How to Set Up an iPhone as a Burner Phone
An iPhone can work as a second, separate phone: a prepaid line, a fresh Apple Account that is not your main one, and location and analytics switched off. It will not be anonymous, but it can be kept apart from the phone you use every day.
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What do I need to know?
- A new Apple Account is the core of it. Signing in with your main account links the phone to your iCloud, contacts and purchases.
- You need an account to install apps. Apple says an Apple Account is how you use "iCloud, the App Store, and more."
- The SIM and the network still know about you. Rules for prepaid SIMs differ by country, and some require ID.
Why would I want one?
People use a second phone for travel, online selling, dating, a side business, or keeping work and home apart. The aim is usually separation, not secrecy. Be clear about which you need before you start.
How do I set it up?
These steps follow Apple's pages for current iOS (iOS 27).
- Start from a clean phone. If it was used before, erase it first. Apple's guide to selling or giving away an iPhone has the order.
- Skip your main Apple Account. During setup, tap Forgot password or don't have an Apple Account?. Apple says you can then "create an Apple Account, or set it up later." See Set up your iPhone or iPad.
- Create a separate account if you need apps. Use an email address you keep only for this phone. In the App Store you can pick None as the payment method. Apple: "You won't be charged until you make a purchase." See How to create a new Apple Account.
- Turn off analytics. Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements. Our analytics guide lists each switch.
- Stop apps asking to track. Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, then turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track.
- Limit location. Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services. Set the Camera to Never so photos carry no place.
- Do not restore a backup from your main phone. That would copy your old life back onto it.
What still links the phone to me?
- The phone number. Calls and texts go through a carrier that may hold your details.
- The Apple Account. It uses an email address and asks for a phone number to verify it.
- Payments. Buying an app or a subscription ties a card to the account.
- Your habits. Logging in to your usual accounts on it joins the two phones back together.
How do I keep photos on it private?
Photos taken in the Camera app go into the Photos library. If someone gets the passcode, they see them. If you sign the phone into iCloud, they may sync too.
Keep anything sensitive inside an encrypted vault instead. Take photos in the vault's own camera, so they never reach the library.
What this doesn't protect against
A second iPhone separates accounts. It does not hide you from your carrier, from the networks you join, or from a legal request. If your safety depends on this, talk to an organisation that supports people in your situation, or to a lawyer. A vault cannot help if someone watches you draw the pattern.
Do it with Cryptile
Cryptile has no account, so nothing in it is tied to an email or phone number. Each file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM under a key made on the device from your pattern. The in-app camera has a GPS on/off button. A different pattern opens a different vault, and there is no vault list. Installing it still goes through the App Store, so the phone's Apple Account shows the download.
Cryptile is free for up to 2 vaults, 100 photos and 10 videos. Plus adds search inside the vault and the panic pattern for $19.99 a year (7-day free trial) or $39.99 once.