How to get the best from Dual
Live dual lives with Android.
A while back we wrote an introductory article on Dual SIM Android smartphones, which are becoming increasingly popular in Australia. Having recently acquired a dual SIM Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, it’s time to get serious about it.
The first step in setting up the new phone was transferring data from two phones to the one new phone. All three smartphones used the same Google account, so contacts synced as soon as the Xiaomi logged in.
But we also wanted two lots of past SMS and MMS messages, and call histories, to transfer to the new phone. In a previous article we found that the free Backup Your Mobile app (available from the Google Play Store) was a versatile tool, so we installed it on the new phone. In addition to backing up and restoring via your Google account this app now has direct device-to-device transfer available via Wi-Fi.
A big advantage of Backup Your Mobile is that it lets you select the types of data that you want to backup, restore or transfer, and while it didn’t run that smoothly it got the job done. But how would it manage transferring data from a second phone? The process was exactly the same, and the end result was a blending of messages and call histories from the original two smartphones. There are two numbers, but just one screen, and one copy of each app.
So, how do you mix work and personal lives on one phone without getting them mixed up?
• When calls or texts come in, how do you know which number they are from?
• When dialling out, how do you make sure you use the right number?
• How do you manage mobile data?
• How do you manage contacts?
• How do you manage messages? Our suggestion is that you first set your default ring and notification tones how you would like them for the contacts on, for example, your personal number before transferring any data. Then transfer the other phone’s data (probably the one with the smaller number of contacts) and customise those contacts with their own ringtones etc. before transferring the second set of data. That way you will not need to sift through all contacts to customise one set.
With most dual SIM phones if you are using either phone number to make or receive a call the other number is offline and incoming calls to it will be busy or divert to voicemail. Our test phone is capable of Dual Active operation on 4G networks, which means if you are on a call on one of your numbers, you can also make or receive an incoming call on the other number. What could possibly go wrong?
Name your SIMS
The first thing to do is to make your two SIMs easily identifiable. On Android 9 you go to Settings and look for SIM cards under Network & Internet or similar,
Tap on each and you can usually set its name, activate or deactivate it, set defaults for calls and data, and possibly assign it a colour.
Apps to associate calls and contacts with a SIM
We tested literally dozens of apps (all available at the Google Play Store) that claimed to make dual SIM life easier, and here are our favourites:
Dual Sim Selector / Multi Sim Selector. Dual Sim Selector / Multi Sim Selector seems to work well for dual SIM call management. You can set rules, for example associate each contact, or groups
of contacts, with one SIM or the other. When you choose that contact or dial the number the app directs the call through the correct SIM.
If you have not set a rule, buttons are displayed for a few seconds that let you choose a SIM when dialling a number for the first time. By default this selection then becomes a rule for that contact. The process is very simple and quick. You can even set rules for “number begins with” which could for example direct all international calls through a chosen SIM automatically.
Dual Sim Selector / Multi Sim Selector does not replace your standard phone dialler, it adds dual SIM functions to it. Unlike some apps it is also compatible with Android Auto.
We found it an impressive app and the free version does not display ads, but has a few limitations and you have to choose only one type of rule. At $7.50 the Pro version may be worth considering to automate your dual SIM smartphone.
True Phone Dialer & Contacts. True Phone Dialer & Contacts, by the quaintly named Hamster Beat, has similar features to Dual Sim Selector but is a step up in features and configurability, at the cost of more intrusive ads – including when installing. It also adds a separate contacts manager app that provides comprehensive management of contacts across groups and multiple SIMs.
However, True Phone Dialer & Contacts replaces your standard phone dialler app with a busy interface that provides access to everything on one screen but may not be to everyone’s liking.
We experimented by using Dual Sim Selector / Multi Sim Selector with the Xiaomi’s standard dialler, while using the True
Phone Dialer & Contacts contact manager. It was a bit clumsy at first, but by ticking the box to make it the default contact manager when we first opened a contact we ended up with the best features of both apps working together seamlessly.
SMS Dual – Android Messaging App. In an ideal world you would be able to maintain a separate SMS function for each SIM, but we have not found any way to do that. The SMS Dual – Android Messaging App can’t provide this separation but it does help manage your messages. Each message indicates which SIM it came through, and when you are composing a message you can tap a small SIM icon to toggle which phone number the message will be sent through.
Add to that the ability to assign unique colours and notification tones for each contact, and SMS Dual makes it easy to keep your work and personal message threads separate.
Dual SIM Reminder
It would be great to have a SIM management app that automatically sets your work number, for example, to “silent” after hours. We didn’t find one that does that, but Dual SIM Reminder is a simple app that gives you reminder notifications to do it manually.
Clone your apps
There are a number of apps that let you clone apps such as Whatsapp so you can have two separate messaging services running at once. The most popular seems to be DualSpace – Multiple Accounts & App Cloner (available at the Google Play Store) which lets you clone a variety of apps so there are two copies running on your phone. However, it can’t clone your SMS messages app for example, so it’s only a partial solution. We suggest trying a few different app cloners to see what works best on your device.