Relationships are never easy and getting over a relationship is the hardest of them all.
When you are in a relationship, you are so much in each other’s life – whether this is good or bad. One fine day when your partner walks out on you, it’s not easy for you to get adjusted to the new normal. The same can be true for your boyfriend as well.
When the previous relationship ended for your boyfriend, he never managed to come to terms with the absence of his ex in his life. He held onto her stuff and pictures in the hope that she would come back. He continued to retain all these even after he met his current partner, that is, you, and started a relationship with you.
Maybe he never paid attention to it and forgot to delete it. Or, he is deliberately holding on to his ex because he can’t get over her.
Many girls encounter this scenario at the beginning of a relationship. They may come across pictures of their boyfriends with their exes on their phones or laptops. Even if their boyfriends assure them that this has no significance and it was a mistake, these pictures will make the girls feel uneasy and unsure.
Why do guys keep photos of their exes?
If you came across a photo of your boyfriend with his ex on his phone and feeling confused, read on. In this article, you will get to know the meaning, significance, and reasons why your boyfriend has pictures of ex on his phone, and how best to deal with such a scenario.
My boyfriend has pictures of his ex on his phone. Is this okay?
There is no single and simple answer to this. The answer depends mostly on the character of your boyfriend. It also matters the kind of pictures he is keeping and his reasons for retaining them.
In this selfie age, all of us have so many pictures of ourselves with others. Maybe your boyfriend left some pictures he had taken with his ex on his phone and forgot to delete them. So, you may be making a mountain out of a molehill. Most probably, it was a mistake or an omission and you shouldn’t make a big deal of it.
On the other hand, if the pictures are more explicit or if the pictures are recent ones his ex shared on social media, you are justified in your concern. In this case, you should let him know how you feel about the whole situation and ask for his explanation.
You are entitled to ask him for reasons for keeping pictures of his ex he got from social media on his phone. If he has a logical explanation, all he needs to do is to share it with you.
However, if he fails to give you an explanation for his behavior or avoids giving you a proper answer, the chances are that he still has feelings for his ex and is in love with her. He hasn’t yet gotten over her. This is definitely a red flag in the relationship.
My boyfriend has pictures of his ex on his phone. What is the meaning?
Your boyfriend can have any number of reasons for retaining pictures of his ex on his phone. Sometimes, it can be something he overlooked to delete after the breakup. Or, it can be a serious issue. He may still feel attached to his ex and hoping for a reunion.
So, if you come across pictures of his ex on his phone, you should make an effort to know more about it. If it is an inadvertent error, you should let it go. But if it is unexplainable or worrisome, you should figure out the right approach.
But before you go ahead and confront your boyfriend about those pictures, here are some of the common reasons for their presence on your boyfriend’s phone.
1. He forgot to delete them
As soon as you are sure that you are breaking up with your partner, one of the first things you would do is to remove all those things that remind you of them. Besides their belongings left in your home, pictures are the most prominent among them.
Even if your boyfriend remembered those pictures of his ex on his phone and wanted to delete them, he may find it hard as there are so many of them, and that too with others.
After checking the pictures of his ex on his phone, he may decide that it would be unfair to destroy the memories of an entire period because he broke up with his ex.
In some instances, it can be a genuine forgetfulness on the part of your boyfriend. He never goes through old pictures on his phone and so he forgets about their existence.
If your boyfriend still has pictures of ex on his phone or laptop, there is no reason for you to worry in most cases.
2. He misses the presence of his ex in his life
When two people are together for a long time and they break up, it is hard to adjust to the new life without the other person. They may not have any romantic feelings left for each other, but they sure will miss each other’s presence in daily life. Probably, your boyfriend and his ex were good friends on top of being romantic partners. It’s the friendship that they are missing.
Breakups usually happen when the individuals involved think they are incompatible romantically. Even if this is true, it doesn’t imply that the friendship they share is dead and gone. They may not think about the future of their friendship when they break up. After they go their separate ways, they will start missing each other.
In this case, your boyfriend may want to retain the pictures of his ex on his phone and may be reluctant to delete them. However, you need to understand that this is purely platonic and there are no romantic feelings involved. So, you don’t need to worry about the presence of pictures of his ex on his phone either.
3. He is fond of those pictures
We often associate pictures with memories of the time they were taken rather than who is in it. Probably, your boyfriend has pictures of ex on his phone because he considers those the happiest times in his life. He may not want to get rid of the pictures of his ex and destroy those memories just because his ex is present in them.
He is a pragmatic person and understands that he cannot get rid of his past no matter what he does. Moreover, he relishes some of those memories even if his ex was part of it. So, naturally, he didn’t get rid of those old pictures of his ex on his phone.
On your part, you need to accept this situation. He is holding on to those pictures of his ex on his phone for sentiment’s sake and to keep the happy memories alive and not because has romantic feelings towards his ex.
4. He’s still in love with her
That is a bummer, for sure. You never signed up for a third person in the relationship. But there she is as alive as any person can be.
He may have broken up with her and cut off ties with his ex. But he never managed to get rid of her from his mind. He continues to have feelings for her and be in love with her and finds it impossible to get over her.
As his current partner, you may find this hard to manage. If you come across pictures of his ex on his phone, you may find it shocking and impossible to comprehend. If he hasn’t gotten over her, what is she doing with you? This might make you wonder. You cannot be faulted for thinking this way.
On your part, you can bring up this question in the conversation with your boyfriend. You need to be aware that you may or may not get a truthful answer to your question. In case your boyfriend confesses that he’s finding it hard to get over his ex and he’s still in love with her, it’s your decision to continue in the relationship or not.
Sometimes, your boyfriend may give you an evasive reply or whitewash the entire episode. Then again, you need to decide how to deal with the situation. It’s best to bring this out in the open and have a heart-to-heart talk with your boyfriend on the topic.
This will give you an idea of what you are dealing with rather than brushing things under the carpet. A relationship is not healthy if you play hide and seek with your feelings.
What does it mean if your boyfriend has saved his ex’s pictures on his laptop?
Most of us are attached to our phones at the hip and cannot do without it even for a second. We store all that we want to access easily on our phones. However, most of us store our pictures on our laptops rather than phones as they need more storage space.
Even when we take pictures with our phones, we back up the pictures onto our laptops periodically. So, when your boyfriend broke up with his previous girlfriend, he may have forgotten to delete the tons of pictures of his ex stored on his laptop because he doesn’t access them at all.
If you come across the pictures of his ex on his laptop, there’s no need to worry. This is a common occurrence among men. If you find it bothering, to be on the safe side, you can ask him to explain. The best advice would be to let it go.
The Bottom Line
There could be several reasons why your boyfriend retains pictures of his ex on his phone or laptop. It’s possible he simply hasn’t gotten around to deleting them, or perhaps these images hold sentimental value related to specific events or cherished memories. Another possibility is that he hasn’t fully moved on from his previous relationship.
The most effective approach to understanding the reasons why he maintains these pictures of his ex is to have an open and honest conversation with him about it.
If he provides a valid explanation, there may be no cause for concern. However, if you suspect that he’s keeping them due to lingering emotional attachments, it’s essential to initiate a serious discussion about the state of your relationship with him.
