Every other layer of a security setup sits on top of the device you use to access it. Your password manager, your two-factor codes, your encrypted messages: all of them are only as trustworthy as the phone or computer they run on. If the device is compromised, nothing above it holds. This is why the device itself, and the discipline of keeping it clean, is the right place to begin once the basics are in place.
The hardened phone
For most people, the phone is the most exposed device they own. It travels everywhere, it holds the most accounts, and it is the hardest to inspect. Two options represent the current standard for a genuinely hardened mobile setup. The first is a Google Pixel running GrapheneOS, a privacy and security focused version of Android that you install yourself. The second, for anyone who would rather not set it up manually, is a Nitrophone: a Pixel sold by Nitrokey with GrapheneOS already installed and configured. Both give you a phone that leaks far less by default than a standard consumer device. GrapheneOS runs only on Pixel hardware, which is why both paths start there.
The case for a second device
The instinct to consolidate everything onto one device is understandable, and for many people it is fine. But for sensitive purposes, a clean separation between a dedicated device and the one you use for everyday life is often simpler and more robust than trying to compartmentalize within a single phone. A separate device for the accounts and communications that matter most means that whatever happens on your everyday phone, through an app you installed, a link you tapped, a network you joined, does not reach the part of your life that actually needs protecting. Separation by hardware is easier to reason about than isolation by software.
Browsers: purpose decides
The same logic applies to how you browse. Brave is a reasonable default for everyday use: it blocks trackers and ads without much configuration. For anything that genuinely requires anonymity, the Tor Browser is the right tool, because it routes traffic in a way that makes it very difficult to link back to you. The point is not to use the most private option for everything. It is to match the tool to the purpose: convenience where the stakes are low, anonymity where they are high.
Calibrate to your exposure
Not everyone needs a dedicated hardened phone. Someone with a limited public profile is well served by a well-maintained standard device with the basics in place. The value of a Nitrophone or a self-installed GrapheneOS setup rises with visibility and with the sensitivity of what you handle. As with everything here, the right setup is the one calibrated to your actual exposure, not the most elaborate one available.