[majke]

Many countries now assume you have a phone. For example getting UK visa requires a smartphone. I don't think going without a phone is feasible nowadays.

Another question is if going with a burner phone that has just sim card and bank card, sufficient. But then you need appleid/google account on the device, and this again links back to your phone number, and it's not easy in practice to have proper clean device.

[iamnothere]

You can simply use an Apple account for your primary device and a Google account for your burner (or vice versa). Or set up a secondary Apple or Google account. Or use a device/OS that doesn’t require one of these accounts!

[leni536]

> UK visa requires a smartphone

I don't think this is accurate.

[peter_stokes]

she's wrong. i did it on the browser on my desktop. the ui definitely doesn't make it easy to find though.

[eru]

Well, assume your phone number is public knowledge.

[inigyou]

You can get more than one.

[eru]

Sure. Assume the one that's attached to your payment is public.

[wolvoleo]

You can get prepaid ones that you can top up with cash, in many countries you don't have to register them to your name.

[inigyou]

Threat modelling. France is unlikely to tell USA if two numbers are owned by the same person without a good reason.