Does SIM need to remain in relay device?

[FishPhd]

Having a bit of trouble understanding the openbubbles documentation. Is there a method where I can get imessages to my phone number but keep the SIM in my current (android) device. Or do I need the SIM with the phone number on the relay ios device?

Otherwise seems like you would lose service on your main device when using the ios device as validation. Curious on both the validation methods presented here as they dont specify this step.

[SpaceSaver]

When using the relay apps method on the page you linked, there is no reason why you'd need to move your SIM to the iPhone ever. OpenBubbles is able to use the information provided by the iPhone via the validation relay to register the number for the SIM currently in the Android device directly with Apple.