-
- no data at all
- data from sim 1 or sim 2 (and it is a manual switch between them)

So if you turn off the work sim then the data will simply flow to WhatsApp through the personal sim.

Standard android only allows one instance of WhatsApp even on a dual sim phone (there are some dubious apps which claim to overcome this). Some Samsung phones have a facility to ‘split’ the phone and run separate independent apps, so you may want to look into that.

Apple does have a similar facility for corporate managed phones, my work (single sim) Apple iPhone is set up like that, so you can’t copy and paste anything from the business to the personal sections,

[Order66]

I believe the Galaxy "10" phones are dual sim by default (the Note 10 certainly is) and that's dual physical sim. I've used it for years, great functionality - as others have said can have 2 versions of some apps/contacts etc. However you can't stop the 2nd whatsapp receiving when the phone has a data connection - regardless of what sim or wifi it's coming through.