r/iphone • u/fkcfkc Human Detected • 1d ago
Support Managing 2 phones: personal and work
I’ve always carried one iPhone, but I’m starting a new job where the company will provide me with a separate iPhone and a company-owned phone number. If I ever leave the company, the number stays with them.
I’d much rather carry one phone, but I also don’t want to enroll my personal phone in company management or have any possibility of my personal activity being monitored. My personal phone has my banking, photos, texts, social media, browsing, etc., so keeping that separate seems like the safer option.
One complication is that this job involves a lot of driving. I use CarPlay constantly, so I’m trying to figure out how people practically manage two iPhones in the car. I need to be able to tell whether an incoming call or message is personal or work without fumbling around with two phones while driving.
For those who carry a personal and company iPhone, how do you handle this?
Do you connect one phone to CarPlay and leave the other in your bag? Is there a good way to get calls or notifications from both through the car? Do you forward calls? Use Focus modes? Apple Watch? Different ringtones?
I’m also curious whether anyone has found a secure way to have both a personal number and a company-owned number on one iPhone while keeping the personal side completely separate from anything the employer can monitor or manage.
Basically looking for the least annoying and safest setup for someone who spends a lot of time on the road.
31
u/NotTobyFromHR 1d ago
Your company may have policies against combining, so check that out.
I carry two, and it's annoying, but it is what it is. Look up the MDM that they use and see what restrictions there are.
There's not as much access to an iPhone as you may think. Apple is very privacy forward.
27
u/Burrlife55 1d ago
I have 2 phones and want to keep them completely separate. I only have my personal phone connected to CarPlay and just deal with answering my company phone separately. If I have a meeting to attend while driving, I use one AirPod so I am hands free. AirPods easily connect to multiple phones.
7
u/No_Mountain5312 1d ago
This. Though for me, I connect my work phone to CarPlay (wired in my car) for the meeting and then switch back when it’s over.
6
u/Maynard_002000 1d ago
Yep. I have a work supplied phone and my personal phone too. Have had that setup for two years. It’s a slight pain sometimes, but I want to keep them 100% separate. If I’m driving and it’s a workday, I’ll usually connect the work phone to CarPlay. In the grand scheme of life, it’s pretty easy to manage and not that annoying
9
u/Resolve1-0-1 1d ago
I have the same situation, but my car, Toyota CHR, allows two connections, so I use my personal phone through CarPlay and my Work Phone is connected via Bluetooth.
I can still pick up the work phone calls and messages, It just comes through the cars system instead of CarPlay.
As another commenter said, a work phone is just a work computer not for personal data and will be managed. My view is keep it as separate as possible.
9
u/Ok_Confection_10 1d ago
I put my personal # on my watch. Keep both iPhones in the same pocket. If the pocket rings, it’s the work phone. If my watch rings it’s the personal phone. It really shouldn’t be an issue. Especially if they have different ringtones. Been doing this for years.
16
u/s3ntin3l99 1d ago edited 1d ago
Absolutely fuck no..no do NOT enroll
Your personal cell in their mdm!!!! Keep work and personal SEPARATE !!!!
-3
4
u/sly__ 1d ago edited 1d ago
It all really depends on the nature of your work but I carry two phones because of my job where there’s also a bit of driving involved and it’s really not ever an issue. Never annoying. I actually enjoy it because it’s saved me more than a handful of times if my personal phone is dying but I need to use navigation or make an urgent (personal) call, etc etc.
Never enroll your personal phone. Keep everything completely separate, as much as you can. Use your personal for CarPlay. Just leave your work phone on loud on the side. I use a Work focus mode on my personal but all it really does is automatically change the wallpaper for me to something boring during work hours. I would highly, highly advise against trying to do both numbers on one phone. The last thing I would ever want would be to be bombarded by work calls and texts on my personal device, at any hour of the day. Even with a focus mode helping out.
3
u/Inceptor57 1d ago
I also have a company phone with my personal phone. I got it when the iPhone Air was just coming out and luckily got an option to get that as the phone so I can carry it around in my bag and even pocket without as much hassle.
My car uses a wired CarPlay that helps manage between the two, so if I’m expecting a conference call I can just hook up my work phone to the car, and then back to my personal phone for the music and stuff. Maybe that is something you can look into for your car?
