I see a LOT of people on here talk about buying backup phones. How often do you come to a point you actually need a back up? Or by backup do most of you simply mean secondary phone?
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Other Backup phone - Do you have one?
- Thread starter tonybarnaby
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Haven't seen any discussions on this but I have a spare phone after my first 'No Service' bug. Good that I found my old Nokia and it was still working... But living with just a cell phone is hard these days, became too Google addictive 
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I used to have a backup phone..I never had a need for its intended purpose. With AppleCare+, if something happens to my iPhone Max, it gets fixed or replaced. If it happens outside of warranty, I will just buy a new phone.
I have an iPhone 5, a 4s and a 4.
They have different uses, but the 5 actually has an active SIM with 2GB of data per month. I carry it as a secondary phone and it could serve as a backup if I needed it to. The 4s as well if it came to that.
![2019-01-31 16.33.34.jpg]( "2019-01-31 16.33.34.jpg")
They have different uses, but the 5 actually has an active SIM with 2GB of data per month. I carry it as a secondary phone and it could serve as a backup if I needed it to. The 4s as well if it came to that.
I have came to the conclusion that I like having one android phone and one iPhone. Currently my iPhone is my main phone and the android phone is my backup. But occasionally I will swap the SIM from my iPhone to the android phone. I work in IT so I like having multiple options.
iPhone can be used for lots of other things besides personal iPhone. A spare iPhone 5 can be used as a speedometer/odometer or Bluetooth voltmeter display or lots of other things. Used more like a tool than a play machine. I'm a firm believer in having a daily driver phone and an older (smaller) backup/spare with all the exact apps & settings on both. All data gets saved to iCloud so it's available to either phone at any time. For some people, the iPhone has become their only computing device with so much important data on it. To lose a phone or for it to brick would be devastating. Gotta have a spare iPhone.
I have an iPhone X and have a 7+, 5S, and 6S+ for backup phones. Haven’t had to use them. I used my Apple Watch last month when the battery was being replaced in my X.
I use my secondary iPhone 5 for things like Walmart Pay, store discount cards (I have an app that presents the bar code to be scanned) and places that payment systems that aren't Apple Pay.
As the 5 is a smaller form factor than my 6s+ it's easier to pull it out to quickly pay.
I have an android and an Iphone. They take turns being the backup device. I've never needed a backup yet but one never knows and I have always though it a good idea just in case.
No, and I can’t imagine why I would need one. Even if my phone was lost or destroyed, I would just go straight out and buy a new one.
I love tech but I hate redundancy and feeling like I’ve wasted money. I never own two devices that do the same thing for longer than it takes to give away or sell the less useful one.
I love tech but I hate redundancy and feeling like I’ve wasted money. I never own two devices that do the same thing for longer than it takes to give away or sell the less useful one.
I have iPhone 6, SE. iPhone 7, iPhone 8 Plus, Huawei P10, P10 Pro, Smartisan U3, Smartisan Pro 3, Huawei P20, Huawei Honor 8, Xiaomi A1 as my back up phones.
Funny how people can see that differently. You think it's wasting money to own more than one device at a time.
I feel I don't get my money's worth out of the device (wasting money) until it finally dies of old age.
My Apple Watch with cellular is my "backup phone" (though I've had cell phones since I think 2001 and never once needed a backup).
I’ve got a few old iPhones in a drawer that my wife brought home from work. I’ve not had to use a back up phone in about 10 years though. I certainly buy one just in case as life goes on even if you don’t have a phone for a few days.
I've never bought a phone with the specific intention of using it as a backup phone. I do keep my previous phone when I upgrade to a new one (assuming the previous one still works) and think of that as a backup phone for if my current one breaks and I need a phone to use until the current one is repaired/replaced.
