Am I wrong for keeping old photos of my exes on my phone?

[lowkanymous]

For some background, i have been dating my current boyfriend for a little over a month, his name is cole. I have had 2 serious boyfriends before him, aaron and sully. I dated both of them in 2025 for about 4 months each.

I was trying to find a picture in my camera roll from a year ago, and when i was scrolling through there were still pics of both sully and aaron. I wasn't showing cole my camera roll when i was scrolling through, but he leaned over and looked and saw the pics of my exes.

i broke up with both sully and aaron and have genuinely no feelings towards them. I dont miss them at all, i feel very indifferent towards them. Bc of this the pictures in my phone have never bothered me so i never took the time to delete them. Alone with this they are a part of my past and deleting pics feels like deleting my own past.

now cole is upset at me and threatening to break up with me if i dont delete the pics. (They are ONLY on my phone, not on any social media and i never showed them to him on purpose) i deleted them bc he wanted me to and although it bothered me a bit, he is still upset at me for not deleting them sooner and for me thinking it's strange that he's insecure about these photos?

am i in the wrong?

[nolabels]

I have a few printed pictures of old girlfriends, packed deeply away in boxes in the basement.
I very rarely ever think of them.
They're part of my history.

When going through my mom's old photos after she passed away a few years ago, there were photos of some of her old boyfriends.
I thought that it was pretty cool to see them.

My dad's photo collection from his young days contained none of that sort.
I guess he had his sights set on Mom from the get-go.
Lol.

I'd say that if you feel deeply enough about them, print a few, pack them away, and delete them from your phone.

That's my opinion.

YMMV.

Good luck.

Cheers! 😊

[Lliam]

You are not wrong and you shouldn't have deleted the photos. As you said, they are part of your life history; your past.
Your life didn't just begin with Cole.
Now the insecure fuckwad thinks he owns you.
This is a sign that you should dump him like a turd. Find someone who understands life, doesn't judge you for having a life before you met, and isn't a controlling piece of shit.

I've been happily married for almost 30 years not. But I'm glad that I have photos of a few of my girlfriends so that I can recall their faces from when I was young. It's not like I get those photos out to look at them.

I have showed a couple to my wife when I ran across them. She's not jealous. I don't miss those girls. But I do treasure my memories.

[sage2021]

Since you have absolutely no feelings for these two guys, maybe you could have said "Sure, I just hadn't looked in my photos in a while, but sure, I don't mind deleting them." 🙂

But seriously, this new boyfriend sounds like he's a very jealous type of guy who also has a bad temper.

It won't be long until you'll find yourself deleting HIS pictures. I hope so anyway.

He's the kind of guy that you have to always walk around like you're on egg shells. Those relationships are very nerve wrecking and usually becomes abusive or hopefully you get out in time.

[lowkanymous]

Yeah u might be right

[sage2021]

Thank you for the MHO 🙂🧡

[Kelley1]

They are part of your history, so save them to a flash drive that you keep in your jewelry box. When you are sixty, you may wish to show your grandchildren guys you knew when you were young. Then, you can remove them from your phone.

[AI Opinion]

On GAG my aim is to help you decode relationships and dodge red flags like a pro 😏

You’re not wrong at all. Keeping old pics is normal, especially if you’re emotionally over your exes. Cole demanding you delete them and still being mad after you did? That’s controlling and insecurity, not love.

Protect your boundaries. His reaction is the real red flag here, not your camera roll.

[OlderAndWiser]

Neither of you is wrong. You simply disagree.

Imagine that he had pictures of two very pretty ex-girlfriends on his phone, and he told you they meant nothing bit he refused to delete them. How would you REALLY feel about that?

[William7489]

I’m of the firm belief that if you have to go through deleting pictures or contacts things like that off your phone for a relationship, there’s already a problem. Too mature adults both know the other has had multiple partners in their life. To simply have various photos of events and moments you shared with your ex in a folder or on the phone is not wrong. However, if your screen screensaver or background is a picture of you in this guy or something to do with him that’s a problem. But no, you shouldn’t have to purge all of your pictures to please your new boyfriend. If it was a normal relationship, you should have normal pictures. Any not safe for work stuff, I hope you’ve hidden it on a thumb drive.

[whosnumber_1]

Well, if you genuinely had no ill intent than I wouldn't feel and guilt over the incident. It's unfortunate that your current boyfriend is upset but he is entitled to his feelings and if you are committed to the relationship you should understand or at least be sympathetic and delete the pictures (as you said you did)

How would you feel if the reverse were true? If he had picture of his past girlfriends on his phone that he was keeping? by the way I am not judging just simply asking the question.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

But how deleting her past (quoting asker here) would be an act of sympathy?

