Why I Have an Alternative Phone, and the Reasons Are Not What You Think?
In countries like India, access to government services online, websites, and mobile apps is given only through the OTP texted to our mobile number. Almost all quick commerce & food delivery apps require our mobile number as an identification and also to call us before delivery for location assistance or availability, and to get the OTP after delivery.
Most shops in India, especially movie theatres, ask for our mobile number on the pretext of sending a bill copy or reward points. The Government of India is set to roll out a data protection law that will ban shops from asking for our mobile numbers. So, this portion of the problem might have a partial fix. But what about all the other situations?
In India, WhatsApp is universal and almost compulsory. Your friends and family will disown you if you are not in their respective groups. I am very selective in the groups I stay on. Most often, I enjoy being in the groups I have opted into. It allows me to stay in touch with friends and family abroad or in the same city, and know what’s happening in their lives. I also get news and topics from people I care about. But being even in a dozen groups means the chances of not getting a message in all of them in an hour are close to zero.
I am a zero inbox person. Meaning, every day before I go to sleep, I have to ensure there are zero unread emails, SMS texts, and WhatsApp chats. In email, if there are newsletters I wish to read later, I save them in a Read later bookmarking service, earlier it was Pocket and now it is Raindrop.IO. Similarly, for WhatsApp messages I have to act on later, I add them to my task list in Microsoft To Do, and so on. Now with WhatsApp groups, the silence or focus time during deep work or ensuring a Zero Inbox every day becomes a challenge.
And this is where a second phone comes in. A couple of years back, I think during the COVID months, this idea occurred to me. And this was also the time when we were all spending almost all our waking hours on the phone and PCs, eagerly looking forward to any messages on the well-being of our loved ones and family members around the world. The idea was to get a second mobile number and use it in one of my older handsets. I kept this alternative phone on our dining table, accessible to my wife and son even when I am not around in the house.
I will explain more about how I have set this up. I configured most of the apps that ask for OTP authentication to this second number. For instance, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Zee and OTT services I gave this second number. I configured Swiggy, Zomato, Big Basket and the likes to this number. For Amazon delivery, I gave this number, so when it rings, if any one of us is home, we will answer to collect the item; if none of us are in the house, anyway, there is no point in answering the phone. I started sharing this number with the shops and theatre where I received rewards, but I was not comfortable shouting my primary number in public with strangers around me. The most important usage I discovered soon was what follows.
On WhatsApp, I have transferred the half-dozen business groups and college/school groups I am part of to this second number. I didn’t want to take the extreme step of exiting them. I enjoyed being in those groups; there was value to me in those groups, but I don’t need to see the messages in real-time or on the same day. They can wait, and I can catch up with the messages at my own convenience without missing much.
Now, this number was not to be given to friends or family to call, but to use it for all other purposes. Overall, the main difference between my primary mobile number and this alternative number is that the purposes I give the alternative number are those where immediacy is not called for, other than, say, a delivery person calling me on the number. Almost all the calls and messages you will receive on this number can be handled asynchronously at my own convenience.
With this arrangement, in my primary number, I am present only in two or three WhatsApp groups, which are with my immediate family only. Other than this, I allow this number only for groups that are for specific purposes and short-lived, like a travel group for a trip. Add to this, almost all WhatsApp chats & groups in both my numbers are set to Mute always, except for my immediate members and my assistant.
With this divide-and-conquer arrangement, of having an alternative phone, the chances of the primary number being known widely are reduced (not removed). And when I am working or focused, I only check my primary phone for any urgent messages. The second phone is lying in my home set to silent. And when I am working or travelling, and want to check the WhatsApp groups on the second phone, I use WhatsApp web, problem solved. Anyway, most of my WhatsApp usage is from my PC.
Before this setup, I considered the idea of a second number to be a pointless exercise, and the idea of carrying two phones with me all the time felt foolish. Now, with this setup in place for almost three years, I feel I have somewhat managed to tame the madness of interruptions all the time. What do you think? How do you manage to bring some control to your life with your mobile?
Note: I have set my primary mobile, iPhone, to silence unknown numbers all the time. I also use the Truecaller subscription edition. That reduces a significant percentage of spam and fraudulent calls.
Originally published at https://venkatarangan.com on September 18, 2025.