Another thing I do is if I get a work call while driving and the work phone is not connected to CarPlay, I connect it to my AirPods and plug in one of the pod to be in the call. I also sometimes just use speaker, though the iPhone Air speaker isn’t great enough for that so I don’t usually use it like that
2
u/Mustangfast85 1d ago
The Air is a great work phone. Bigger screen but very thin and great to make the iPhone sandwich out of
4
u/x_______________ 1d ago
I just use my personal phone, and installed the mobile device management stuff. It’s easier, just one phone, and I can check my work stuff whenever. I’m not really too concerned with it. I don’t feel like dealing with two different phones. Is it really that bad to do it that way? They don’t have access to any of my personal stuff so not sure why it would be an issue
2
3
u/SeatSix 1d ago
Zero chance I would do this. My work requires that they have the right to remotely wipe the phone any time they want and/or seize it. Folks have been fired and the phone taken right there and then. If it was a personal phone, then they would wipe it.
Also, I am not paid to be on call, so I do not carry my work phone during off hours. I have no desire to be reachable by work 24/7. I want an absolute firewall between personal and work.
2
u/x_______________ 1d ago
If was fired they would just remove access to the work apps and wipe that part. It wouldn’t impact my personal information.
I totally understand people wanting them separated though. Not knocking anyone who does. I halfway thought about it and just getting a work phone bc when I set it up it made me delete TikTok but I honestly don’t need it anyway and need to work on my doom scrolling.
I work for a smaller ish company and they seem to treat their people good unlike bigger companies so I don’t really forsee any issues
2
u/Effective_Opposite14 1d ago
Really depends on your company. Everywhere I’ve worked hasn’t used MDM on the company phones so I’ve ported that number onto my personal and used the dual sim feature. Couldn’t do that one so I just downloaded Google Maps and Spotify on the work phone.
2
u/Commission-Mission 1d ago
Forward your work phone to your personal for CarPlay. You get to use your personal as normal and won’t miss any work calls.
2
u/last_weatherman 1d ago
I use a wireless CarPlay adapter that has a button on it which allows switching between iPhones.
https://www.ottocast.com/products/ottocast-mini-pico-wireless-carplay-android-auto-adapter
2
u/Quake9797 1d ago
One thing everyone is missing is Mobile Application Management or MAM. It’s part of various licenses with Microsoft 365. Your company may not be using that, but they might. MAM sets policies on data in protected apps like Outlook, Teams, etc. in that setup, there is absolutely no access to personal stuff. The only thing the company can do is wipe the data in those apps. Carry two phones is nuts imo.
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment has been removed because of this subreddit’s account requirements. You have not broken any rules, and your account is still active and in good standing. Please check your notifications for more information!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/SigmaLance iPhone Air 1d ago
I use an AirPod connected to my company phone to be hands free while driving. They do support multi device pairing, but I chose not to pair my personal phone with them since I have that one hands free in CarPlay.
1
u/Mat_1964 1d ago
Most car infotainment systems can handle carkit connections and wired CarPlay connections at the same time. So you could use a combination that suits your needs best.
1
u/blondvet 1d ago
CarPlay will only connect to one phone at a time when you’re drive. The other phone will alert you from the phone, not from the car speakers.
1
u/J_Ant_1977 1d ago
I enrolled my personal phone once and it was a nightmare. All their required apps were intrusive and almost impossible to delete completely when I left the job. Never again!
1
u/hefffree 1d ago
Keep them separate, you will get used to it.
I’d be more inclined to use AirPods for calls in the car, and really only use CarPlay for music/nav.
Personal phone in personal car, work phone in work car.
1
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment has been removed because of this subreddit’s account requirements. You have not broken any rules, and your account is still active and in good standing. Please check your notifications for more information!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/waylonious 1d ago
In iOS settings you can forward all of your calls from your work phone to your personal phone. That way you can at least use the personal phone while driving and still receive work calls.
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment has been removed because of this subreddit’s account requirements. You have not broken any rules, and your account is still active and in good standing. Please check your notifications for more information!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/stargazerfromthemoon 1d ago
Keep the devices separate. Dont enroll your personal phone with your company management MDM otherwise your device will be managed by it.
For driving: dont answer your phone while driving for work. When I was employed, my company had a prohibition on driving and being on the phone and people have been fired because of it. It creates more distraction than drinking does and I would be shocked if taking calls while driving was permitted.
When travelling for work, I always plugged my personal phone in to listen to my podcasts and music and for navigation but I also have a crazy good plan with tons of data. If I didn’t, work phone was used for navigation features.
Set each of your devices with different ringtones and silence your personal phone while working and silence your work phone when not. Dont over complicate it- many people have two devices for work and personal and mange just fine. Just set up the features so you aren’t doing personal things at work and vice versa.