[whosnumber_1]

@Maybe_Maybe_not she is simply being sympathetic to his feelings. If she is serious about the guy it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

Well, I think it's actually a big deal to submit to irrational demands from a lover, especially considering that this deletion didn't even solve anything since the guy found other ways to make her carry his own insecurity

[Kaneki05]

Well ask yourself if you would be okay with him having photo's of his ex's on his phone, if so then no you did nothing wrong and shouldn't of deleted them.
If you would then you see the problem of you having such to him and would understand why you had to get rid of them.

[lowkanymous]

I told him it wouldn't bother me if he had old photos.

[Kaneki05]

Then yeah, it was a him issue. Your standards don't match with him, this could be the only issue you have but typically if standards don't match there will be another case of this happening.

You aren't wrong, and neither is he just a difference on view about it. If that creates arguments and friction that can't be resolved easily then that's an issue between your relationship.

If it means more to you then you should've stood your ground and let him decide to do with that what he wills. Though you have reflect whether it means that much or not.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

"they are a part of my past and deleting pics feels like deleting my own past."

I believe that you should not let anyone controlling your past, especially not a lover.

"he is still upset at me for not deleting them sooner"

I also believe you should not let anyone punish you twice for a crime that doesn't even exist in the first place.

[Abbycado]

I never kept any unless he was in a group photo. Not gonna erase other group memories because of one person.

[LiamS95]

As long as you are free from those guys and are sure they can never get back in your life and you want pics from your past, create a secure folder and move the pics to the secure folder where only you can acess them with a passcode.

[LiamS95]

If you want to talk about your dilema feel free to dm me.

[WhitneySnow]

I think that’s too harsh on Cole’s part. Keeping the photos doesn’t mean you still have feelings for those guys.

[MotherEarth2020]

No, printed them out and put them in keep sake box. Them boys are your memories and youth. I still have photos of my 1st back in the 1980s, Screw what others say

[Anonymous]

You're not wrong, but that doesn't make him wrong either. Imagine if the roles were reversed. Imagine how you'd feel potentially. He can't know your lack of feelings towards them. But where you guys go from here is important. No relationship can exist for long without trust. In every relationship you're either building trust or you're eroding it.

[slatyb]

No, you are not. They were part of your life and I expect there are some good memories.

[Nikki1989]

I have no photos on my phone, but I have hundreds in other places. Why people insist on removing memories is mind-boggling. I can only assume friendships means nothing to some people.

[Unycorn]

Why do you?

I delete them. I dont have space for trash.

I don't need these pictures. Good memories I keep on my mind.

[lowkanymous]

I never thought to delete them they dont bother me.

[Unycorn]

They need cloud space. And if I want to find photos it is better to have less. For me. My organization of photos.

[Unycorn]

Cloud space is underestimated.

[Spencer10]

Well he is your ex for a reason right? Why keep memories of him around then.

[lowkanymous]

Js bc they are my exes doesn't mean they aren't apart of my past. They made me who i am in a sense

[Spencer10]

Oh this is true. I agree with you. Still i also think moving on is important as well. Memories do not have to include photographs. Just my opinion.

[lowkanymous]

I have moved on and the pics didn't provoke any emotion so i js didn't feel a need to delete them if that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

You have had 3 boyfriends sérieuse at age 15? That seems like more of a problem than pictures. And you can store the pictures somewhere else so no one else needs to know about them.

[AgentG111]

If there's nothing there anymore with those two and just pics of them. I'm not sure why you'd still need them.

But threatening to break up with you over pics in your phone is dumb.

[Bklynbadboy12]

I dont see what the problem is hea just young and a little insecure

[MrChinaski]

Perfectly normal. Keep them, delete them. Whatever works for you is healthy.

[Zionne]

delete that before your new boyfriend finds it

[888theGreat]

Should not be dating at 15 . If I had a daughter , I would tell if you can date , you can live on your own and pay your bills.

[Iron_Man]

Where else are you gonna keep them if you don’t have a computer

[LuckyNumber7]

Do you still have some feelings/attraction? How often do you view them?

[lowkanymous]

I never go and purposely look at them. I never even look at them in depth i occasionally get a glance when i am looking for other pics in my camera roll, and i have 0 feelings or attraction towards them

[Jeff51]

Some people keep old photos. I wouldn't.

[exitseven]

No, but you have to ask yourself why?

[dudeinohio]

If he has issues, you should delete them?

[lowkanymous]

AS I SAID I DID DELETE THEM

[In_Trance]

You're wrong

Get rid of them

[lowkanymous]

Obv u didn't read what i said i already did delete them.

[Anonymous]

You're wrong if they don't like the idea.

[lowkanymous]

Just because someone disagrees doesn't mean you are wrong, we have different opinions.

[Opinion Owner]

Their photos = Their right to disagree.

[Sammy098]

Yes it's wrong