Skip to main content

Broken heart? These apps will help you erase and block your ex from your digital life

Be Yours: A gentleman’s guide to flying solo on Valentine’s Day
JaroPienza/Shutterstock
Valentine’s Day is that time of year when couples commemorate their love and spend more than $140 each to do so. But, if you find yourself on the lonelier side of the spectrum, and wish to not be reminded that your ex even exists, Digital Trends has compiled a list of tech tips to help you remove that person from your (digital) life.

Change all shared passwords

According to a 2014 survey conducted by Pew Research, 67 percent of couples share passwords. Imagine getting ready to drown your sorrows of another failed relationship in the warm comfort of a Friends binge marathon on Netflix, only to find a full season of FX’s The League was recently watched. You don’t watch The League, but the ex you have been trying to purge from your life does, and in that moment you realize you and your ex are still connected through shared accounts.

29194 (1)
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Luckily there is a Firefox extension, Mass Password Reset which allows users to change the password for numerous accounts at once. Users can change passwords based on Domain, Username, or Password. So, if you shared your Netflix, Hulu, and Gmail passwords with your ex, you can input the old password and change it to a new one for all the connected accounts.

Avoid all emails from your ex

On Gmail users can have messages from specific email addresses sent directly to the Trash once they are received. Click on the settings button on the upper righthand corner of your inbox. Once in Settings, click on the Filters tab, and then click on the Create a new filter button at the bottom:

Screen Shot 2015-02-09 at 6.35.13 PM
Image used with permission by copyright holder

To block all messages from your ex’s email address, simply input the address into the From section of the filter, select Create filter with this search, and then click on Delete It. After this, you will not have to worry about being emotionally coerced into rekindling your fizzled romance through an extensive email from your ex.

Screen Shot 2015-02-09 at 6.38.45 PM
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Block your ex on social media

Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 10.08.06 AM
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Most social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram allow users to block others simply by clicking the settings options on the user’s account and selecting Block. It’s pretty much just as easy to remove your ex on Facebook.

Facebook allows you to click on the 851548_427268774075825_1014901409_n button in the upper righthand corner and select, How Do I Stop Someone From Bothering Me. Next, you simply input either your ex’s name or the email address associated with their Facebook account, and that account will never be able to contact you or view your profile again.

Block your ex from calling or texting you

Any iPhone or iPad running iOS 7 or above can block phone numbers from messaging, calling, or entering into FaceTime. Simply scroll down your recent calls, find your ex’s number, click the “i” symbol, select Block This Caller, and they are automatically added to your block list. For most Android phones, the process is just as simple.

On Android phones running KitKat 4.4 or higher, simply go through your call log, find your ex’s number, hold down the selection for a few seconds, click Reject Call, and the number will be added to you Call Reject List.

For Android users looking to avoid unwanted text messages, there are numerous SMS blocking apps, but the easiest way is to make Google Hangouts your default SMS app, and you can then block the phone number. Either go to a recent text message from your ex or scroll down your contact list in Hangouts and click on the desired phone number. Once you do so, you will be taken to a text conversation window, wherein you will need to click on the three dot Settings button in the upper righthand corner. Click on People & Options, and you will be taken to Hangouts options, which include archiving all SMS and MMS from a specific contact.

Block them from the Web

block-your-ex-625x1000
Image used with permission by copyright holder

For those that want a one-stop shop for removing an unwanted ex from your view online, Block Your Ex is gold. Block Your Ex is a Chrome and Firefox-based plugin that allows you to remove an ex’s Twitter, Facebook, and blog from your view by simply inputing the corresponding information into Block Your Ex, and then adding that ex to your list. If you’re a serial dater with a sizable list of exes you wish to banish from your online life, be aware that Block Your Ex only allows up to five exes to be blocked.

Keith Nelson Jr.
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…
You can pick up the Google Pixel 7 Pro for only $500 today
The Pixel 7 Pro with its display turned on, showing the home screen.

 

If you've been holding out on buying a new phone for a while because prices are still expensive, then you may want to consider going for one of the older flagship phones. For example, while the Pixel 8 Pro is out, the Pixel 7 Pro is still a powerful and viable alternative, and even better, it has quite a few great deals on it. In fact, you can buy a brand new and sealed Pixel 7 Pro from Woot for just $500, rather than the usual $1,100, and that's for the 512GB version of the phone, so you get a lot of storage with it as well.

Read more
A new Google Pixel Tablet is coming, but it’s not what you think
Google Pixel Tablet on its charging dock.

It's been almost a year since the Google Pixel Tablet went up for preorder, leading many Android tablet fans to wonder when the inevitable Pixel Tablet 2 will arrive. A new rumor suggests that Google could release a new Pixel Tablet as early as next month, but it's probably not what you were expecting or hoping for.

According to @MysteryLupin on X (formerly Twitter), Google is planning to "relaunch" the Pixel Tablet without the charging/speaker dock included in the box. As you'll likely recall, the speaker dock is the Pixel Tablet's standout feature. You can use the Pixel Tablet on its own as a traditional Android tablet when you want, and when you're done, you throw it on the dock to transform it into a smart display. The idea of Google selling the Pixel Tablet without its claim to fame is an interesting one.

Read more
Anker sale: up to 40% off portable chargers, cable, and more
The iPhone 15 Pro Max being charged by the Anker MagGo Power Bank.

If you've been looking to pick up a new charging cable, charger, or all-in-one charging station for your Android phone or iPhone, then you'll be happy to know that Anker is having a rather large Earth-Day sale that you can take advantage of. There are a ton of discounts that you can take advantage of, too, with up to 40% off in some cases. I that wasn't enough, you can even snag yourself some free gifts, for example, one of the best accessories for a Galaxy S24 is the Anker Nano Power Bank if you spend more than $90,  or even an Anker 621 Magnetic Battery if you spend over $120. Either way, there are a lot of options, and while we've shared some of our favorite deals below, it's also worth taking a look at everything Anker has to offer by pressing the button below.

What you should buy during Anker's Sale
One of the most basic things you may need for any device is a charging cable, and Anker has a couple of great options for that. If you're on an older iPhone with a lightning cable, you can grab Anker's Anker 641 USB-C to Lightning Cable that's 6 feet long using the coupon WSPEV2KENJP2. On the other hand, if you need a USB-C to connect and charge your devices, you can grab the 6-foot Anker 543 USB-C to USB-C Cable using the code WSPEV2EHDR0C.

Read more