Why is it a good idea to keep your long-term crypto in another separate device in case you can't get a hardware wallet.

Edit : Get a hardware wallet no matter what. for me i live in a 3rd world country where import of HW are seized and local small time crypto seller are being investigated so its not a good idea to get HW shipped to you.

There are a lot of people who lost their crypto simply downloading phishing apps, following links without double check and it had happened to the tech-savy person times to times.

Its pretty easy to lose guard given that you are storing your crypto in wallet in your daily driver phone.

In regards to that case, i strongly suggest to have just barely function old phone (old iphones are better) to be used as a separate device just to keep crypto unless you can easily get hardware wallet.

Factory reset it, download hot wallet app, set up, and dis-connect it from the internet .

Make sure , respective accounts (apple, google) are all out of that phone so nothing can get uploaded to apple id or google account.

Power it off and retrieve address to receive or deposit to it.

I recommend these :

iPhone 5s + Exodus Wallet (can't support modern cryptos in that phone but main ones are easily available to store).