Digital breakups 

It doesn’t matter how long you were together, or the reasons for your split, breakups are tough. Social media and tech might have made finding love easier, but they can make splits more complicated.

And if you’ve been digitally intimate, then you’ll have to handle the breakup online too. Find out what you need to do to separate your accounts and logins – after all, no-one needs their ex on their accounts.

But if you’ve just come out of an unhealthy relationship, or you’re worried about how your partner will react if you change access to your accounts, then the most important thing is that you keep yourself safe.

Separating your digital lives:

How you deal with breakup depends on your relationship with your ex, and what and where you’ve shared. If you’re worried about your ex-partner’s reaction or you’ve experienced abuse, then it’s important you stay safe

Our Cover your tracks online guide can help you decide how best to approach your digital breakup. 

Social media 

If you’ve shared access to your social media accounts with your ex, then you may want to:

• Update who can view your story or tag you
• Change your password – and add 2-step verification if you haven’t already
• Block or change access to your account
• Report any suspicious activity

How you do this depends on the platform. See our Blocking and Reporting page for the latest links and information.  

Location-sharing 

Do you know when and where you’re sharing your location? Whether you’re sharing your location with your ex on Find My/Find My Device, tracking your location on social, or using vehicle or fitness trackers, make sure you check your settings.

It may be easiest to switch off location sharing on your devices completely, at least while you work through your accounts.  

See our Cover your tracks online guide for more information. 

Financial accounts 

If your ex-partner has login details for your bank or you shared a bank account, then you should get in touch with your bank directly.  

If you are worried about financial abuse, such as your partner controlling your access to money or building up debt in your name, then Surviving Economic Abuse has lots of resources to help. You can also call their Financial Support Line. 

Entertainment, travel and other accounts 

Don’t forget about things like streaming services, fast-food delivery accounts or any smart devices you might both have used. Think about all the day-to-day digital services that you’ve shared and make a list.  

Then make sure you’ve stopped sharing accounts, remove any linked devices that belong to your ex, change your passwords and check your recovery settings.

Worried about how they’ll react? 

Tech abuse is when someone uses technology to control, harass or intimidate you. It includes things like monitoring your socials, restricting your access to digital accounts, sharing your intimate photos, harassing or stalking you online, and using cameras, spyware and trackers.

If you’re worried about how your ex-partner will react if you change access to your accounts, then the most important thing is that you keep yourself safe. Our Cover your tracks online guide has more detail on how you can do this, with links to relevant organisations for further support. 

Intimate images and “revenge porn” 

If you’ve shared intimate images but are worried that your partner has, or will, share them without your permission this is intimate image abuse. Find out more in our guide about sending nudes and sexting. You can also call the Revenge Porn Helpline for more detail.