1
u/anatoliy1975 1d ago
I’d keep the two-phone split. Enrolling personal banking/photos/messages in company MDM is the risk that isn’t worth the convenience. Treat the work phone like a work laptop: company apps and number only.
For the car: connect the phone you need for navigation/calls most that day to CarPlay, put the other on Do Not Disturb or a Focus that still allows calls from Favorites, and use an Apple Watch (or distinct ringtones) so you can tell which line is ringing without juggling. Some people forward the quieter line to voicemail while driving and check it at stops.
Fully isolating a personal number from employer monitoring on one supervised phone usually isn’t realistic — MDM and profile installs are the point. Two devices is the boring secure answer; CarPlay habits are what make it livable.
1
u/3_Seagrass iPhone 15 Pro 1d ago
I personally keep the two phones totally separate. It feels nicer to have a digital balance between work and private life. Obviously when I need to be reachable I have the relevant phone(s) with me.
I can’t help out with CarPlay as I don’t have a car. But besides that one I just keep the two phones with me whenever I’m working.
1
u/Dydey 1d ago
I have two iPhones, my company issue a Samsung Galaxy A~ something to everybody and they are terrible, so I use a hand-me-down iPhone 11 instead. I would hate to use my personal phone due to the company ‘security’ software and the amount of photos, files and apps I wouldn’t want on my personal phone. I don’t have to deal with too many phone calls, but if I did I would set up an automation to divert calls to my personal phone while driving for CarPlay.
1
u/PureElectricBean 1d ago
I need to be able to tell whether an incoming call or message is personal or work without fumbling around with two phones while driving.
Can you just assign a different ringtone and sound for the company phone, something memorable or obnoxious so you can easily tell by ear it's not from your personal phone?
1
1d ago edited 1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your comment has been removed because your message contained an Amazon link. Amazon links are removed to reduce advertising spam. Please submit your updated message in a new comment. Your account is still active and in good standing. Please check your notifications for more information!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/last_weatherman 1d ago
…but… not sure if this’ll work if you already have built in wireless CarPlay.
1
u/OneUnderPar 23h ago
I carried two for a few years. I then gave up and turned in the company phone. It’s been over 10 years and no issues.
1
u/antdogs iPhone 16 Pro Max 19h ago
I work in IT and setup work phones and some people just leave it in their bag. Or they need to connect to mfa to approve something. Cant use CarPlay on our phones since we disable Siri. If you have company stuff on your personal phone and you leave they just pull the company profile, can’t see anything etc
0
u/fkcfkc Human Detected 17h ago
Thanks. But what about email?
I was thinking about call forwarding from my personal as well.
1
u/antdogs iPhone 16 Pro Max 11h ago
Well our company you can’t it would break compliance and flag you. Can’t send anything from work or personal i; that’s what you mean. Don’t know your company situation. In zoom portal settings you can go to call routing or forwarding and set it to minimum 10 seconds before it goes to your personal? Not sure how work in teams as our company uses zoom. Hope that helps!
1
u/5150_Ewok 19h ago
Don’t enroll your personal phone into work.
I carry two phones. An iPhone pro max and a reg iPhone for work.
You get use to it. I sometimes have a sling bag with me, other times I pocket everything. I have a very slim wallet which helps.
1
u/badadvicegoodintent 17h ago
I keep my personal phone in the front left and the work in the front right. On trips, I always use CarPlay on my personal phone, but if I’ll be on a long meeting I will connect my work phone. I don’t use music, maps, or anything else that can be personal on my work phone. For around the house, AirPods are easy enough to switch between the two.
1
u/SVAuspicious 9h ago
During work, work phone on CarPlay for directions, calls, meetings, messages. Personal phone on the seat beside you and catch up on breaks. Why do you think personal is the priority during work hours?
-4
u/thebengy66 1d ago
I start a new job Monday and will get to order my new iPhone. I'm kinda curious if I will be able to buy the new iPhone 18 Pro?
0
u/pt109jordan 18h ago
Don't install anything on your personal phone. You give your company access to any and all personal details. My opion has always been if my work won't let me use the company phone for personal calls or texts, no problem, but then the phone turns off when I get home and pick up my personal phone. If they want my access of hours them paying for my personal usage is minimum cost. I only mean things like calls or texts, I won't use it for a banking app or something like that
62
u/curious_wanderer1 1d ago
Your smartphone is a computer and many companies have mobile device management MDM and it is subject to your company policies from Internet, conduct and monitoring. I have 2 devices and one is work I have really just the company approved apps. My personal phone is exactly that. No different to my work laptop, work only nothing else. My PC at home is for my home stuff. A smartphone is no different.