Hi all!

Newbie here on a privacy journey. My current objective is to create a cute little phone that limits tracking by surveillance capitalists, law enforcement, & the state.

That said, the stakes are not particularly high here. I just miss the world I grew up in & find the call of freedom enticing. So this is more of a hobby project for me to be able to put my main phone down and experience a world without tracking again.

So far I have installed GrapheneOS on my old phone. I'm absolutely in love with it and I'm 100% sold on one day even migrating my main phone to it. But thats not my main concern today.

For now, I have some questions related to SIM cards.

I understand that in order to avoid device number leaks (if that's something one cares about) it's important to not have a SIM card in the device and keep it on airplane mode.

However, years before privacy ever mattered to me I already had a SIM card and two eSIMs in this phone. And all of the advice I read talks about NEVER putting a SIM card in, but I have a hard time thinking critically about what that really means for those of us who ALREADY had one in.

If I remove that SIM card and eSIM and carry on using the phone, what are the privacy implications of such a choice?

Likewise, if I leave the SIM cards in but keep the phone on airplane mode is it really all that bad?

I assume at minimum this means that the IMEI number is stored somewhere in some cell tower logs. If the state were to seize my phone they could I suppose link the phone to things I did with my phone or accounts I used back before privacy mattered to me.

But are there other implications as well? Is this phone forever going to leak a connection to my old activity even if I remove the SIM cards, leave it on airplane mode, use a VPN and ensure it never falls into bad hands?

Thanks!