The Ugly Old Phone That Beats Every Hardware Wallet

A beaten-up, offline old phone can be the best hardware wallet you’ll ever own. No shiny gadgets needed. You take an old device, factory-reset it offline, keep it without SIM, WiFi, or Bluetooth. No accounts, no sync. Use a strong passcode, never biometrics.

Remove every app you can, even system apps when possible, stripping the device down to the core.

That’s where you keep your long-term funds. For daily spending, use separate wallets on other devices. Just like you don’t walk into a supermarket with all your life savings in your pocket, you shouldn’t do it digitally either.

Safety measures:

• Permanently turned off, radios disabled at the system level.

• You only turn it on in controlled environments

• You only connect online when you need to, using a VPN and your own secure Wi-Fi.

• No need to scan QR codes, sign transactions offline and then connect to execute them online.

• Handwritten seed backup, stored in two separate physical locations. Extra: you can reverse the order of some of the words of the seed and leave yourself a coded reminder that you have done so.

• Periodic checks of battery health and storage

• Fixed location, no lending the device, no unnecessary handling

• A small metal box for physical protection and humidity control

• Never install new apps, and if major changes are needed, rebuild the setup from scratch

A cold vault for your real wealth. A normal phone for your daily life. That separation is what keeps you safe.